My bladder irritation got so much worse a few days ago, I started to think I might have a UTI. But of course you can't just get a doctor's appointment any more. They won't see people for a UTI at first, you have to go to the pharmacist to get antibiotics, which I did. They haven't worked so today I asked for a doctor's appointment. My landlady drove me down there, with the dog in the car. The dog had his head out the window and a scruffy man came by and patted and talked to him. I did manage to get an appointment but it wasn't with a doctor. They try to palm you off on non-doctors like the practice nurse, healthcare assistant, or even paramedics now instead of an actual doctor.

So I went to the appointment, and the person clearly wasn't a doctor. The doctors are dressed smartly, wear suits and introduce themselves as Dr Whoever. This man was very scruffy with week-old stubble and a tatty, unclean T-shirt. He introduced himself as Steve but didn't mention his job description. He had a paramedic bag in the room, so maybe he was a paramedic. I told him the issue and I feel he was inappropriate.

First of all he asked if I was the person with the dog - turned out it was him who'd been patting him when he was in the car. He then spent ages banging on about how he fosters rescue dogs, getting his phone out and showing me all their pictures. When he finally got on to the medical issue and I explained my UTI symptoms and the fact my blood tests had been showing low kidney function and what should I do about it because maybe it is related to my issues, he said there's nothing you can do about low kidney function. Your kidneys just deteriorate when you're old and that's that. It doesn't sound right to me but I don't know enough to argue about it.

I said the antibiotics hadn't worked and asked for more. He did a urine strip test which showed an infection but he refused to give me more antibiotics, saying they're bad for you and all I need to do is drink water. He showed me his two-litre water bottle and said I should be drinking four of those a day. 8 litres a day, seriously? The NHS website says you should drink 1.5 litres a day. He then started talking about how Buddhist monks never get ill because all they consume is "grass and water," and told me I shouldn't eat meat because when you eat meat it stays inside you for years and rots.

He then started talking about my V@g1n@. (sorry don't know if people will complain about the use of this word and tell me to censor it). He seemed to think UTIs are in your V. He started asking about it, and telling me to soak it in the bath because it's "too acidic" and that's what's causing my problems. I said I only have a shower and he told me that when I'm sitting on the toilet I should get a bucket of water and pour it over my V to clean it. He went on and on about it with a weird look on his face, I honestly felt creeped out and violated. I very much got the impression it was some kind of power play that he could force a female patient to sit there and listen to him going on about her V when that isn't even the body part in question.

Then he started banging on about dogs again and asking 100 questions about my landlady's dog. Never had a medical professional behave like this before.

So the whole thing was horrid. The only useful thing was he said he'd make sure they check my kidneys again when they do my next blood test next week and maybe I could get a referral to a urologist.