"Care received at Northampton out of hours care centre"

I have never used an out of hours service before and barely go to my own gp and would never do so unless absolutely necessary. On saturdayl I woke feeling the most unwell I have ever felt, I called 111 who were excellent and the out of hours service promptly called back with an arrival time. When I was seen by a nurse practitioner I was basically told yeah you are a bit ill but go home and you'll feel better soon which I did. Within a few hours the pain in my ear had got to a point where I couldn't cope any more and there was liquid coming from my ear so I called back.

Again, excellent service from 111 and the receptionist at the out of hours clinic. This time I saw a doctor who I felt had a complete 'I don't care' attitude. The doctor didn't seem to believe I was in pain, and even told me they couldn't see anything wrong me. When the doctor looked in my ear a second time and said my ear drum was bulging. When I got upset because I was in agony the doctor looked at me blankley, no empathy at all. I was given some painkillers and told to go home and I'd get better on my own. From Saturday to Monday I was in agony, there was blood and other liquid constantly seeping from my ear. Monday I went to my doctors who looked in my ear and said it was an absolute mess, my ear drum is perforated and I needed stong anti biotics for a week to clear the infection as there was no way it was going to heal on it's own.

I'm not a medical professional so I don't know if they made the right call on Saturday but the main point I wanted to make was that I left the out of hours service feeling like I was believed when I said how much pain I was in. Particularly the 2nd doctor I saw treated me like I was wasting their time when I clearly wasn't. People who visit are patients, not just problems to be got rid of asap. I will honestly never use the out of hours service again.