Share review of Dr Abdulaziz Zeid

Dr Abdulaziz Zeid 2022-01-12 Person 2 5 0

I came in with a head injury from fainting on Sunday 09th Jan. I had called 111 beforehand and they booked me an appointment. I was experiencing pain, dizziness, headaches and vomiting. After waiting 6 hours to be seen by a doctor, the doctor took my history and then said “CT scans emit very high amounts of radiation and it’s very dangerous, have you got your phone? Google it if you don’t believe me, I don’t know if you think it’s worth you getting one”. I told him I didn’t come here looking for a scan, I came here for his professional judgement - it is not up to me to decide whether or not I need a scan, that it his call after judging my symptoms. He was extremely reluctant to make any decision, told me about the dangers of getting a scan unnecessarily again (I’m well aware of this already due to my education background). I immediately felt like I shouldn’t be here. He made me feel like I was exaggerating my symptoms, and I felt that he just wanted me to say no to getting a scan. I’m so surprised that a doctor would do that at presentation of my symptoms. Why would I wait 6 hours for something that doesn’t feel like an emergency on my day off? He ordered a CT, called me in for the results, sat next to me on the bed without a mask and said “your results look fine, I just want to know what else you want me to do from here”. I asked him what I could do to alleviate my symptoms because I was still dizzy, nauseous and unable to walk more than a minute without needing to sit down. He said “just play it by ear”. At this point I understood that I was not going to get any care from this doctor so I said thank you and left. It’s been two days since then and I’ve still got awful headaches and dizziness, and have fainted on Monday once again. I made a telephone appointment with my GP yesterday for advice on my symptoms and they advised me to go to A&E. I feel incredibly uncomfortable calling 111 or going to the hospital because I will be made to feel like I shouldn’t be there again. NHS advice is to go to the emergency department on presentation of these symptoms - so why was I treated as though I was taking up unnecessary space? I am well aware that hospitals are under unprecedented stress right now, and the A&E is full of hypochondriacs and people who come and sit there when they have nothing better to do. That does not mean that doctors should paint every patient with the same brush. I followed the routes advised by NHS - I monitored myself after the faint first, then I checked the website, then I checked 111, and only went to A&E when I was advised to do so. I had work the next day - it was extremely important to me to make sure I was fit to work. If nothing else, doctors should at least be able to appreciate that I have waited hours for their advice - so if the advice is “google it on your phone” and “play it by ear” I am most definitely not going to feel like I’m being taken seriously. I think this doctor’s patient care needs to be evaluated because he was very ready to dismiss me the moment he heard my history without actually even assessing me. I would hate for another patient to be treated like this. This entire experience has made me very reluctant to access hospital care again.