Julia's health scare

[Totally Loopy Lou]

In her latest Q blog she's written that earlier this week she went for her 60th medical appointment of the year.

I feel sorry for Julia with all her ongoing health issues and really hope this latest scare is treatable and she gets well soon..

But I also think how lucky she is to have been seen once, never mind 60 times this year...

I’m not saying she didn’t need to, or course, just that by having private healthcare (which on principal, I don’t agree with - health care and access to it should never be about wealth or good fortune), she is so fortunate to have that kind of access and care!

My mum has an autoimmune disease which also has so many complications as well as several other conditions, all of which are not being treated ATM.

She’s also at increased risk of myeloma and had some recent blood tests which were routine and they aren’t good so they’re worried about myeloma developing.

That’s the first time either of us have seen a GP in ?2 years, despite us both having major health “issues”.

Just hoping they’ll fast track the xrays and mri that have been ordered.

Know our local hospital is under extreme pressure, however..

 

[Totally Loopy Lou]

I feel so conflicted on issues surrounding NHS.
Almost all of family has or does work for it - both parents 44 years each - in various capacities from medics to nurses, midwives, porters to senior management etc. Myself included, at one point!

I feel SO proud of the amount of hard work (both parents ended up working insane hours), and care and passion they’ve dedicated to the NHS.
And it hurts to read horror stories and complaints - though I totally understand and relate.

Indeed my own medical care has been appalling at times and is mediocre at best now. But it’s rarely been about the people (sometimes it really has!), more about a system under extreme and unsustainable pressure...

We had to make a complaint about my grandmother’s illness and death which was awful on so many levels.

But also it’s so hard when you see your loved ones slogging their guts out for years on end, only still to be under such stress, and criticism...

No idea what the answer is, sadly, but it’s clear something has to give.
Most especially in primary care...
Our surgery is losing GP’s at a rate of knots (and it’s always the nice ones!)

 

[Totally Loopy Lou]

PS. Oops sorry, I got carried away there and very rambling and ranty!
Apologies for that, didn’t mean to hi-jack the thread, please feel free to ignore!

 

[Totally Loopy Lou]

Someone sent me this article this week. Interesting to hear an inside view from a current GP, but doesn’t offer any solutions that I can see...

https://www.theguardian.com/society...g-englands-family-doctors-we-are-on-our-knees

 

[Twilight]

The people who pay for private education or health care pay twice & as far as I'm concerned that's their decision. The NHS receives a huge amount from the taxpayers yet always seems to be on the verge of collapse; I saw a recruitment advert this week, something I've never seen before but we all know that British people don't want to do jobs in the care sector which is why so many have been recruited abroad. The UK's population is 68 million & some more, the one thing the NHS has done well is patch people up so many of those are older people with multiple issues, add to them all those who don't look after themselves, those with addictions, mental health issues, the lost & lonely & those who just panic over a sniffle & it's a recipe for disaster. British people seem to be divided into two groups - those who have a sentimental attachment to the system & think it's run by angels & those who don't value it because they see it as a free service.

 

[boffy]

My GP service has all but closed down since Covid. We have quite a large practice with about 30,000 patients. One of the nicest Doctors ever has decided to move sideways and do the computers instead of being a GP. He worked very hard. There is hardly any GP left that's worth their weight in salt. I dread getting more ill as I know it will be a shambles. None of my check ups are done in person I get a phone call once a year. I am at an age now where I have various chronic illnesses I am getting treatment for none of them including heart failure, kidney failure and Lupus which is the main reason I have the other issues.

 

[Mazza]

Oh my goodness, that is awful Boffy. I can’t think of any helpful suggestions, other than changing practice which is not always easy to do, but am sending you hugs.

 

[Toril]

That’s shocking, boffy. Like Mazza I don’t know what to suggest because, to be honest, words fail me.

 

[Lemonpop]

My GP service has all but closed down since Covid. We have quite a large practice with about 30,000 patients. One of the nicest Doctors ever has decided to move sideways and do the computers instead of being a GP. He worked very hard. There is hardly any GP left that's worth their weight in salt. I dread getting more ill as I know it will be a shambles. None of my check ups are done in person I get a phone call once a year. I am at an age now where I have various chronic illnesses I am getting treatment for none of them including heart failure, kidney failure and Lupus which is the main reason I have the other issues.

Last October my hubby started having severe migraines,sometimes 2 a day. Admittedly he did manage to get an appointment with a Doctor and because she was a trainee from the hospital she managed to get him a CT scan urgently. Nothing was found and he was sent to the Eye Clinic. He was told he had some slight nerve damage to his left eye but nothing to worry about and he would be seen again in 8 months. Come the end of June this year he rang to see about an appointment and was told letters would be sent in due course. He finally got an appointment for October were he was diagnosed with Glaucoma in his right eye. He has had both eyes treated by laser and has had a further appointment made for mid December. Why nothing was sorted a year ago is a mystery to us.

My GP service has all but closed down since Covid. We have quite a large practice with about 30,000 patients. One of the nicest Doctors ever has decided to move sideways and do the computers instead of being a GP. He worked very hard. There is hardly any GP left that's worth their weight in salt. I dread getting more ill as I know it will be a shambles. None of my check ups are done in person I get a phone call once a year. I am at an age now where I have various chronic illnesses I am getting treatment for none of them including heart failure, kidney failure and Lupus which is the main reason I have the other issues.

 

[amn]

Yes, it is

Do you know someone who works there?

 

[Twilight]

Boffy, that's appalling.

 

[Breeze]

Speaking of regular check ups, which nobody seems to be getting, I haven’t had a review for nearly three years now despite being on medications for under active thyroid, high blood pressure & allergies for which I have to carry an Epipen, two in fact now. This is on top of waiting six months now for the X-ray. My daughter in law who’s a physiotherapist suspects I have two cracked vertebrae.
Someone I was speaking to in the village post office had managed ( somehow ) to get an appointment. He said he was in the waiting room, the only one there, when the intercom outside the locked door buzzed. The receptionist answered. It was a young woman with a small child who’d arrived for an appointment, for the child, but because of traffic she was ten minutes late. Now they do have a rule that if you’re five minutes late you lose your slot, always been the case, so the receptionist told her in no friendly manner that she would have to go home & phone for another appointment!! She wouldn’t budge, yet this chap was the only one waiting. To say he was disgusted was an understatement.
what do you do????

 

[maymorganlondon]

The sheer size and scale of the NHS means that when problems develop they do so gradually, and quietly become massive and hard to solve, imo, even with colossal sums of money thrown at it.
I think that some things which are treated are beyond the scope of what was originally intended. It is not surprising that no other country has continued to follow our model, but have moved to some form of insurance. France and Germany both provide efficient affordable healthcare, with better outcomes for cancer survival.
It has become such a sacred cow that no political party can revisit the model. It would be electoral suicide.
So we are stuck with NHS plus private healthcare....
Being a GP has become less and less attractive, and the retirees have been joined by those leaving entirely to do something else, those working part-time and those choosing a non-patient facing role. As with HGV drivers, there was a looming crisis before covid, and that crisis is now upon us. Not enough GPs to cope with the number of patients. My surgery is fond of sending patients to A&E in normal times, but that now won't do... who else can take up the slack.
As a country, England in particular does not act strategically, imo, and assess where there are looming problems and work to address them. They have the mentality of only focusing on the short-term cost of addressing the problem, rather than the future expense of applying short-term fixes, again imo.

 

[Loveinamist]

I feel so conflicted on issues surrounding NHS.
Almost all of family has or does work for it - both parents 44 years each - in various capacities from medics to nurses, midwives, porters to senior management etc. Myself included, at one point!

I feel SO proud of the amount of hard work (both parents ended up working insane hours), and care and passion they’ve dedicated to the NHS.
And it hurts to read horror stories and complaints - though I totally understand and relate.

Indeed my own medical care has been appalling at times and is mediocre at best now. But it’s rarely been about the people (sometimes it really has!), more about a system under extreme and unsustainable pressure...

We had to make a complaint about my grandmother’s illness and death which was awful on so many levels.

But also it’s so hard when you see your loved ones slogging their guts out for years on end, only still to be under such stress, and criticism...

No idea what the answer is, sadly, but it’s clear something has to give.
Most especially in primary care...
Our surgery is losing GP’s at a rate of knots (and it’s always the nice ones!)

Staff morale unfortunately. There are too many clueless managers to the strains staff are under working with understaffing and doing the job of three. And, sadly, lack of consideration and downright rudeness from other staff on different departments.

 

[Twilight]

The sheer size and scale of the NHS means that when problems develop they do so gradually, and quietly become massive and hard to solve, imo, even with colossal sums of money thrown at it.
I think that some things which are treated are beyond the scope of what was originally intended. It is not surprising that no other country has continued to follow our model, but have moved to some form of insurance. France and Germany both provide efficient affordable healthcare, with better outcomes for cancer survival.
It has become such a sacred cow that no political party can revisit the model. It would be electoral suicide.
So we are stuck with NHS plus private healthcare....
Being a GP has become less and less attractive, and the retirees have been joined by those leaving entirely to do something else, those working part-time and those choosing a non-patient facing role. As with HGV drivers, there was a looming crisis before covid, and that crisis is now upon us. Not enough GPs to cope with the number of patients. My surgery is fond of sending patients to A&E in normal times, but that now won't do... who else can take up the slack.
As a country, England in particular does not act strategically, imo, and assess where there are looming problems and work to address them. They have the mentality of only focusing on the short-term cost of addressing the problem, rather than the future expense of applying short-term fixes, again imo.

Brilliant comment.

 

[boffy]

Since Covid the NHS is literally no more. I live near some huge hospitals in London. Empty echoing buildings. I don't see things ever getting back to the old normal.

 

[Vienna]

I`ve been waiting 6 months for surgery on a problem which is greatly affecting my everyday life. On my initial consultation I was told to ring after 3 months to ask where I was on the list but to bear in mind they still had to catch up with all the operations postponed because of covid. I rang after 3 months and was told to ring again in another 3 months.
The problem has deteriorated so I rang a few days ago and my call was answered by a very snotty secretary who said that no way would I get my op before sometime next year and the waiting list was roughly 41 weeks. She made me feel nothing but a nuisance for asking but the minute I said right ok how do I go about seeing the surgeon privately and paying for the op, then her whole attitude changed in seconds.
I begrudge paying, especially as I and my whole family have paid NI contributions for our whole adult lives and what maddens me even more is it need never have got to this stage. When the problems first started well over a year ago I could never get a face to face appointment with a GP and twice by phone they totally misdiagnosed me and prescribed antibiotics until one day I was affected so badly I ended up at A and E where the doctor said go home, ring your GP surgery straight away and tell them, not ask them, that you need to be referred to a consultant immediately.
By the time I received my first trip to the consultant it was another 2 months and that was when I was told if the problem had been caught earlier then I wouldn`t need the radical surgery I`m waiting for, I could have had a much minor op as a day patient.
I am furious but as I am now, I am practically a prisoner in my own home and cannot face waiting 41 weeks for the op and so as much as I hate doing it, I am willing to pay to get back my quality of life and I daresay I am one of many. Even privately the surgeon cannot see me until December because her private clinics are booked solid.

 

[Maid in Devon]

On a daily basis from the public/patients I get shouted at, sworn at, I've had patients tell me they are thinking of committing suicide if they aren't seen, I've had coke bottles thrown at me. I'm covering two roles due to being short-staffed, some patients think they can speak to you as if you're nothing and have no feelings, I work in administration.
Everyday I turn up for work.
I'm proud of our wonderful NHS. I'm proud to work alongside the most amazing professionals.

 

[Deleted member 21102]

I ended up at A and E where the doctor said go home, ring your GP surgery straight away and tell them, not ask them, that you need to be referred to a consultant immediately.

Why couldn't he or she refer you if it was so urgent? Is it a matter of who pays for the referral or is this normal procedure, strange though it is? You have no more authority than the rest of us who would like to be referred to a specialist so you are in no position to demand it, or is this A&E doctor saying you'll only get help if you make a fuss? What a strange thing to say.

 

[Vienna]

Why couldn't he or she refer you if it was so urgent? Is it a matter of who pays for the referral or is this normal procedure, strange though it is? You have no more authority than the rest of us who would like to be referred to a specialist so you are in no position to demand it, or is this A&E doctor saying you'll only get help if you make a fuss? That doctor should have done more, imho.

I wasn`t demanding anything. The A and E doctor asked me why I hadn`t been seen by my GP and I told him I`d had 2 phone consultations, one with the practise nurse and one with a GP and both had misdiagnosed and I`d been refused a face to face appointment. The A and E doc meant for me to ring my GP but not be satisfied with yet another misdiagnosis and explain I had been seen in A and E and had been told that I needed to be referred to a Consultant and why. The GP still refused to see me to examine me and check what A and E had said was correct and simply said yes ok I`ll refer you. To this day I still haven`t been seen by my GP.
I am not a demanding person, I am never rude to anybody even though the surgeon`s secretary was rude to me and yes I do understand the stress and strains the NHS are under. My trip to A and E was a last resort for reasons I won`t go into, too personal and I waited a long long time to be seen by a very stressed A and E doctor who had many patients waiting to see him and many of those who could have been seen by a GP with children with ear infections, people with chest infections and other ailments but it was the height of the pandemic and people were literally queuing to be seen by a handful of A and E staff. The doctor I saw treated me with respect, examined me and knew straight away what the problem was and only surgery would correct it at that stage. As I said in my original post, if I`d been seen face to face much earlier then the issue could have been resolved with minor instead of major surgery, would have saved the NHS a lot of money but as it stands I`ll be paying for it anyway.
I must also say if anybody seems to be rude and have an attitude it seems to be you !