"One year to wait for a leaflet"

I have been in debilitating pain for 6 years, and it feels like I have ended up in a groundhog day cycle of being fobbed off with what could be a year between appointments. I waited approximately a year for an appointment with the Pain Clinic. I had been lead to believe they were marvelous. When you have gone round in circles seeing different specialists to get a diagnosis and all their treatments have failed, I was led to believe that was what the Pain Clinic was for, to suggest alternative treatments. I was shocked to be only given a leaflet.

I shall start from the beginning of my appointment, the usual questions asked in every consultation, when did the pain start, how long does it last, are there triggers, etc. I do not even know the doctors name, not sure they bothered to tell me. They came across as uninterested and had great difficulty explaining things, seemed like they would lose concentration and completely forget what they were saying, long pauses leading to silence and closing their eyes. I would imagine a someone working in a Pain Service to be extremely knowledgeable in regards to pain, would have basic understanding of pain and at least show empathy in regards to someone being in pain.

I had hopes built up that this service was going to be a lot better than any previous consultations I had with other services I had visited, the reality is that it is the worst I have had. They seemed more interested in my social life than anything else, these people seem to think you can be happy and in pain, I have been left in debilitating pain for 6 years, of course I am not happy, no one would be happy about that when it has turned your life upside down. I was led to believe from numerous other doctors and various GPs that the Pain Clinic offers Acupuncture as "alternative pain management" I had been told this could be beneficial but when this was brought up it was shot down straight away, they don't offer that they said, which is funny considering someone's left a patient opinion on this very hospital regarding Acupuncture so it's very hard to not feel 'fobbed off'.

I can't afford to pay for acupuncture from elsewhere due to being unable to work as the multitude of illnesses I have resulting in chronic pain is too debilitating for me to uphold any position of work. There was no suggestion of pain killers either, pain patches etc, nothing, I got a leaflet. The clinic should realise people wait a year for an appointment and that handing someone a leaflet after a year of waiting is like handing someone a death sentence, an 'all hope is lost' leaflet, maybe they should think twice before handing someone else a leaflet; patients have already had a pile of leaflets before reaching this service.

It's utterly astonishing that I got nothing from this appointment, they told me nothing I had not heard before, they suggested nothing I had not tried before, what they did tell me was to treble up on my dosage of pain medication, that is information that a GP could give me and has told me. Perhaps they did not think I was in chronic pain because I came across fluent and alert. Not only did they waste my time, I also live absolutely no where near this hospital, they wasted my parents time who had to accompany me, they also caused me more pain as my pain is triggered by stress/tension and I ended up crying in the car on the way home and have felt my mood plummet since my appointment here.