“I just can't believe that some people don't know about the 'Drop In Centre', on Monk's Road, have they had their head in the sand or what? It was launched with a big fanfare of publicity. In this situation it would have been my first port of call.”

“Even registered patients have trouble getting appointments, and must play early-morning telephone roulette, sometimes for a whole week. Having won an appointment in this lottery system, you then have to make do with a rushed appointment. He must have run into one of the more unhelpful dragons manning the reception desk. There are notices up informing patients that abuse of staff will not be tolerated, but the staff is free to be as rude, unhelpful and indifferent as they like. When one particular receptionist is on duty and I have a square-peg question that doesn't fit one of the round-hole answers in their inflexible system, then I walk out and try my luck another day. If I could register somewhere else, I would. Thank heavens for the Monks Road walk-in clinic with its 8-8, 7 days a week opening. I have used it several times, preferring its system to the BPHC one and have so far found the staff extremely helpful and polite, from the reception desk right on up. If I could, I would only go there to see a doctor.”

“Time for baseless speculation. The father is a registered patient and his 3-yr old son isn't. So I assume his son doesn't live with him and is registered elsewhere. So he gets access to his son over christmas and lets him suffer instead of getting help. If I was the mother, I'd give serious thoughts over future visits. Hope the 5 mins of (bad) press was worth it!”

“boultham park rd practice is one of the more decent centres in lincoln i dont think a doctor would turn a child away more to this story i think”

“I can completely believe this story. I have been turned away from an out of hours GP, bleeding and crying at the door with a severe infection. I had to be driven by a family member to a pharmacist who called the hospital and doctors in the area for me to ask what to do. I ended up just going to A&E, after the problem had gotten much much worse. I can understand why these emergency departments are under so much pressure, because it seems we are forced to use them as a last resort. Not everyone is aware of the drop-in centre, and it is located in an area that is not easy accessible, they have made it easier to just drive to the A&E department if you are worried for your childs well being.”

“"Who actually knows their NHS Number?"

Me!

Seriously at that point why would you not either take him to an NHS walk-in center, or to A&E?

Screw NHS direct. They can be useful, but in those cases why mess around.”

“I moved to a new area, and my 8 month old son had chicken pox really bad, I could not put clothes on him and he could not drink properly, and i took some forms into the doctors to register and asked if they could just see him, but they refused. so loopy, i can believe they would refuse to see a child. No matter if u no the NHS number or not, they should still see them.”

“Maybe if some of your correspondents were to turn up at PCWorld to complain that their computers would not produce capital letters to start sentances, they would not be served without their guarantees.”

“Who actually knows their NHS Number? Granted I do have a card from the NHS with my number on it but if I or a member of my family were sick and I wanted took them to a Medical Centre the last thing I would think is to take their NHS number, it's not like going on holiday to a foreign Country and remembering to take your passport.”

“At the end of the day, we do not know the whole story!!! I can't believe that any GP would refuse a child of treatment. And if the child was that bad then I would take him/her straight to A&E without any hesitation. I think the father is probably looking for someone to blame when in actual fact he could of done more himself if he was that concerned like take him straight to A&E.”