As I’ve mentioned, my hands have gone to hell over the last few weeks and my doctor reckons it’s carpal tunnel syndrome – so I’ve been referred to physiotherapy (although as far as I can see, physiotherapy is completely useless in cases of CTS. But I digress). I don’t know what the system’s like in other parts of the country, but round here we have direct access to physio: if we want an appointment we just phone the physios directly. Excellent!

In theory, anyway.

I called last week, only to discover that you can’t call in the afternoons. I called the next day, and got an answering machine. The leaflet tells you that you’ll get an answering machine and that you should leave a message, but this particular answering machine won’t let you leave a message because the staff are too busy. Instead, it suggests you call back the next day – which I do, and this time I get a different answering machine. This time I can leave a message, and somebody will phone me back within two working days.

That was three working days ago.

This access to physio may be all kinds of things, but “direct” it ain’t.