MY judging criteria for anything to do with medical or council stuff is always ‘How would my parents have managed to negotiate this system?’

Well considering the experience my other half is having with the former, they wouldn’t have had a chance. My OH has all his marbles intact and is pretty tech savvy and even he was tearing his (figuratively speaking) hair out.

Once upon a time the system for getting a blood test was pretty straightforward.

He needs a test on a date that has to be close to his treatment at the hospital.

So he’d book the test, get it done, go to the hospital so they could cross reference the blood results, job done.

Last time, he had his appointment date for the hospital – on a Tuesday – so booked his blood test for the Monday at the CDC hub in town. VERY last push on the Friday before, he got a call from the CDC blood place saying – new system active and they now need a referral from the hospital for him.

They hadn’t got it, so they were cancelling his blood test. He tried ringing the hospital straightaway to find out what was going on. Couldn’t get through because they were closed for the day. It was hanging over his head all weekend. Tried on the Monday; no one was answering in the hospital department ALL DAY.

His only option was to just attend the CDS on the Tuesday and plead his case. Despite telling him they’d cancelled his appointment, the hospital had actually sent through a referral to the CDC for him THAT MORNING – the day of his blood test – so he could get it done.

If he hadn’t just turned up, he would never have known the blood test had been reinstated. He asked them about it in the CDC and they rolled their eyes and said: ‘it’s the new system, you need to have a word at the hospital when you go up tomorrow and tell them about it’.

So he did and they shrugged and said: ‘This is the new system’.

We are now here again, he’s booked a blood test and has to trust that the hospital referral has gone through and that we don’t have an eleventh hour cancellation and all this stress and all that time wasted ringing, chasing, being cut off on the phones, repeat.

What a ridiculous system for anyone with blood pressure issues this really is!

Now here is MY hospital experience. Had a health scare – I was worried daft. Went to the docs, they had me in the next day. And they sent me on an urgent referral to the hospital.

My appointment was scheduled up there for a week-and-a-half later. While up there, the nurses were politely apologising for my wait, even though I was seen really quickly.

The scan people were kind, the consultant was bloody brilliant – and if Dr Tutoveanu is reading this, the treatment you gave me is a game/life changer.

They were all lovely. I’m more than fine and just wish that every department was as excellent as gynae, because when the NHS works, isn’t it brilliant?

We are urgent house-hunting. So would anyone like to tell me why when I am idly scrolling through Rightmove for a laugh, I see many houses I would love to buy, but when I am actually ready to buy, I can’t find one that’s anything like suitable unless it’s a million quid more than I have in the coffers.

Think I might need to put extra lines on the lottery for a bit.