A 45-year-old father wet himself after he was refused to use the toilet at The Meadows Health Centre’s GP Surgery in Nottingham.
Paul Burkimsher, from Ilkeston, Derbyshire, took his 15-year-old daughter to her doctor’s appointment at The Meadows Health Centre’s GP Surgery in the Bridgeway Centre in Nottingham.
Mr. Burkimsher, who suffers from poor bladder retention, was refused to use the toilet at The Meadows Health Centre’s GP Surgery and was told it was only for patients.
He told Nottinghamshire Live that when he asked the receptionist ‘is there any public toilets I can use, I am really desperate,’ he asked: ‘are you a patient?’
He was told he can use the toilet only if he is a patient.
Mr. Burkimsher said: “I asked for the practice manager and thought common sense would prevail.”
“But she refused to speak to her. It was bordering on human rights.”
When he was told some further tests needed to be booked, he told them he couldn’t stay any longer.
The father told: “They said ‘we are nearly there’ and I said ‘so am I.’”
Mr. Burkimsher told that he then went himself in his car and criticized the GP Surgery for not letting him use their toilet.
He said: “It strips your dignity just to ask to use a toilet. It was as if I am not good enough to use one.”
He said this is a genuine need and if someone is accompanying a patient, you should allow them to use the toilet.
He added: “It’s appalling that someone can left like that and I worry for other vulnerable people like the elderly. As a GP surgery you have a duty of care to be compassionate.”
A spokesman from CityCare, which runs the centre, said they have restricted access to the toilets to prevent them from being used for ‘drugs’.
He claimed Mr. Burkimsher was offered a key after they realized he was with a patient but Mr. Burkimsher denied he was offered a key.
He said: “I was not offered a key by several members of staff. I was not offered access to the toilet for the 40 odd minutes I was there.”
He said no one told him that it was a mistake despite him asking six times to talk to the practice manager.
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