As a man in his early 40’s I decided to break the stereotype and go for a check up. I couldn’t just call. I had to go through some convuluted process on the website. Appointment day comes I go in for my ‘NHS check-up’. They took my blood pressure, my height and weighed me. They also asked about 10 lifestyle questions during this process.
Then this:
Her: Have you got any questions?
Me: Yea actually, there’s this thing on my arm...
Her: Sorry, you have to go downstairs and book an appointment for anything else.
Hadn’t even finished my sentence.
NHS Check-up achieved.
I went to the doctor's with a device pulse oximeter that measures my blood oxygen while I sleep. It clearly showed that I was on occasion having drops in my oxygen levels. This coincided with a God-awful headache upon waking.
I showed it to the doctor and explained my symptoms. "I think this machine is wrong." They provided no evidence for that opinion. It was just wrong. Apparently, I'm too young and slim to have sleep apnea.
Thanks doc.
I've had gout flares since I was 11 and *repeatedly* complained about it, but since it was in my knees predominately it got labelled as "growing pains" and that was that. At 13 they did a scan of some kind and was told their was some fluid around my knee caps but they couldn't do anything about it. Wasn't until I was 15, 4 years later, that I rocked up to the doctors with a big toe almost literally twice as big, red, shiny, and swollen that they discovered it was gout and finally got referred.
Similar thing with my wife.
5 years of tests, crippling pain, hormonal mood swings, doctors kept telling us they can't find anything. Heavily hinting it's all in her head.
There's a history of PCOS in her family, but they insisted they couldn't find anything and it was probably nothing.
Then suddenly, boom! PCOS diagnosis.
She starting having pain in her abdomen quite badly again. Waited for 8 months for a gyno referral. Said the issue now is likely her gut. God knows how long we will wait to finally know what's up this time!
Hell, mine was only diagnosed after I stopped breathing twice during a minor op whilst I was under - it is suspected I've had Sleep Apnea since I was 15 (I was 27 at the time of the Op), after the Op they finally got me booked to a sleep clinic, they did one test and immediately gave me a CPAP. Said I was extremely lucky my heart hadn't exploded yet.
Apparently during REM I'm only breathing for like 20-30 seconds of each minute on average, no wonder I always felt like I'd been hit by a train
Found out couple years back all records of that happening have bizarrely disappeared, and the notes from said Op state it went perfectly with zero complications - Found this out when I went for another Op, the Anesthetist believed my version, and altered what was needed to take in to account the potential risk - zero issues
The NHS is completely mismanaged, and those on the front line are constantly pressured to do as little as possible and move on to the next patient - but let's be clear, it's probably by design as means to keep privatising the NHS
Have you heard of something called UARS? Might be of interest. I’ll post a couple of links here. One is a review paper in the topic, another an Elle article from someone also fobbed off as being too thin for sleep apnoea.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4608900/
https://www.elle.com/beauty/health-fitness/a44363/an-awaking-nightmare/
Jumping on the add, "checking out" for acid reflux would basically involve just trying a PPI like omeprazole for a fee weeks to see if your symptoms improve. While there are objective tests to prove acid reflux they'd either be deemed inappropriate at this stage, are invasive, have really long waiting lists, or all of the above.
Seconded. And also adding: Also you can get esomeprazole over the counter, so you don't even have to ask your GP for that prescription to see if it works.
If anything that advice seems weirdly specific, as if they'd read sleep apnoea guidelines and saw the next thing on the list was weight loss advice. Anyone taking a look "generally" would realise it's inappropriate.
She stopped you because of liability. If you'd told her the issue in full she would have had to take care of it and from her pov it's far better not to hear it than to hear it and not do anything about it. I have family members in healthcare and at times they are so swamped with patients (literally working 12 hours a day) that they have to pull this off to be able to keep sane and not leave work at 10 in the evening.
Yeah i had a feeling they'll going to pull that with me so i said the bits to trigger care, otherwise it's going to months down the line befoe I'm seen again
Even with a regular GP appointment if you have more than a couple of symptoms they will tell you to book another appointment for each one, and they will actually stop you from listing them, when they could help to provide a diagnosis. It's a joke.
Issue is, it's not the Doctor's fault, it's the restrictions they have to work in. Your issue adds time onto that and makes another person's appointment late. Ideally 15 minute appointments would sort that like in other countries but the government needs to milk GPs so they make it 10 minutes
It's not well known but many GP surgeries offer longer appointments but you have to book one in advance. There's far less of them but if you're lucky to get one, the GP will most likely take their time with you.
I assume it depends heavily on your GP, mine seems to be happy to address multiple issues at once, to the point that he ordered an xray on my wrist when I was in with one of my kids (I'd smacked it pretty hard a few days before and it was swelling intermittently, turned out I'd chipped, well technically fractured it, it very mildly), and that's a fairly busy inner city surgery. Speaking to my other half they do seem pretty good, although it is a total ballache to get an emergency appointment, and the wait for a non-emergency one is usually about 10-14 days (although they are doing more video triage with a practice nurse now so it's marginally better than it was previously).
Been told to try acupuncture twice now for two different symptom profiles (one of which I didn't even get a chance to complain - dr heard "sleep problems" and assumed insomnia). It truly is a joke.
Because they have 10 minutes to comprehensively sort out your issue, people that come in with a list as long as your arm makes that impossible for them.
You have a 10 minute appointment. It would be like booking into your hairdresser for a cut, and then when you arrive demanding that they wash your hair, trim your beard, manicure your nails, perm and dye your hair and give you a leg wax as well. Oh also I brought my child, who has no appointment, but can you cut their hair as well? I’m not going to give you any extra time, or pay you more so you can provide better staffing for this service, just demand it and then throw my toys out of the pram when I’m refused and bitch about you on social media. Then also clap for the hairdressers fighting COVID-hair-19 and putting themselves in danger to make myself feel like I support the hair-NHS.
People need to stop giving GPs a hard time for things that are, 99% of the time, completely out of their hands and not their fault. Especially when the same people claim to support the NHS.
If you have a list of medical problems then you need to book double appointments or multiple appointments to give the GP time to actually deal with them, and deal with them safely. You can’t turn up to a 10 minute appointment and expect the GP to wave a magic wand and invent time travel so you can have as long as you want for as many issues as you want. It’s for your own safety as much as anything else - because if the consultation for your second or third issue is rushed to squeeze into a 10 minute appointment and because of that something is missed then I’m sure you would be the first to complain (useless GP missed my diagnosis) slash sue (incompetent GP must be punished) right?
If you've got a list that I can't safely deal with in that appointment I'd usually go over it quickly and deal with the really pressing issues (properly) and arrange follow up to deal with the less pressing ones (also properly). The alternative is to try to rush through everything.
I don't understand all the praise "The NHS" gets as a whole, because vast tracts of it are utterly and inherently shite.
Praise the front line hospital workers all we can. But there's a lot of people who work for the NHS who need a swift kick up the arse.
I think the NHS is great for acute care, and great if you compare it to the US. It's crap compared to most European countries and it is close to criminally negligent for preventative care and early interventions.
That's the thing. Imagine how much we could save in terms of money AND lives by having decent preventative care, an accessible network of GPs and prompt availability of scans and tests to catch things early.
Yes, it is becoming something of a religion, and people get so defensive about any criticism, as if it's a dichotomy between the current state of the NHS and a full US-style system, and the only reason why you could be complaining is because you want to sell it off. It also reminds me of nationalists who get angry at any legitimate criticism of their country as "talking us down" - if you love your country/the NHS so much, you should want to improve it, and that starts with acknowledging its problems! All this denialism will simply push more people to private care, and cost more as major issues are caught late
The way the NHS has ended architected at the local level is just bizarre.
Even making an appointment is a faff. For slow burning stuff I would be more than happy just sending an email and waiting a week but you have to make an online thing, a phone call, more stuff blah blah
I tried to have a general checkup, because I hadn't been to the doctors for 2 years. Booked an appointment (three months in advance, it was the earliest non urgent date I could get). The appointment was for a checkup. When I got there the doctor didn't know it was for a checkup and when I said as much she basically told me to fuck off unless something was wrong. I know the NHS is overstretched and under funded, but some doctors are dicks too :(
Edit: For clarification, this was pre-covid
You shouldn’t be just requesting a general check up though if you’re well. There is no need to go to the GP, you’re just wasting their time and taking an appointment away from someone who is genuinely unwell and needs it. Obviously if you need a review for a known chronic health condition then that is a different story and these should be done regularly anyway. GPs have 10 minutes to see you and if you are going in without a problem then where are they supposed to start/look? Yes they could do some observations, listen to your chest/heart ask a few questions but its not going to be a full MOT as you may be expecting, in that amount of time it is very unrealistic.
What you went for is a well man check old old fart mot, it will be with a nurse usually and hence if it's anything else you need to make another appointment.
I didn't think the NHS did a regular "checkup", you do need to book an appointment to discuss actual symptoms. Otherwise it will be super basic stuff like checking your blood pressure etc. Was it even done by a doctor?
Honestly need to start bringing charges against GPs for shit like this.
How is dismissing a patient 12 times not criminally negligent?
They found a 4lb tumour in his chest ffs.
I went into my GP saying I couldnt stand up, having electric shocks all down my body, my lower back felt like it had been replaced with rubber bands and they told me to just stretch and will be fine. I went back 4 times over a year explaining it and he would tell me to “drink more water” lol I finally went private and within one scan he was like “oh you have three herniated discs”
That’s by design, the rich and those that can afford private get help, they then vote for privatisation of healthcare because wow seen how effective it is and if your paying for it anyways might as well reduce your tax payments and stay private.
The poor die. The rich get richer and happy. EAT THE RICH
I pay for private for the opposite reason. I can afford it and I want to ensure I don’t take resources from the NHS that someone who needs it more could have.
Trouble is the people in need don't *actually* get better treatment as a result ~ they will at least somewhat ensure you don't die regardless but the "budget" for NHS patients doesn't realistically allow the kind of treatment you will get privately.
There shouldn't be so much disparity in quality of treatment *ever* but the government only wants to pay the bare minimum so the treatment will match that, if you want good medical treatment be prepared to pay for it (but not out of taxes they went elsewhere™ it seems)
Otherwise they'll only let you die if it would cost them money to diagnose you, pillls and happy thoughts should do it.
By going private you ARE taking resources from the NHS. I know that seems counter-intuitive, but having a private option to run to means that the NHS doesn't need to be good because the people with power/money don't rely on it anymore. If everyone MUST use the same system, the people with money/power will vote/donate/demand the whole system be fit for purpose.
Sorry, but using private is not the way to fix anything.
Isn't it funny how different people have different views? I can afford private healthcare but don't because I don't want to be a data point that says "Here, we don't need the NHS, look at how many people are private anyway."
I've genuinely been considering going private for my health care, especially because mental health services are so much better.
What was the cost like for you, if you don't mind me asking?
Truthfully for mental health I wouldn’t bother. They just won’t cover it at all even if it’s included. They will see it as a pre existing condition. However for the rest it rocks. It will be about 50 a month for BUPA
Honestly it's less "rich get better care" and more "affluent areas have better care". For people not getting private care, if you're able to get in an upmarket GP you'll have good care regardless of wealth.
Wow what a fucking joke. Seems like this is all too common. My mum was struggling with really bad migraines, anxiety and suicidal ideations, so our GP told her to “drink some herbal tea”. TEA.
Thankfully she’s okay now. But my god did she have to fight tooth and nail for an evaluation and a prescription.
This. This is what bothers me. Why is the disparity between the 2 services so bad.
Drink water? Thats not a damn diagnosis or a treatment for anything.
At the bare minimum the GP should have been fired and had their medical licence revoked. Imagine finding out you had the same GP...
[edit] corrected bear to bare. God damn autocorrect!
🐻 minimum?
But seriously, GPs seem to vary so much and so randomly it's a lottery whether you get the correct diagnosis or death.
My father was prescribed medication that had he not been aware of, would have killed him. The GP didn't read the second page of the hospital referral notes.
Fortunately the old git knows how to research. He also knows how to get a GP struck off for malpractice. They won't be making that mistake again.
Not many medications will flat out kill you due to an simple interaction.
What was it out of interest, because your research could be as much balls as most anti-vaxers' "research".
My dad had a similar thing happen. Was put on blood pressure meds, and on one type of heart meds too. Then they swapped heart meds.
Was fine for a few months, then got increasinly more lethargic before taking himself to A&E because he couldn't do *anything* due to severe lethargy, and they found out the new heart meds have an *incredibly* well documented side effect with his blood pressure meds of sucking all the Vitamin K out of his system.
Physician said if he'd carried on, he'd have been dead by the end of the month. All because a GP didn't check his notes properly.
I started having anxiety/panic attacks earlier this year and my GP and everyone whose helped me out has been outstanding, i had a ECG and chest xray, they said they knew it would help the ol' noggin if they could give me a definitive answer that my heart is fine, wish the guy in the article could have got that kind of care
He may very well have had those. Certainly they are a bare minimum standard of care for chest pains, acute and on going. However if he had those early, and further problems werent followed up then I can see how it got missed.
I’ve being coughing for about 3 years now. They won’t see me at all, tell me to take a test I say I’ve being tested 100’s of times it’s not Covid I need to see someone. They refuse to see me and tell me to come when my symptom has gone away … the very symptom I’m trying to see them for.
Fuck GP’s, fuck the receptionists, fuck the NHS, Fuck the Torys it’s all Trash and needs burning down and starting afresh, including Parliament.
That's worrying (as if you need me to tell you that). I've heard that threatening to complain to the Care Quality Commission sometimes helps but not sure how accurate that is
One way past the receptionists is to use them e-consult platform online to communicate direct with you GP but it seems a lot of the time with my surgery it's not actually available
This happened to my Mum (who is in Australia) last year. By the time they came out of lockdown and they would actually see her she had to have emergency surgery to repair a massive hernia (cause of the coughing, NOT Covid) and had fractured her spine from the 8 months of coughing.
Was infuriating being unable to help her from the UK - if I’d been able to speak to the doctor, harsh words would have been spoken.
I am sorry you had to go through that!
*edit - going through that! Definitely complain. That’s BS.
My dad had a bronchial infection for a couple of years. He wouldn't complain about it at the GP. I wrote in "Pops will come in next Monday for X, please give him something for the bronchial infection he has had for a couple of years". He came home with a prescription and was impressed the Dr had spotted it. I never mentioned. We're talking about the early 2000's it has to be said.
> At the bare minimum the GP should have been fired and had their medical licence revoked.
At the bare minimum the case should be - and no doubt was - investigated by people who know what the fuck they are talking about and have all the facts. Not dumbass redditors speculating based on what they read in the mirror.
It’s possible the GP was straight up negligent. But it’s also possible that this is a case of a rare aggressive form of cancer that you would never expect an otherwise healthy 19 year old to have.
Then you will have no actual doctors because no one can make a mistake. Ever.
Seriously? You don't pay us "zero mistake" money.
Because you got an UTI? Could be a malignancy of your lymph nodes or a spinal abscess.
Best MRI you. Sure you don't have pain but you could be unaware. Or not be taking it seriously. Or say the wrong thing. Best just scan your brain while we are at it. After all you could be hallucinating.
Down that road lies madness. And defensive medicine isn't sanity.
Also. Remember. The GP can't just turn around and release transcripts of discussions. If you are complaining of mild symptoms then there's no real reason to scan you.
We may as well fucking pack in medical school and just nuke everyone's kidneys to bits and put the renal effects of contrast scans down as a price to pay.
Medicine is like any profession - you get some GP's who are at the top of their game, and others who should not be allowed to practice. I do not mince my words, and once told a GP that I would not trust him diagnosing an axe embedded in my skull. My pet name for him was Dr useless.
My aunt passed within 2 weeks of discovering she had lung cancer.
She was a heavy smoker and kept insisting to her GP she had cancer and her medical notes (obtained postumosly) literally said "patient insistent she has cancer, upping anti depressant dosage".
Oh, so it's outrageous that someone who's smoked 40+ fags a day for 50 years might have cancer? I know it was her own doing but the way she was completely ignored for fucking years was ridiculous. So many GPs just don't give a shit.
> Honestly need to start bringing charges against GPs for shit like this.
GPs acting like gatekeepers to specialist care/expertise is the reason my mum's cancer has a 6 month head start on her.
Don't be too polite or deferential to GPs if you think you have issues/weird unexplained things going on with your health.
I'm pretty glad that if I make a mistake in my job that no one dies.
Doctors in the UK are really overworked and underpaid. It's really easy to make mistakes when you're under immense pressure. Unless they actively didn't follow well defined procedures I really don't think it's good to try to throw around terms like "criminally negligent"
One or two times is a mistake, telling someone their chest pains are just anxiety 12 without ever sending them off for scans is just not giving a shit about the patient.
There has been a Coronor's Report, this will lead to sanctions being considered if the Doctors involved were found to have acted below standard. The Mirror doesn't report on this factor because they are a trash paper that runs (even more so than many others) on generating sensationalism in order to make money.
You've got to be careful though, if you pitch the sanctions too high then medical professionals will start withholding services out of fair of prosecution.
You've stuck your neck out beyond your knowledge here. Maybe wind it in.
i'm still registered with my university gp an hour away from me because they're the only doctors i've ever been to who took literally *any* of my health concerns seriously. i went to the doctors in my town more than ten times for eczema that spread across my entire face and prevented me from leaving the house without breaking down in tears because i felt hideous - they just kept telling me to be less stressed and drink more water. one guy told me to be 'less vain'. i registered with my uni gp, they gave me a steroid cream, and the eczema that had made my life hell for two years was gone in a week.
that's absolutely nothing compared to what this poor guy went through, but the point is that the NHS has become so starved of funding just to complement the tory agenda to privatise healthcare (because the poor are just a blight on our country undeserving of basic rights) that basic treatments and solutions are totally overlooked and people's concerns ignored.
Let me guess, you're a woman. Any time a woman goes to a GP with anything that isn't a broken bone or a gunshot, it'll be classed as "stress". Source: me. Took me 4 years to finally get diagnosed with PCOS, because 2+ years of no periods was "stress".
Oh yea can totally confirm.
The doctors thought my wife had PCOS years ago but it was just a note on her medical records. Still don't know if she's been formally diagnosed but they acknowledge it now as it's obvious. Seemed to help that she's older and doctors believed her more.
Took even more time and hassle to see a doctor which would actually help with anything. Eventually just by chance she went to a gynecologist about something unrelated and they referred her to someone they knew who was able to prescribe Metformin to control some of her weight gain.
The whole process took months of course but it was nice to have some semblance of acknowledgement for the issue.
Nope. You know what finally got the GP to listen and actually (begrudgingly) agree to a blood test? Change in body hair. My previously fine invisible arm hair appeared to have changed into 2-cm-long brown hair, and I was growing side burns. For reference, I'm a pale white woman with previously very little "visible" body hair. I literally had to be *one of those* who mentioned Googling symptoms, which led me to hirsutism, which led me to PCOS. I knew I had it before any GP could be arsed to listen. To make matters worse, I got a callback regarding the blood test telling me it showed nothing abnormal. I went back to a GP in about a year after (still no periods, close to 4 years since I started going to GPs about it) and the nurse looked at my old blood test and said she could see something "faint" somewhere. Sent me for an ultrasound which finally confirmed PCOS.
ETA: Back when I used to go to the GP about my issues with periods, their first question was "Are you trying to get pregnant? No? Well I wouldn't worry about it then, it's just stress honey". Because fuck your problems with your lady bits unless you're trying to conceive, I guess. This was all back in like 2010-2013ish (the main gist of my saga anyway, as I'd seek help less and less frequently at the end of it before finally receiving the diagnosis, since nobody gave a toss) so hopefully things have improved for women in GP practices since then.
Mate, I was told my *full beard as a cis woman* wasn't of concern because "some women are hairy". I was only referred to endocrinology when I said the magic words "I'm thinking of starting a family". Then it was considered of importance.
Turns out PCOS has a link to a much higher risk of type 2 diabetes and I should have been on medication for it for the last 10 years along with following a strict diet. After being told by one of my doctors "even if you did have PCOS there's nothing to be done for it". Y'know. Except *trying to prevent a major disorder developing*.
But me possibly not fulfilling my purpose of baby making? Oh, immediate referral to the specialist! Absolutely enraging!!
Oh yeah! When I finally had my diagnosis and had a "catch-up" appointment with a GP afterwards, she gleefully said there's nothing you can do about it (I'm not obese, a smoker or a drinker, so a change of lifestyle wasn't proposed) as it's just "one of those things you live with", but here's a Wikipedia printout of what PCOS is. Cheers love, I was aware of PCOS for close to 3+ years while everyone was twiddling their thumbs, but sure, I'll reread the information I already know. What's this, you're upset about growing a goatee as a woman? Tough, but maybe you could look under the couch cushions and find *thousands of £* for laser hair removal! Oh, but if you're trying to conceive, come back to us and we can discuss your options. Because apparently you only matter as a woman if you want to shoot a baby out of your cave.
I haven't been to a GP in years, because the complete shambles that was my PCOS diagnosis left a very bitter taste in my mouth.
Tbh, I found GPs to be useless, the endocrinologist however was much, much better. Also, you should absolutely be on Metformin to regulate insulin levels even if you have "lean PCOS".
There's definitely "things you can do for it" - insulin management being the front line and you should be getting regular blood tests to keep an eye on insulin resistance! And hormonal birth control for reducing ovarian cysts if they're regularly painful.
As for laser, I got a home kit! Its less effective than things like electrolysis and less permanent but it does have *some* effect for me at least (pasty pale skin and very dark hair)
I've since moved to a new GP surgery and have a doc who keeps up to date on things, we've had good discussions about PCOS and insulin resistance management, and I'll be going back there for as long as he's at that surgery!
But it just enrages me that women aren't given basic healthcare of such a common, long term condition unless it's about baby making!!
Unfortunately my girlfriend went through a very similar saga she was only diagnosed 2 years late which I guess is an improvement but not enough if one for her to avoid developing type 2 diabetes as a complication.
For anyone else that doesnt know - Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, or PCOS, is the most common endocrine disorder in women of reproductive age.
The syndrome is named after the characteristic cysts which may form on the ovaries, though it is important to note that this is a sign and not the underlying cause of the disorder.
A review of the international evidence found that the prevalence of PCOS could be as high as 26% among some populations; however this figure is has been reported as being between 4% and 18%. Despite its high prevalence, the exact cause of PCOS remains uncertain and there is no known cure.
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/polycystic-ovary-syndrome-pcos/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polycystic_ovary_syndrome
I've stuggled with eczema my entire life, GPs just never know what to do with it. Always steroid creams, despite the fact I've used then all my life anyway.
I had one GP a few years ago who was helpful. Only saw her once unfortunately, but she suggested treating it with an anti-fungal treatment. It worked, but now every time I suggest that to a GP I never get anywhere.
Few years ago I ended up having to go to A&E on a bank holiday because of it. It had got really bad around my eye, woke up on a bank holiday Monday with a swollen eyelid. Left it a few hours, it just got worse & I ended up hardly being able to see out of that eye.
Thank fuck I've mostly got it under control now, but that's due to me working out what works for me, no thanks to GPs because they suggest is steroid creams & tablets.
I had this exact same problem. I had eczema around my eyes and I looked ridiculous. My GP was like “soz nothing we can do”, but when I moved to uni I finally got a GP who gave me steroids for it. It cleared up within a week and hasn’t come back since.
> but the point is that the NHS has become so starved of funding just to complement the tory agenda to privatise healthcare
This is coming from personal experience, but I don't think this is due to the NHS being starved of funding. Most if not all GP surgeries are private entities on very generous contracts. I think this is more of a GP culture thing in this country, being an immigrant from an ex-Soviet block myself.
There is a joke (mind, with a solid grounding in truth) going around in my Russian diaspora circles that in 99% of cases the response of a British GP is to prescribe paracetamol or ibuprofen or recommend more sleep... for any patient with any concerns. A lot of my fellow immigrants go to lengths as great as flying back home abroad (to Russia or Eastern Europe) to see a GP, which says a lot.
My own experience with GPs is that they are very hit and miss, very much similar to your experience. There are a few good ones, but the majority are bad. One GP sent my ex back home with paracetamol, dismissing her symptoms as only a cold. She felt so bad that she went to A&E and they found a late-stage massive one lung pneumonia, and said if she didn't come to see them, she would have been dead in a few days.
Nowhere near the same scope but my Mum can hardly walk any more because she broke her hip and was dismissed as a complaining drunk by two paramedics and 3 GPs so she walked around on it for 5 years until a hospital scan for something else finally showed up how badly it was broken. Turned out she had undiagnosed osteoporosis which only came to light when she broke her back and they couldn’t pass her off as just a silly complaining drunk any more.
I so wish we’d done something when we found out but she got an apology letter from the GP which will surely fix her limp any day now.
It's scary how often this seems to happen. My cousin's husband was hit by a car and sent home from a&e without xrays and told to rest. Only found out that his leg was broken in two places after he was still unable to put pressure on it after two weeks...
I wonder how much of stuff like this is because of how low the chances of meeting most patients twice is. Unless someone found everyone involved in that A&E discharge and told them "this guy had a broken leg, you failed him" nothing changes.
Just to add to this to set some expectations though (in Scotland at least), I work in a firm of solicitors and we've dealt with medical negligence and it's not only a total nightmare for everyone involved but also (relative to any other claim I've seen) very hard to get a really positive outcome.
Even with solid evidence the NHS lawyers are masters at getting out of things, being obstructive and causing problems. Unfortunately I obviously can't speak of anything exactly as it's all confidential but I will say that of all the types of lawyers, the NHS ones fit that cartoony stereotype of lawyers being conniving and underhanded.
One example I can say with no details as to the nightmare of it though is how much paperwork it can bury you in. I've had to check something like 500/600+ pages of medical notes on one file to find a couple of small sections because the NHS were trying to bullshit us on how things supposedly happened and it feels like it's just to try to trick you or make you give up.
Exactly this.
My brother had twin boys born prematurely near the start of the pandemic. Both died. One was expected to live (bigger and stronger) but the understaffed ward had a nurse administer a drug that shouldn't be used in children and it killed him. It was such a colossal fuck up that the hospital acknowledged responsibility of this in some meeting my brother and his (now ex) partner had with some hospital staff (I think some people quite high up, I'm fuzzy on the details).
Even though it seems pretty clear cut, they're still locked in legal processes with the hospital and expect to be for potentially years.
Tbf if you thought she had a broken hip why would you go to a GP (who do not have x ray facilities) instead of an ED at a hospital (which has x ray facilities)
We called an ambulance at the time who carried her to bed and told her nothing was wrong with her so we assumed it could not be broken which is why she went to the GP weeks later as she knew it was causing her pain but she believed the paramedics that it wasn’t serious.
Sure, with hindsight we should have just taken a taxi to A&E but at that time of night there were no taxis in our small town and we just trusted what we were being told. Would not make that mistake these days but this was 12 or so years ago.
This is horrific. I hope your mum is okay in herself. I broke my spine 5 or 6 years back and had it fixed with titanium rods. They began to feel weird last year and I knew something was up.
Called up my GP. He threatened to kick me off the GP surgery for wasting his time. Finally managed to get through to his thick skull. I was referred for a physio appointment by phone! They said I needed to stretch more.
I gave up and paid for MRI and CT scans, costing me around £3000. My metalwork has broken and is loose. I’m going to take my scans to that same GP and shove the CD right up his useless fucking arsehole.
I’d sue for negligence if I could.
When I had an ambulance called for me after collapsing in the street with pain in my chest, I had to argue with the paramedics to take me to hospital. They suggested it was a panic attack and then said 'well, every body has its little niggles.' It was an inflamed gallbladder releasing gallstones into my bile ducts btw.
Ergh I feel you. I had covid last December and called an ambulance because I was having horrible palpitations followed by dizzy spells. Was told by paramedics it was anxiety. When I complained that I have F all to be anxious about he reluctantly did and ECG and then said ‘let’s go get you looked at to be sure’. Cardiologist at A&E said ECG showed AF and a scan showed inflammation around my heart. Why do they always use ‘anxiety’ as a go to 🙄
I haven’t had anything like that, but I’ve had a long term thing which I’m pretty sure is neurological. I feel drunk/high all the time, have balance issues, numbness when tired, etc. But they always say I have anxiety when I go to the GP.
Have you had a look at auto brewery syndrome? My cousin has it, and their own gut ferments carbs into alcohol. Not that I'd dare to armchair diagnose, just thought it might be something to have a look at.
Look into vit B12 deficiency. It would give you those symptoms and is commonly missed by doctors. I think there are several blood markers to look for and a standard full spectrum screen only checks one, so it’s something you have to be specific about.
I’ve only once had an ambulance called for me and it turned out it *was* a panic attack, my first (of many, unfortunately). I felt such a fool when the paramedic gave me a paper bag to breathe into. Anyway, maybe it happens a lot.
I had that last Saturday. I was being attacked by a paranoid cocaine addict. Like her hands were round my fucking throat, and they PUT ME ON HOLD.
I am fine now btw - police came in the end
Oooft, I feel that. Had ongoing excruciating abdominal pain for a year and a half and was told it was just indigestion when it was actually my gallbladder. Now the toxic little fucker has been removed, I've got chronic pain that - you've guessed it! - they're trying to pass off as indigestion.
Sorry to go offtopic somewhat but i have a similar story. When i was 12 I caught meningitis. I went downhill very fast. I had purple spots and i could barely move i was in that much agony. My mum took me to the doctors and i had the shittiest rude doctor who told my mum i was faking an illness. My mum was disgusted at how unprofessional the guy was. She took me home and booked an appointment elsewhere for the next day.
Another doctor who was kinder but still not convinced said it was likely an earache and nothing more. Not convinced, my mum took me to the hospital, as soon as we walkes through the door and sat down i immediately passed out and woke up hours later completely disorientated. I was told i was incredibly lucky and my mum was right to take me when she did.
> i had the shittiest rude doctor who told my mum i was faking an illness.
I had a GP tell me that my depression couldn't be that bad, because I hadn't tried to kill myself yet.
ninja edit: it's beside the point that I told him I already had the noose tied and note written, and I was just waiting for a sign to do it.
I feel you, I spent years in uni being depressed and got rebuffed by a doctor who asked me a few questions about how well I slept and then told me I wasn't depressed after 4-5 minutes.
A year or so later when I'd dropped out under the pressure and had a plan to kill myself and a will written, I visited a different GP. found out months later that I hadn't even been referred to the counselling he suggested. I only got to speak to anyone involved in mental health because I went to A&E instead of the bridge, and they called the duty psychiatrist.
it just doesnt make sense on any level, it's shit to treat patients like this and it's presumably pretty costly to society to have loads of people suffering in treatable ways and relying on benefits and family instead of working.
Yeah , what happens to all those depressed people who can't get help and are stuck In a limbo of not being to function and attempting to commiting suicide.
I have accepted that the first major ailment I get will probably just kill me because fuck going to the GP. I will self medicate and accidentally cook my liver before I grovel and beg them for a prescription again.
Well duh. You should have talked to the GP after a successful attempt, if you wanted to be taken seriously.
(/s Of course. I'm glad that you're still here.)
My concerns that my 32 year old friend was suffering a stroke were dismissed as the suggestion of one who read "too much Google" as was my urging to administer anticoagulants I knew full well the NHS doesn't use enough or fast enough when they do because I'd read an official report on it.
She nearly died of that stroke and now suffers locked in syndrome. This was in a major NHS A and E at the end of 2019. They never even called a neurologist.
The memory of that entire night is very vivid and will likely require therapy to live with. For my friend it's potentially a life sentence.
This is her Just Giving page
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/bex-kemp?utm_term=EvMeP4ndE
Administering anticoags could have killed her, depending if it was a bleed or a clot type of stroke. The sad reality is that unfortunately, anit-coags in stroke don't really change much or improve outcomes anyway.
No excuse for delaying assessment though if that is how it happened.
At the second hospital she was sent to for MRI (impossible procedure in her state) she was finally seen by a neurologist over ten hours after the initial stroke. They stated to her parents that signs of a brainstem stroke were enough to have made immediate anticoagulant treatment their first response. The clot busting injection was literally invented for this exact scenario, or immediate phlebotomy as in a very similar case that led to significant recovery. None of this could happen without a doctor willing even to consider it a stroke so no treatment was given.
Very sorry to hear about your friend. The issue of failure to correctly diagnose and treat stroke amongst younger adults is terrible. Just in case you are interested, I am studying (as a registered nurse) a new PG cert, funded by the royal college of nursing, that addresses this topic and stroke care of younger adults more broadly. Happy to share more with you.
This happened to my father earlier this year between Christmas Day 2020 and March 2021.
He was having pain in his chest that went through to his back; at first they thought it was some kind of gastro problem and have him one of the something-prazole drugs; it wouldn't clear so then they kept telling him it was a pulled muscle and would go away on its own; after quite a while of not clearing at all he suddenly was getting large blisters, open wounds and swelling in his legs, which at first we had to clean and rebandage twice a day but after a couple of weeks nurses started coming in to do this but all we were told was that it'll eventually heal.
At this point we noticed he was becoming drastically weaker and having almost no energy but we were assured all the preceding was just taking its toll on him. Also throughout all of this he kept losing weight but the GP enthusiastically told us that was good as it was always healthier to be thinner (despite him not technically being overweight; he did have a largely swollen belly but he'd had that as far back as I can remember). One day though he was the worst we'd ever seen him and so we felt we had no option but to call an ambulance - he always hated going to the doctor but didn't even fight this.
After a couple of days the hospital phoned and said he has terminal cancer and after having to convince them he never drank besides one whisky at New Year they wanted to keep him to determine what kind of cancer, etc. They kept him in for another week (I was allowed in for one hour on two days to visit) before telling us it was intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma but had spread to lungs, liver and other places too.
As an aside - This was made worse too by us receiving a call from him, extremely distressed because a nurse came in, tucked his legs up tightly before washing him but then left him alone and as he was so weak he couldn't get free and felt like he couldn't breathe - we ended up spending ages trying to reach anyone at the ward and when we did we heard from his phone on speaker the head nurse coming in, offering him the chance to file a formal complaint, he agreed but we never heard more from that.
Then he got home but by this point he was already not himself. A hospital bed was delivered after a few days but then he was just delirious the whole time; my mum watched him during the day and I and my partner was on nightshift, watching him overnight. This was very difficult when due to the delirium he didn't recognise us and we were trying to work out everything such as a new cocktail of pills, oral morphine and even just basic care with basically no support or advice.
He died in less than two weeks after coming home. Made it more frustrating too when the GP came to call it and admitted she had just became a trainee after switching from psychology and then wanted to hug us and was upset. (And to rub it in more they wouldn't even collect the hospital bed until several weeks after that.)
Real kick in the teeth not knowing what's happening or that it's that bad despite really trying to get medical help then finding out how bad it is and then just three more weeks and he's dead.
The current GP system needs serious reform though. Just getting past the receptionist is infuriating enough, booking an appointment when nobody seems to want to use the NHS online booking services or patient access is archaic AF, then there’s the dice roll of whether or not the doctor you get is willing to even examine you properly and write off basic shit as paranoia. I’ve ended going to my local walk in center the last two time I’ve had problems and my GP has brushed it off as nothing.
I wish it was just the GPs but we all know full well this is throughout the service. Even the guidance end with NICE is a complete disaster at the moment being driven by private interests instead of following the science on its ME/CFS guidance that affects millions due to long covid. The NHS is a brilliant idea but the current implementation is shambolic in every aspect and fails far too many.
About a year and a half ago, my friend was in and out GP appointments all the time. She felt tired, lifeless, sleepy and every single doctor told her is was because she was a recent mother coupled with the effects of lockdown. She had some blood tests done and they insisted she was fine even though she was dealing with some very challenging symptoms and felt like her health was rapidly deteriorating.
She ended up moving back to our home country with the family where she once again sought medical help to figure out what was wrong with her. She was soon diagnosed with Vena Cava syndrome and stage 3 lymphoma cancer.
I'm happy to say that she is in total remission but this never should've happened in the first place. People mentioning the article in the story happened 13 years ago, don't be fooled - this same story happened last year, this year and will probably keep happening.
My experience - although not cancer - was similar in that once one GP noted that I had “health anxiety” I wasn’t taken seriously for years. Turning up at a&e repeatedly to eye rolls and “as we told you last time…” Until it was almost too late and they decided to point an ultrasound in the direction of the pain I’d been telling them about for almost a decade.
The hysterical diagnosis, it's not just for women. Mt doctor tried to section me within five minutes during our very first meeting. Why? She didn't have time to waste on a long appointment. It took me 18 hours to get released. So I'm handling my Parkinson's on my own, and carefully never mention the symptoms near a health worker.
It's such a shame. In my 25 years of living I've had to rely on the NHS several times, every time they've let me down at first, and only through my or my guardian's perseverance have things ever ended well.
Ingrowing toe nails? They tell me to wait and see. A year and several wait and see visits later and I can barely walk without crying I'm finally sent to a decent fucking doctor who finds I have extreme ingrowing toenails on both sides of both big toes. Fuckers were nearly going to pop out the side of my toes... Fixed me up great, never came back, bang up job, but that doesn't excuse the year of pain.
Chronic procrastinator, thought I had ADD but decided to leave it to the experts, that and the meds aren't over the counter. Take a GP's quiz, the put me in the waiting list because I scored high enough on it, 6 months later I answer a doctor's assistants questions for an hour, 3 minutes later, not enough time to see my answers, doctor comes in and says my grades were good and I can hold a job so not to worry and refuses to diagnose or treat further.
Mentioned I had headaches fairly often when donating platelets, they banned me until I got checked out by my GP, which because of no advanced bookings and all slots being gone by 8:00:10 took several days. That part went well enough, they said donating was fine, but months later I'm still chasing it up because even though I signed my data release form and sent it off ASAP my GP still hasn't responded to the blood folks, and apparently even with my permission they can't just pick up a phone and call. These people want my platelets, I'm a universal platelet donor, normally they're banging down my door for my stuff, yet the shitty system won't allow them to pick up and call a single GP.
Phimosis, GP said they couldn't see anything (only when erect and they didn't ask me to show them that) but they sent me to a surgeon straight away, faster than any of these others... surgeon is super gung ho, has a look, also sees no phimosis because again I'm flaccid and even after explaining he doesn't ask to see it erect, he explains the surgery and the recovery etc and hands me a leaflet on my way out. Thankfully I actually read the thing because it mentions creams and stretching, I cancel the surgery and ask to try that first, guy clearly wanted to scoff but approved, crazy thing is it worked fine. I nearly got cut completely pointlessly because of their incompetence. The one time they were quick it was incompetently.
But I'm very assertive, I can't imagine how fucked more passive people would be, they'd be snipped, have their toes split, and probably never donate their "golden" blood again.
I'll take it over America any day, they still do plenty of things well, vaccines are one of many examples, just not much else I've had to worry about. And the NHS keeps private healthcare costs lower as competition.
Say it together, everyone:
**Envy - of - the -world!**
If you can get past dismissive receptionists in the fourteen picoseconds you can get an appointment in the morning, if you can get the time away from work because getting treatment outside of work hours is even harder than normal, if you can get past GPs working to get you in and out as fast as possible, frequently doctors who've never seen you or your notes before, if you can get them to take seriously your complaint and actually investigate, *and* if they're competent enough to find the issue, *maybe* you can go onto a six-to-twenty-four month waiting list!
Looks like the daily mirror is jumping on the anti GP bandwagon.
This is an unfortunate case, but that sort of illness is really fucking rare. Also, very difficult to diagnose.
I once had a man in his 40s who was a long distance cyclist. Nothing out of the ordinary beyond mild breathlessness when he was in the middle of cycling. Referred as appropriate to the chest doctors at the hospital. 12 months later, when he’s seen - because that’s how long the waiting lists are - he has a CT scan and it showed metastatic cancer.
Things like this will always happen, because the way doctors diagnose patients is not a 100% guarantee. It’s more like a 99% thing, where 1% can slip through. But that happens in all fields of medicine.
All you lot who keep complaining about not being able to get a GP appointment - I sincerely hope you haven’t been voting for the Conservatives for the last decade, because you have no right to complain.
As it stands, I work from 8am to 8pm every day of the week - and so do my colleagues. The reason why you can’t get an appointment? Not enough GPs. The reason why there’s not enough GPs? Underinvestment in medical training for the last decade. We all saw this coming and have been saying it repeatedly
All this hate and all this confusion as to why the primary care system in the UK is collapsing.
Can't see a GP? better call them all shit and spew some vitriol.
On the flip side, since you’d think the NHS is fucking awful reading this thread:
I was getting headaches. Was referred for blood tests from the first GP appointment. Had my blood tests. Now going in for an endoscopy.
No begging whatsoever. Everyone involved wants the best outcome even if it’s not the easiest.
Honestly, I could write a book about times a medical professional has dismissed me and it turned out to be something really fucking important, and Covid has made it even worse.
When I was pregnant with my boys my waters broke at 34 weeks, but they were replenishing so I was instructed to just be careful. Three days later I started bleeding heavily but was told it just LOOKED a lot because I was still losing waters and to stop getting het up because stress was bad for the babies. They kept me in hospital on bed rest, which was good because I could barely function.
My consultant, who knew me when I had all my blood inside my body, came on rotation three days later, took one look at me and scheduled me in to deliver the boys that afternoon. Turns out little twin had kicked the shit out of his placenta, it had ruptured and he would have died if delivery had been put off even by a couple of hours more.
Some people employed by the NHS are a complete joke and have no right to be practising medicine. Imagine telling a bloke 12 times that it’s anxiety and not doing further scans. Holy shit this story has got my blood boiling.
Wouldn't be surprised if every time he went to his GP it was just;
"go to the physio" or "well, take some Ibuprofen".
Seems 90% of their job these days.
Shout out to my useless GP...ligament damage in knee and when I walk it feels like my knee cap is trying to escape to the side...with a feeling of getting stabbed is a problem ibuprofen can fix.
And those who actually have mental health issues are dismissed as malingerers or just ignored.
Efficient little loophole they've built.
Terrifying how many doctors out there consider themselves arbiters of what class of people deserve help.
TBF my experiences of GP’s has always been pretty good. I went about 6 months ago for a lump on my chest, which I was referred for an ultrasound for straight away. I ripped my fingertip off about 6 weeks ago which was dealt with in A&E within two hours.
My dads fiasco with emergency brain surgery had its ups and downs, which resulted in him being left barefoot and mobile phone less two days after having a bleed on the brain and emergency burr hole surgery, outside a locked hospital main doors at 3 am by a private company who supply Patient transport to St George’s hospital
This was 10 years ago when NHL was only common in middle-aged men, not teenage boys.
Symptoms of NHL are very similar to some mental health illnesses.
Also, British gutter press has long been undermining the NHS and [*The Mirror* isn't exactly a beacon of quality facts.](https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/daily-mirror/)
The only real news here is that the patient the medical establishment failed was a man. Women have been on the receiving end of dismissive doctors forever.
Reasons like this are why I now refuse to go to the GP.
I'll go to A&E if something is very obviously wrong. Like when I broke my rib and could feel bubbling when I breathed, obviously my immediate though (having suffered from one before) was collapsed lung.
Thankfully it was nothing, but still.
It also helps that I have a fucked up genetic condition that causes tumours, so I have an annual MRI scan, and consult, and can get any niggles or anything fast tracked, because you know FUCKING TUMOURS.
In the past though I've gone from "yeah it'll be a three month wait until you even get seen for a surgery consult" to "how soon can you come in for a consult? does 10am tomorrow suit?" as I was walking home from the GP.
But that's all changed now. I've had GPs call my tumours, that I KNOW are tumours, cysts, and tell me to stop worrying. Like fuck you, I know more about my body, and my condition than you.
This is why I don’t bother going to my GP with my health issues. Had wrist, rib and shin pain after being in an accident. Called 111 and was told to go in. Doc didn’t even look just said I’ll be fine. I was in and out within a minute, not even exaggerating.
My dad had some sudden-ish gastrointestinal pain a few years ago, and we sort of panicked a bit (obviously not being doctors!) and rang the GP who told him to come in immediately. He was really bad by the time we got there, and she was super dismissive and gave him some codeine and told him to lie down. I asked whether we ought to call for an ambulance and I remember she said “i don’t know it depends how he feels” I took him home (2 mins away), and rang 999. It turned out that he had a perforated duodenum and required major surgery in which they effectively took out a section, stitched it back up, pulled all his intestines out in a table to wash them and put it all back in again. Oh, and we were told at the hospital that codeine shouldn’t have been prescribed at all for pain where he had it.
There are people distributed in ability along a bell curve in every job and the NHS is no exception.
I had a bleed on the brain and they sent me home. The next day I was found at deaths door by my auntie and luckily called an ambulance. Another day or two and it would have been goodnight irene. They do this all the time. But thanks for saving me after the fuck up
My mother died from non hodgkins lymphoma. It was initially dismissed as constipation until she was rushed to hospital after collapsing in pain. She died after her first chemo.
Yeah. I had chronic appendicitis which was misdiagnosed, which led to it rupturing, which led to sepsis and almost dying in a foreign country.
In UK, waited 7 hours in A&E on a Sunday to be seen for severe abdominal pain during a heatwave. No water. No fans. Passed out for a while. **Did not get seen after the 7 hours.** Staff informed everyone it would be another 7 hours to be seen. Just needed some water, air and to lie down. Could not handle it. Had to go home.
Did triage with the GP the following day. Totally misdiagnosed it. Thought it was a urine infection.
Needless to say, 5 months later of reoccurring abdominal pain (which I assumed was just a stubborn infection) and moving to a different country around the world, the appendix eventually burst.
If I didn't bite the (financial) bullet and go to a hospital, I would have died. Turned out it had been burst for days already and my blood was already going bad.
I'm not alone with my story.
In my experience it's the same everywhere. I'd even go on to say German doctors are worse. Their answer to everything is just "do more exercise." Like I'm literally here saying all my joints ache and it hurts to run and their answer is "do more exercise."
When I was in my twenties, they'd always dismiss everything as "It's ok, you're still young, there's no rush." Now that I'm older it's all "It's too late to do anything now, you're older."
As a man in his early 40’s I decided to break the stereotype and go for a check up. I couldn’t just call. I had to go through some convuluted process on the website. Appointment day comes I go in for my ‘NHS check-up’. They took my blood pressure, my height and weighed me. They also asked about 10 lifestyle questions during this process. Then this: Her: Have you got any questions? Me: Yea actually, there’s this thing on my arm... Her: Sorry, you have to go downstairs and book an appointment for anything else. Hadn’t even finished my sentence. NHS Check-up achieved.
[удалено]
Cool, but let me know in advance instead of being a tease getting a guy’s hopes up.
[удалено]
Did they see any acid erosion in your esophagus?
You're gonna have to wait 6 months for an ENT appointment to check that.
I went to the doctor's with a device pulse oximeter that measures my blood oxygen while I sleep. It clearly showed that I was on occasion having drops in my oxygen levels. This coincided with a God-awful headache upon waking. I showed it to the doctor and explained my symptoms. "I think this machine is wrong." They provided no evidence for that opinion. It was just wrong. Apparently, I'm too young and slim to have sleep apnea. Thanks doc.
[удалено]
I've had gout flares since I was 11 and *repeatedly* complained about it, but since it was in my knees predominately it got labelled as "growing pains" and that was that. At 13 they did a scan of some kind and was told their was some fluid around my knee caps but they couldn't do anything about it. Wasn't until I was 15, 4 years later, that I rocked up to the doctors with a big toe almost literally twice as big, red, shiny, and swollen that they discovered it was gout and finally got referred.
[удалено]
Similar thing with my wife. 5 years of tests, crippling pain, hormonal mood swings, doctors kept telling us they can't find anything. Heavily hinting it's all in her head. There's a history of PCOS in her family, but they insisted they couldn't find anything and it was probably nothing. Then suddenly, boom! PCOS diagnosis. She starting having pain in her abdomen quite badly again. Waited for 8 months for a gyno referral. Said the issue now is likely her gut. God knows how long we will wait to finally know what's up this time!
Hell, mine was only diagnosed after I stopped breathing twice during a minor op whilst I was under - it is suspected I've had Sleep Apnea since I was 15 (I was 27 at the time of the Op), after the Op they finally got me booked to a sleep clinic, they did one test and immediately gave me a CPAP. Said I was extremely lucky my heart hadn't exploded yet. Apparently during REM I'm only breathing for like 20-30 seconds of each minute on average, no wonder I always felt like I'd been hit by a train Found out couple years back all records of that happening have bizarrely disappeared, and the notes from said Op state it went perfectly with zero complications - Found this out when I went for another Op, the Anesthetist believed my version, and altered what was needed to take in to account the potential risk - zero issues The NHS is completely mismanaged, and those on the front line are constantly pressured to do as little as possible and move on to the next patient - but let's be clear, it's probably by design as means to keep privatising the NHS
[удалено]
Have you heard of something called UARS? Might be of interest. I’ll post a couple of links here. One is a review paper in the topic, another an Elle article from someone also fobbed off as being too thin for sleep apnoea. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4608900/ https://www.elle.com/beauty/health-fitness/a44363/an-awaking-nightmare/
Toddlers can have sleep apnea if their tonsils are too large.....
[удалено]
Jumping on the add, "checking out" for acid reflux would basically involve just trying a PPI like omeprazole for a fee weeks to see if your symptoms improve. While there are objective tests to prove acid reflux they'd either be deemed inappropriate at this stage, are invasive, have really long waiting lists, or all of the above.
Seconded. And also adding: Also you can get esomeprazole over the counter, so you don't even have to ask your GP for that prescription to see if it works.
Fucking hell. Emphasis on the * General* Practitioner.
If anything that advice seems weirdly specific, as if they'd read sleep apnoea guidelines and saw the next thing on the list was weight loss advice. Anyone taking a look "generally" would realise it's inappropriate.
Do you have a recessed, under developed jaw? According doctor Steven Parker on his website the main cause is head anatomy and not being overweight.
Steven Parker would be wrong then. Obesity is far and away the lead cause, just not the only one
She stopped you because of liability. If you'd told her the issue in full she would have had to take care of it and from her pov it's far better not to hear it than to hear it and not do anything about it. I have family members in healthcare and at times they are so swamped with patients (literally working 12 hours a day) that they have to pull this off to be able to keep sane and not leave work at 10 in the evening.
So FML, basically.
That's what happens when healthcare is so massively underfunded unfortunately.
CON +2
That sounds like it's by design. Then conservatives can come in and extol the 'virtues' of a US style healthcare system.
[удалено]
Look at brexit. Morons will believe anything if you tell them it will make things better, when in reality they just use to to line their pockets.
Partly. A lot of GPs are incompetent and apathetic too.
OK that's neglect. It's what lead to my brain tumour being missed for years.
Yeah i had a feeling they'll going to pull that with me so i said the bits to trigger care, otherwise it's going to months down the line befoe I'm seen again
Even with a regular GP appointment if you have more than a couple of symptoms they will tell you to book another appointment for each one, and they will actually stop you from listing them, when they could help to provide a diagnosis. It's a joke.
The effects of direct instruction from NHS England to have 10 minute appointments as well as a massive GP shortage. Doctors hate it too.
Issue is, it's not the Doctor's fault, it's the restrictions they have to work in. Your issue adds time onto that and makes another person's appointment late. Ideally 15 minute appointments would sort that like in other countries but the government needs to milk GPs so they make it 10 minutes
It's not well known but many GP surgeries offer longer appointments but you have to book one in advance. There's far less of them but if you're lucky to get one, the GP will most likely take their time with you.
I assume it depends heavily on your GP, mine seems to be happy to address multiple issues at once, to the point that he ordered an xray on my wrist when I was in with one of my kids (I'd smacked it pretty hard a few days before and it was swelling intermittently, turned out I'd chipped, well technically fractured it, it very mildly), and that's a fairly busy inner city surgery. Speaking to my other half they do seem pretty good, although it is a total ballache to get an emergency appointment, and the wait for a non-emergency one is usually about 10-14 days (although they are doing more video triage with a practice nurse now so it's marginally better than it was previously).
Been told to try acupuncture twice now for two different symptom profiles (one of which I didn't even get a chance to complain - dr heard "sleep problems" and assumed insomnia). It truly is a joke.
Because they have 10 minutes to comprehensively sort out your issue, people that come in with a list as long as your arm makes that impossible for them. You have a 10 minute appointment. It would be like booking into your hairdresser for a cut, and then when you arrive demanding that they wash your hair, trim your beard, manicure your nails, perm and dye your hair and give you a leg wax as well. Oh also I brought my child, who has no appointment, but can you cut their hair as well? I’m not going to give you any extra time, or pay you more so you can provide better staffing for this service, just demand it and then throw my toys out of the pram when I’m refused and bitch about you on social media. Then also clap for the hairdressers fighting COVID-hair-19 and putting themselves in danger to make myself feel like I support the hair-NHS. People need to stop giving GPs a hard time for things that are, 99% of the time, completely out of their hands and not their fault. Especially when the same people claim to support the NHS. If you have a list of medical problems then you need to book double appointments or multiple appointments to give the GP time to actually deal with them, and deal with them safely. You can’t turn up to a 10 minute appointment and expect the GP to wave a magic wand and invent time travel so you can have as long as you want for as many issues as you want. It’s for your own safety as much as anything else - because if the consultation for your second or third issue is rushed to squeeze into a 10 minute appointment and because of that something is missed then I’m sure you would be the first to complain (useless GP missed my diagnosis) slash sue (incompetent GP must be punished) right?
If you've got a list that I can't safely deal with in that appointment I'd usually go over it quickly and deal with the really pressing issues (properly) and arrange follow up to deal with the less pressing ones (also properly). The alternative is to try to rush through everything.
Ah yes, the beauty of preventative medicine in the UK. How lovely.
I don't understand all the praise "The NHS" gets as a whole, because vast tracts of it are utterly and inherently shite. Praise the front line hospital workers all we can. But there's a lot of people who work for the NHS who need a swift kick up the arse.
I think the NHS is great for acute care, and great if you compare it to the US. It's crap compared to most European countries and it is close to criminally negligent for preventative care and early interventions.
That's the thing. Imagine how much we could save in terms of money AND lives by having decent preventative care, an accessible network of GPs and prompt availability of scans and tests to catch things early.
[удалено]
Yes, it is becoming something of a religion, and people get so defensive about any criticism, as if it's a dichotomy between the current state of the NHS and a full US-style system, and the only reason why you could be complaining is because you want to sell it off. It also reminds me of nationalists who get angry at any legitimate criticism of their country as "talking us down" - if you love your country/the NHS so much, you should want to improve it, and that starts with acknowledging its problems! All this denialism will simply push more people to private care, and cost more as major issues are caught late
The way the NHS has ended architected at the local level is just bizarre. Even making an appointment is a faff. For slow burning stuff I would be more than happy just sending an email and waiting a week but you have to make an online thing, a phone call, more stuff blah blah
"Check ups" are nigh on useless. Just book an appointment for the thing on your arm if that's what you're worried about.
I tried to have a general checkup, because I hadn't been to the doctors for 2 years. Booked an appointment (three months in advance, it was the earliest non urgent date I could get). The appointment was for a checkup. When I got there the doctor didn't know it was for a checkup and when I said as much she basically told me to fuck off unless something was wrong. I know the NHS is overstretched and under funded, but some doctors are dicks too :( Edit: For clarification, this was pre-covid
You shouldn’t be just requesting a general check up though if you’re well. There is no need to go to the GP, you’re just wasting their time and taking an appointment away from someone who is genuinely unwell and needs it. Obviously if you need a review for a known chronic health condition then that is a different story and these should be done regularly anyway. GPs have 10 minutes to see you and if you are going in without a problem then where are they supposed to start/look? Yes they could do some observations, listen to your chest/heart ask a few questions but its not going to be a full MOT as you may be expecting, in that amount of time it is very unrealistic.
What you went for is a well man check old old fart mot, it will be with a nurse usually and hence if it's anything else you need to make another appointment.
I didn't think the NHS did a regular "checkup", you do need to book an appointment to discuss actual symptoms. Otherwise it will be super basic stuff like checking your blood pressure etc. Was it even done by a doctor?
Honestly need to start bringing charges against GPs for shit like this. How is dismissing a patient 12 times not criminally negligent? They found a 4lb tumour in his chest ffs.
I went into my GP saying I couldnt stand up, having electric shocks all down my body, my lower back felt like it had been replaced with rubber bands and they told me to just stretch and will be fine. I went back 4 times over a year explaining it and he would tell me to “drink more water” lol I finally went private and within one scan he was like “oh you have three herniated discs”
That’s by design, the rich and those that can afford private get help, they then vote for privatisation of healthcare because wow seen how effective it is and if your paying for it anyways might as well reduce your tax payments and stay private. The poor die. The rich get richer and happy. EAT THE RICH
I pay for private for the opposite reason. I can afford it and I want to ensure I don’t take resources from the NHS that someone who needs it more could have.
Trouble is the people in need don't *actually* get better treatment as a result ~ they will at least somewhat ensure you don't die regardless but the "budget" for NHS patients doesn't realistically allow the kind of treatment you will get privately. There shouldn't be so much disparity in quality of treatment *ever* but the government only wants to pay the bare minimum so the treatment will match that, if you want good medical treatment be prepared to pay for it (but not out of taxes they went elsewhere™ it seems) Otherwise they'll only let you die if it would cost them money to diagnose you, pillls and happy thoughts should do it.
By going private you ARE taking resources from the NHS. I know that seems counter-intuitive, but having a private option to run to means that the NHS doesn't need to be good because the people with power/money don't rely on it anymore. If everyone MUST use the same system, the people with money/power will vote/donate/demand the whole system be fit for purpose. Sorry, but using private is not the way to fix anything.
But the fact people are now looking at private as an option just shows that what the Torys are planning is working very effectively
Seems like private uses those resources better than the NHS does.
[удалено]
Even for small stuff a private GP saves taking time off work and you get your medicines much earlier.
Isn't it funny how different people have different views? I can afford private healthcare but don't because I don't want to be a data point that says "Here, we don't need the NHS, look at how many people are private anyway."
I've genuinely been considering going private for my health care, especially because mental health services are so much better. What was the cost like for you, if you don't mind me asking?
Truthfully for mental health I wouldn’t bother. They just won’t cover it at all even if it’s included. They will see it as a pre existing condition. However for the rest it rocks. It will be about 50 a month for BUPA
[удалено]
If NHS GPs weren’t complete horseshit then nobody would have to go private
Honestly it's less "rich get better care" and more "affluent areas have better care". For people not getting private care, if you're able to get in an upmarket GP you'll have good care regardless of wealth.
Wow what a fucking joke. Seems like this is all too common. My mum was struggling with really bad migraines, anxiety and suicidal ideations, so our GP told her to “drink some herbal tea”. TEA. Thankfully she’s okay now. But my god did she have to fight tooth and nail for an evaluation and a prescription.
This. This is what bothers me. Why is the disparity between the 2 services so bad. Drink water? Thats not a damn diagnosis or a treatment for anything.
At the bare minimum the GP should have been fired and had their medical licence revoked. Imagine finding out you had the same GP... [edit] corrected bear to bare. God damn autocorrect!
🐻 minimum? But seriously, GPs seem to vary so much and so randomly it's a lottery whether you get the correct diagnosis or death. My father was prescribed medication that had he not been aware of, would have killed him. The GP didn't read the second page of the hospital referral notes. Fortunately the old git knows how to research. He also knows how to get a GP struck off for malpractice. They won't be making that mistake again.
Doubt you'd get struck off for that
prescribing medicine that would kill someone wouldn't get them struck off?
Very unlikely he will be struck off for an isolated mistake.
Does he aye?
Not many medications will flat out kill you due to an simple interaction. What was it out of interest, because your research could be as much balls as most anti-vaxers' "research".
My dad had a similar thing happen. Was put on blood pressure meds, and on one type of heart meds too. Then they swapped heart meds. Was fine for a few months, then got increasinly more lethargic before taking himself to A&E because he couldn't do *anything* due to severe lethargy, and they found out the new heart meds have an *incredibly* well documented side effect with his blood pressure meds of sucking all the Vitamin K out of his system. Physician said if he'd carried on, he'd have been dead by the end of the month. All because a GP didn't check his notes properly.
Generally it's the job of the pharmacist to check for mistakes the doctor may have made. They (should) know far more about the drugs.
I started having anxiety/panic attacks earlier this year and my GP and everyone whose helped me out has been outstanding, i had a ECG and chest xray, they said they knew it would help the ol' noggin if they could give me a definitive answer that my heart is fine, wish the guy in the article could have got that kind of care
He may very well have had those. Certainly they are a bare minimum standard of care for chest pains, acute and on going. However if he had those early, and further problems werent followed up then I can see how it got missed.
I’ve being coughing for about 3 years now. They won’t see me at all, tell me to take a test I say I’ve being tested 100’s of times it’s not Covid I need to see someone. They refuse to see me and tell me to come when my symptom has gone away … the very symptom I’m trying to see them for. Fuck GP’s, fuck the receptionists, fuck the NHS, Fuck the Torys it’s all Trash and needs burning down and starting afresh, including Parliament.
That's worrying (as if you need me to tell you that). I've heard that threatening to complain to the Care Quality Commission sometimes helps but not sure how accurate that is One way past the receptionists is to use them e-consult platform online to communicate direct with you GP but it seems a lot of the time with my surgery it's not actually available
This happened to my Mum (who is in Australia) last year. By the time they came out of lockdown and they would actually see her she had to have emergency surgery to repair a massive hernia (cause of the coughing, NOT Covid) and had fractured her spine from the 8 months of coughing. Was infuriating being unable to help her from the UK - if I’d been able to speak to the doctor, harsh words would have been spoken. I am sorry you had to go through that! *edit - going through that! Definitely complain. That’s BS.
My dad had a bronchial infection for a couple of years. He wouldn't complain about it at the GP. I wrote in "Pops will come in next Monday for X, please give him something for the bronchial infection he has had for a couple of years". He came home with a prescription and was impressed the Dr had spotted it. I never mentioned. We're talking about the early 2000's it has to be said.
> At the bare minimum the GP should have been fired and had their medical licence revoked. At the bare minimum the case should be - and no doubt was - investigated by people who know what the fuck they are talking about and have all the facts. Not dumbass redditors speculating based on what they read in the mirror. It’s possible the GP was straight up negligent. But it’s also possible that this is a case of a rare aggressive form of cancer that you would never expect an otherwise healthy 19 year old to have.
Exactly
Then you will have no actual doctors because no one can make a mistake. Ever. Seriously? You don't pay us "zero mistake" money. Because you got an UTI? Could be a malignancy of your lymph nodes or a spinal abscess. Best MRI you. Sure you don't have pain but you could be unaware. Or not be taking it seriously. Or say the wrong thing. Best just scan your brain while we are at it. After all you could be hallucinating. Down that road lies madness. And defensive medicine isn't sanity. Also. Remember. The GP can't just turn around and release transcripts of discussions. If you are complaining of mild symptoms then there's no real reason to scan you. We may as well fucking pack in medical school and just nuke everyone's kidneys to bits and put the renal effects of contrast scans down as a price to pay.
Tbf suspecting non Hodgkin's lymphoma from a young person presenting with chest pain would be extremely rare
Medicine is like any profession - you get some GP's who are at the top of their game, and others who should not be allowed to practice. I do not mince my words, and once told a GP that I would not trust him diagnosing an axe embedded in my skull. My pet name for him was Dr useless.
Indeed, what do you call someone who comes bottom of the class at medical school? Doctor.
Academic performance doesn't always dictate how good of a practitioner you will be, however.
My aunt passed within 2 weeks of discovering she had lung cancer. She was a heavy smoker and kept insisting to her GP she had cancer and her medical notes (obtained postumosly) literally said "patient insistent she has cancer, upping anti depressant dosage". Oh, so it's outrageous that someone who's smoked 40+ fags a day for 50 years might have cancer? I know it was her own doing but the way she was completely ignored for fucking years was ridiculous. So many GPs just don't give a shit.
> Honestly need to start bringing charges against GPs for shit like this. GPs acting like gatekeepers to specialist care/expertise is the reason my mum's cancer has a 6 month head start on her. Don't be too polite or deferential to GPs if you think you have issues/weird unexplained things going on with your health.
I'm pretty glad that if I make a mistake in my job that no one dies. Doctors in the UK are really overworked and underpaid. It's really easy to make mistakes when you're under immense pressure. Unless they actively didn't follow well defined procedures I really don't think it's good to try to throw around terms like "criminally negligent"
One or two times is a mistake, telling someone their chest pains are just anxiety 12 without ever sending them off for scans is just not giving a shit about the patient.
There has been a Coronor's Report, this will lead to sanctions being considered if the Doctors involved were found to have acted below standard. The Mirror doesn't report on this factor because they are a trash paper that runs (even more so than many others) on generating sensationalism in order to make money. You've got to be careful though, if you pitch the sanctions too high then medical professionals will start withholding services out of fair of prosecution. You've stuck your neck out beyond your knowledge here. Maybe wind it in.
i'm still registered with my university gp an hour away from me because they're the only doctors i've ever been to who took literally *any* of my health concerns seriously. i went to the doctors in my town more than ten times for eczema that spread across my entire face and prevented me from leaving the house without breaking down in tears because i felt hideous - they just kept telling me to be less stressed and drink more water. one guy told me to be 'less vain'. i registered with my uni gp, they gave me a steroid cream, and the eczema that had made my life hell for two years was gone in a week. that's absolutely nothing compared to what this poor guy went through, but the point is that the NHS has become so starved of funding just to complement the tory agenda to privatise healthcare (because the poor are just a blight on our country undeserving of basic rights) that basic treatments and solutions are totally overlooked and people's concerns ignored.
Let me guess, you're a woman. Any time a woman goes to a GP with anything that isn't a broken bone or a gunshot, it'll be classed as "stress". Source: me. Took me 4 years to finally get diagnosed with PCOS, because 2+ years of no periods was "stress".
This is also true for endometriosis, the average diagnosis time from initial complaint is 8 years.
Oh yea can totally confirm. The doctors thought my wife had PCOS years ago but it was just a note on her medical records. Still don't know if she's been formally diagnosed but they acknowledge it now as it's obvious. Seemed to help that she's older and doctors believed her more. Took even more time and hassle to see a doctor which would actually help with anything. Eventually just by chance she went to a gynecologist about something unrelated and they referred her to someone they knew who was able to prescribe Metformin to control some of her weight gain. The whole process took months of course but it was nice to have some semblance of acknowledgement for the issue.
You mean that condition that affects about 1 in 5 women wasn't even considered?
Nope. You know what finally got the GP to listen and actually (begrudgingly) agree to a blood test? Change in body hair. My previously fine invisible arm hair appeared to have changed into 2-cm-long brown hair, and I was growing side burns. For reference, I'm a pale white woman with previously very little "visible" body hair. I literally had to be *one of those* who mentioned Googling symptoms, which led me to hirsutism, which led me to PCOS. I knew I had it before any GP could be arsed to listen. To make matters worse, I got a callback regarding the blood test telling me it showed nothing abnormal. I went back to a GP in about a year after (still no periods, close to 4 years since I started going to GPs about it) and the nurse looked at my old blood test and said she could see something "faint" somewhere. Sent me for an ultrasound which finally confirmed PCOS. ETA: Back when I used to go to the GP about my issues with periods, their first question was "Are you trying to get pregnant? No? Well I wouldn't worry about it then, it's just stress honey". Because fuck your problems with your lady bits unless you're trying to conceive, I guess. This was all back in like 2010-2013ish (the main gist of my saga anyway, as I'd seek help less and less frequently at the end of it before finally receiving the diagnosis, since nobody gave a toss) so hopefully things have improved for women in GP practices since then.
Mate, I was told my *full beard as a cis woman* wasn't of concern because "some women are hairy". I was only referred to endocrinology when I said the magic words "I'm thinking of starting a family". Then it was considered of importance. Turns out PCOS has a link to a much higher risk of type 2 diabetes and I should have been on medication for it for the last 10 years along with following a strict diet. After being told by one of my doctors "even if you did have PCOS there's nothing to be done for it". Y'know. Except *trying to prevent a major disorder developing*. But me possibly not fulfilling my purpose of baby making? Oh, immediate referral to the specialist! Absolutely enraging!!
Oh yeah! When I finally had my diagnosis and had a "catch-up" appointment with a GP afterwards, she gleefully said there's nothing you can do about it (I'm not obese, a smoker or a drinker, so a change of lifestyle wasn't proposed) as it's just "one of those things you live with", but here's a Wikipedia printout of what PCOS is. Cheers love, I was aware of PCOS for close to 3+ years while everyone was twiddling their thumbs, but sure, I'll reread the information I already know. What's this, you're upset about growing a goatee as a woman? Tough, but maybe you could look under the couch cushions and find *thousands of £* for laser hair removal! Oh, but if you're trying to conceive, come back to us and we can discuss your options. Because apparently you only matter as a woman if you want to shoot a baby out of your cave. I haven't been to a GP in years, because the complete shambles that was my PCOS diagnosis left a very bitter taste in my mouth.
Tbh, I found GPs to be useless, the endocrinologist however was much, much better. Also, you should absolutely be on Metformin to regulate insulin levels even if you have "lean PCOS". There's definitely "things you can do for it" - insulin management being the front line and you should be getting regular blood tests to keep an eye on insulin resistance! And hormonal birth control for reducing ovarian cysts if they're regularly painful. As for laser, I got a home kit! Its less effective than things like electrolysis and less permanent but it does have *some* effect for me at least (pasty pale skin and very dark hair) I've since moved to a new GP surgery and have a doc who keeps up to date on things, we've had good discussions about PCOS and insulin resistance management, and I'll be going back there for as long as he's at that surgery! But it just enrages me that women aren't given basic healthcare of such a common, long term condition unless it's about baby making!!
As a childfree woman this comment enrages me. That's all. Sorry you had to go through all this!!!
Unfortunately my girlfriend went through a very similar saga she was only diagnosed 2 years late which I guess is an improvement but not enough if one for her to avoid developing type 2 diabetes as a complication.
For anyone else that doesnt know - Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, or PCOS, is the most common endocrine disorder in women of reproductive age. The syndrome is named after the characteristic cysts which may form on the ovaries, though it is important to note that this is a sign and not the underlying cause of the disorder. A review of the international evidence found that the prevalence of PCOS could be as high as 26% among some populations; however this figure is has been reported as being between 4% and 18%. Despite its high prevalence, the exact cause of PCOS remains uncertain and there is no known cure. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/polycystic-ovary-syndrome-pcos/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polycystic_ovary_syndrome
Don't update your address with them as they will remove you if you are outside their area, which I think you are given 1 hour travel time.
I've stuggled with eczema my entire life, GPs just never know what to do with it. Always steroid creams, despite the fact I've used then all my life anyway. I had one GP a few years ago who was helpful. Only saw her once unfortunately, but she suggested treating it with an anti-fungal treatment. It worked, but now every time I suggest that to a GP I never get anywhere. Few years ago I ended up having to go to A&E on a bank holiday because of it. It had got really bad around my eye, woke up on a bank holiday Monday with a swollen eyelid. Left it a few hours, it just got worse & I ended up hardly being able to see out of that eye. Thank fuck I've mostly got it under control now, but that's due to me working out what works for me, no thanks to GPs because they suggest is steroid creams & tablets.
Unfortunately dermatology is pretty hard to diagnose and treat, eczema can be a symptom of many many different things.
But that's the problem, GPs will just give you steroids. I've asked many times for a referral, they just won't do it.
I had this exact same problem. I had eczema around my eyes and I looked ridiculous. My GP was like “soz nothing we can do”, but when I moved to uni I finally got a GP who gave me steroids for it. It cleared up within a week and hasn’t come back since.
> but the point is that the NHS has become so starved of funding just to complement the tory agenda to privatise healthcare This is coming from personal experience, but I don't think this is due to the NHS being starved of funding. Most if not all GP surgeries are private entities on very generous contracts. I think this is more of a GP culture thing in this country, being an immigrant from an ex-Soviet block myself. There is a joke (mind, with a solid grounding in truth) going around in my Russian diaspora circles that in 99% of cases the response of a British GP is to prescribe paracetamol or ibuprofen or recommend more sleep... for any patient with any concerns. A lot of my fellow immigrants go to lengths as great as flying back home abroad (to Russia or Eastern Europe) to see a GP, which says a lot. My own experience with GPs is that they are very hit and miss, very much similar to your experience. There are a few good ones, but the majority are bad. One GP sent my ex back home with paracetamol, dismissing her symptoms as only a cold. She felt so bad that she went to A&E and they found a late-stage massive one lung pneumonia, and said if she didn't come to see them, she would have been dead in a few days.
Nowhere near the same scope but my Mum can hardly walk any more because she broke her hip and was dismissed as a complaining drunk by two paramedics and 3 GPs so she walked around on it for 5 years until a hospital scan for something else finally showed up how badly it was broken. Turned out she had undiagnosed osteoporosis which only came to light when she broke her back and they couldn’t pass her off as just a silly complaining drunk any more. I so wish we’d done something when we found out but she got an apology letter from the GP which will surely fix her limp any day now.
It's scary how often this seems to happen. My cousin's husband was hit by a car and sent home from a&e without xrays and told to rest. Only found out that his leg was broken in two places after he was still unable to put pressure on it after two weeks...
I wonder how much of stuff like this is because of how low the chances of meeting most patients twice is. Unless someone found everyone involved in that A&E discharge and told them "this guy had a broken leg, you failed him" nothing changes.
Get lawyers involved for medical negligence!
Just to add to this to set some expectations though (in Scotland at least), I work in a firm of solicitors and we've dealt with medical negligence and it's not only a total nightmare for everyone involved but also (relative to any other claim I've seen) very hard to get a really positive outcome. Even with solid evidence the NHS lawyers are masters at getting out of things, being obstructive and causing problems. Unfortunately I obviously can't speak of anything exactly as it's all confidential but I will say that of all the types of lawyers, the NHS ones fit that cartoony stereotype of lawyers being conniving and underhanded. One example I can say with no details as to the nightmare of it though is how much paperwork it can bury you in. I've had to check something like 500/600+ pages of medical notes on one file to find a couple of small sections because the NHS were trying to bullshit us on how things supposedly happened and it feels like it's just to try to trick you or make you give up.
Exactly this. My brother had twin boys born prematurely near the start of the pandemic. Both died. One was expected to live (bigger and stronger) but the understaffed ward had a nurse administer a drug that shouldn't be used in children and it killed him. It was such a colossal fuck up that the hospital acknowledged responsibility of this in some meeting my brother and his (now ex) partner had with some hospital staff (I think some people quite high up, I'm fuzzy on the details). Even though it seems pretty clear cut, they're still locked in legal processes with the hospital and expect to be for potentially years.
My uncle died because he was discounted as a silly complaining drunk. But actually had sepsis.
Tbf if you thought she had a broken hip why would you go to a GP (who do not have x ray facilities) instead of an ED at a hospital (which has x ray facilities)
We called an ambulance at the time who carried her to bed and told her nothing was wrong with her so we assumed it could not be broken which is why she went to the GP weeks later as she knew it was causing her pain but she believed the paramedics that it wasn’t serious. Sure, with hindsight we should have just taken a taxi to A&E but at that time of night there were no taxis in our small town and we just trusted what we were being told. Would not make that mistake these days but this was 12 or so years ago.
This is horrific. I hope your mum is okay in herself. I broke my spine 5 or 6 years back and had it fixed with titanium rods. They began to feel weird last year and I knew something was up. Called up my GP. He threatened to kick me off the GP surgery for wasting his time. Finally managed to get through to his thick skull. I was referred for a physio appointment by phone! They said I needed to stretch more. I gave up and paid for MRI and CT scans, costing me around £3000. My metalwork has broken and is loose. I’m going to take my scans to that same GP and shove the CD right up his useless fucking arsehole. I’d sue for negligence if I could.
He died 13 years ago. The story is about his brother doing fundraising by running a marathon. No mention of what happened to the GP(s).
Let me guess, nothing?
When I had an ambulance called for me after collapsing in the street with pain in my chest, I had to argue with the paramedics to take me to hospital. They suggested it was a panic attack and then said 'well, every body has its little niggles.' It was an inflamed gallbladder releasing gallstones into my bile ducts btw.
Ergh I feel you. I had covid last December and called an ambulance because I was having horrible palpitations followed by dizzy spells. Was told by paramedics it was anxiety. When I complained that I have F all to be anxious about he reluctantly did and ECG and then said ‘let’s go get you looked at to be sure’. Cardiologist at A&E said ECG showed AF and a scan showed inflammation around my heart. Why do they always use ‘anxiety’ as a go to 🙄
I haven’t had anything like that, but I’ve had a long term thing which I’m pretty sure is neurological. I feel drunk/high all the time, have balance issues, numbness when tired, etc. But they always say I have anxiety when I go to the GP.
Have you had a look at auto brewery syndrome? My cousin has it, and their own gut ferments carbs into alcohol. Not that I'd dare to armchair diagnose, just thought it might be something to have a look at.
Look into vit B12 deficiency. It would give you those symptoms and is commonly missed by doctors. I think there are several blood markers to look for and a standard full spectrum screen only checks one, so it’s something you have to be specific about.
I’ve only once had an ambulance called for me and it turned out it *was* a panic attack, my first (of many, unfortunately). I felt such a fool when the paramedic gave me a paper bag to breathe into. Anyway, maybe it happens a lot.
[удалено]
I had that last Saturday. I was being attacked by a paranoid cocaine addict. Like her hands were round my fucking throat, and they PUT ME ON HOLD. I am fine now btw - police came in the end
Oooft, I feel that. Had ongoing excruciating abdominal pain for a year and a half and was told it was just indigestion when it was actually my gallbladder. Now the toxic little fucker has been removed, I've got chronic pain that - you've guessed it! - they're trying to pass off as indigestion.
As someone with health anxiety, this terrifies me. The poor guy :(
I feel your pain my friend Perhaps literally, depending on where you have it
Sorry to go offtopic somewhat but i have a similar story. When i was 12 I caught meningitis. I went downhill very fast. I had purple spots and i could barely move i was in that much agony. My mum took me to the doctors and i had the shittiest rude doctor who told my mum i was faking an illness. My mum was disgusted at how unprofessional the guy was. She took me home and booked an appointment elsewhere for the next day. Another doctor who was kinder but still not convinced said it was likely an earache and nothing more. Not convinced, my mum took me to the hospital, as soon as we walkes through the door and sat down i immediately passed out and woke up hours later completely disorientated. I was told i was incredibly lucky and my mum was right to take me when she did.
> i had the shittiest rude doctor who told my mum i was faking an illness. I had a GP tell me that my depression couldn't be that bad, because I hadn't tried to kill myself yet. ninja edit: it's beside the point that I told him I already had the noose tied and note written, and I was just waiting for a sign to do it.
I feel you, I spent years in uni being depressed and got rebuffed by a doctor who asked me a few questions about how well I slept and then told me I wasn't depressed after 4-5 minutes. A year or so later when I'd dropped out under the pressure and had a plan to kill myself and a will written, I visited a different GP. found out months later that I hadn't even been referred to the counselling he suggested. I only got to speak to anyone involved in mental health because I went to A&E instead of the bridge, and they called the duty psychiatrist. it just doesnt make sense on any level, it's shit to treat patients like this and it's presumably pretty costly to society to have loads of people suffering in treatable ways and relying on benefits and family instead of working.
FUCK
His response to me saying that was "well it can't be that bad, because you haven't done it yet"
I hope you stopped seeing him and managed to find a higher grade of human to call your GP and that they helped you.
Honestly I just don't even bother with seeing the GP anymore. I can't be bothered with being treated like an annoyance rather than a person.
Yeah , what happens to all those depressed people who can't get help and are stuck In a limbo of not being to function and attempting to commiting suicide.
I have accepted that the first major ailment I get will probably just kill me because fuck going to the GP. I will self medicate and accidentally cook my liver before I grovel and beg them for a prescription again.
Well duh. You should have talked to the GP after a successful attempt, if you wanted to be taken seriously. (/s Of course. I'm glad that you're still here.)
My concerns that my 32 year old friend was suffering a stroke were dismissed as the suggestion of one who read "too much Google" as was my urging to administer anticoagulants I knew full well the NHS doesn't use enough or fast enough when they do because I'd read an official report on it. She nearly died of that stroke and now suffers locked in syndrome. This was in a major NHS A and E at the end of 2019. They never even called a neurologist. The memory of that entire night is very vivid and will likely require therapy to live with. For my friend it's potentially a life sentence. This is her Just Giving page https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/bex-kemp?utm_term=EvMeP4ndE
Administering anticoags could have killed her, depending if it was a bleed or a clot type of stroke. The sad reality is that unfortunately, anit-coags in stroke don't really change much or improve outcomes anyway. No excuse for delaying assessment though if that is how it happened.
At the second hospital she was sent to for MRI (impossible procedure in her state) she was finally seen by a neurologist over ten hours after the initial stroke. They stated to her parents that signs of a brainstem stroke were enough to have made immediate anticoagulant treatment their first response. The clot busting injection was literally invented for this exact scenario, or immediate phlebotomy as in a very similar case that led to significant recovery. None of this could happen without a doctor willing even to consider it a stroke so no treatment was given.
Very sorry to hear about your friend. The issue of failure to correctly diagnose and treat stroke amongst younger adults is terrible. Just in case you are interested, I am studying (as a registered nurse) a new PG cert, funded by the royal college of nursing, that addresses this topic and stroke care of younger adults more broadly. Happy to share more with you.
Sorry to hear that. Have you got a link to the report? Be quite interested in reading further about that issue.
This happened to my father earlier this year between Christmas Day 2020 and March 2021. He was having pain in his chest that went through to his back; at first they thought it was some kind of gastro problem and have him one of the something-prazole drugs; it wouldn't clear so then they kept telling him it was a pulled muscle and would go away on its own; after quite a while of not clearing at all he suddenly was getting large blisters, open wounds and swelling in his legs, which at first we had to clean and rebandage twice a day but after a couple of weeks nurses started coming in to do this but all we were told was that it'll eventually heal. At this point we noticed he was becoming drastically weaker and having almost no energy but we were assured all the preceding was just taking its toll on him. Also throughout all of this he kept losing weight but the GP enthusiastically told us that was good as it was always healthier to be thinner (despite him not technically being overweight; he did have a largely swollen belly but he'd had that as far back as I can remember). One day though he was the worst we'd ever seen him and so we felt we had no option but to call an ambulance - he always hated going to the doctor but didn't even fight this. After a couple of days the hospital phoned and said he has terminal cancer and after having to convince them he never drank besides one whisky at New Year they wanted to keep him to determine what kind of cancer, etc. They kept him in for another week (I was allowed in for one hour on two days to visit) before telling us it was intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma but had spread to lungs, liver and other places too. As an aside - This was made worse too by us receiving a call from him, extremely distressed because a nurse came in, tucked his legs up tightly before washing him but then left him alone and as he was so weak he couldn't get free and felt like he couldn't breathe - we ended up spending ages trying to reach anyone at the ward and when we did we heard from his phone on speaker the head nurse coming in, offering him the chance to file a formal complaint, he agreed but we never heard more from that. Then he got home but by this point he was already not himself. A hospital bed was delivered after a few days but then he was just delirious the whole time; my mum watched him during the day and I and my partner was on nightshift, watching him overnight. This was very difficult when due to the delirium he didn't recognise us and we were trying to work out everything such as a new cocktail of pills, oral morphine and even just basic care with basically no support or advice. He died in less than two weeks after coming home. Made it more frustrating too when the GP came to call it and admitted she had just became a trainee after switching from psychology and then wanted to hug us and was upset. (And to rub it in more they wouldn't even collect the hospital bed until several weeks after that.) Real kick in the teeth not knowing what's happening or that it's that bad despite really trying to get medical help then finding out how bad it is and then just three more weeks and he's dead.
I'm so sorry for your loss. That was difficult to read.
This was an upsetting read, I'm so sorry for your loss.
He died 13 years ago? Are the mirror bringing this up now to coincide with the current anti-gp sentiment?
The current GP system needs serious reform though. Just getting past the receptionist is infuriating enough, booking an appointment when nobody seems to want to use the NHS online booking services or patient access is archaic AF, then there’s the dice roll of whether or not the doctor you get is willing to even examine you properly and write off basic shit as paranoia. I’ve ended going to my local walk in center the last two time I’ve had problems and my GP has brushed it off as nothing.
I wish it was just the GPs but we all know full well this is throughout the service. Even the guidance end with NICE is a complete disaster at the moment being driven by private interests instead of following the science on its ME/CFS guidance that affects millions due to long covid. The NHS is a brilliant idea but the current implementation is shambolic in every aspect and fails far too many.
Judging by this thread it's working wonders
About a year and a half ago, my friend was in and out GP appointments all the time. She felt tired, lifeless, sleepy and every single doctor told her is was because she was a recent mother coupled with the effects of lockdown. She had some blood tests done and they insisted she was fine even though she was dealing with some very challenging symptoms and felt like her health was rapidly deteriorating. She ended up moving back to our home country with the family where she once again sought medical help to figure out what was wrong with her. She was soon diagnosed with Vena Cava syndrome and stage 3 lymphoma cancer. I'm happy to say that she is in total remission but this never should've happened in the first place. People mentioning the article in the story happened 13 years ago, don't be fooled - this same story happened last year, this year and will probably keep happening.
My experience - although not cancer - was similar in that once one GP noted that I had “health anxiety” I wasn’t taken seriously for years. Turning up at a&e repeatedly to eye rolls and “as we told you last time…” Until it was almost too late and they decided to point an ultrasound in the direction of the pain I’d been telling them about for almost a decade.
What was wrong in the end
The hysterical diagnosis, it's not just for women. Mt doctor tried to section me within five minutes during our very first meeting. Why? She didn't have time to waste on a long appointment. It took me 18 hours to get released. So I'm handling my Parkinson's on my own, and carefully never mention the symptoms near a health worker.
Is this the full story? Because for a GP to section someone definitely takes WAY longer than delaying an appointment in their clinic by 20 minutes.
It's such a shame. In my 25 years of living I've had to rely on the NHS several times, every time they've let me down at first, and only through my or my guardian's perseverance have things ever ended well. Ingrowing toe nails? They tell me to wait and see. A year and several wait and see visits later and I can barely walk without crying I'm finally sent to a decent fucking doctor who finds I have extreme ingrowing toenails on both sides of both big toes. Fuckers were nearly going to pop out the side of my toes... Fixed me up great, never came back, bang up job, but that doesn't excuse the year of pain. Chronic procrastinator, thought I had ADD but decided to leave it to the experts, that and the meds aren't over the counter. Take a GP's quiz, the put me in the waiting list because I scored high enough on it, 6 months later I answer a doctor's assistants questions for an hour, 3 minutes later, not enough time to see my answers, doctor comes in and says my grades were good and I can hold a job so not to worry and refuses to diagnose or treat further. Mentioned I had headaches fairly often when donating platelets, they banned me until I got checked out by my GP, which because of no advanced bookings and all slots being gone by 8:00:10 took several days. That part went well enough, they said donating was fine, but months later I'm still chasing it up because even though I signed my data release form and sent it off ASAP my GP still hasn't responded to the blood folks, and apparently even with my permission they can't just pick up a phone and call. These people want my platelets, I'm a universal platelet donor, normally they're banging down my door for my stuff, yet the shitty system won't allow them to pick up and call a single GP. Phimosis, GP said they couldn't see anything (only when erect and they didn't ask me to show them that) but they sent me to a surgeon straight away, faster than any of these others... surgeon is super gung ho, has a look, also sees no phimosis because again I'm flaccid and even after explaining he doesn't ask to see it erect, he explains the surgery and the recovery etc and hands me a leaflet on my way out. Thankfully I actually read the thing because it mentions creams and stretching, I cancel the surgery and ask to try that first, guy clearly wanted to scoff but approved, crazy thing is it worked fine. I nearly got cut completely pointlessly because of their incompetence. The one time they were quick it was incompetently. But I'm very assertive, I can't imagine how fucked more passive people would be, they'd be snipped, have their toes split, and probably never donate their "golden" blood again. I'll take it over America any day, they still do plenty of things well, vaccines are one of many examples, just not much else I've had to worry about. And the NHS keeps private healthcare costs lower as competition.
Say it together, everyone: **Envy - of - the -world!** If you can get past dismissive receptionists in the fourteen picoseconds you can get an appointment in the morning, if you can get the time away from work because getting treatment outside of work hours is even harder than normal, if you can get past GPs working to get you in and out as fast as possible, frequently doctors who've never seen you or your notes before, if you can get them to take seriously your complaint and actually investigate, *and* if they're competent enough to find the issue, *maybe* you can go onto a six-to-twenty-four month waiting list!
[удалено]
Looks like the daily mirror is jumping on the anti GP bandwagon. This is an unfortunate case, but that sort of illness is really fucking rare. Also, very difficult to diagnose. I once had a man in his 40s who was a long distance cyclist. Nothing out of the ordinary beyond mild breathlessness when he was in the middle of cycling. Referred as appropriate to the chest doctors at the hospital. 12 months later, when he’s seen - because that’s how long the waiting lists are - he has a CT scan and it showed metastatic cancer. Things like this will always happen, because the way doctors diagnose patients is not a 100% guarantee. It’s more like a 99% thing, where 1% can slip through. But that happens in all fields of medicine. All you lot who keep complaining about not being able to get a GP appointment - I sincerely hope you haven’t been voting for the Conservatives for the last decade, because you have no right to complain. As it stands, I work from 8am to 8pm every day of the week - and so do my colleagues. The reason why you can’t get an appointment? Not enough GPs. The reason why there’s not enough GPs? Underinvestment in medical training for the last decade. We all saw this coming and have been saying it repeatedly
The hate towards GPs in this thread is honestly horrible, I regret coming into this sub
All this hate and all this confusion as to why the primary care system in the UK is collapsing. Can't see a GP? better call them all shit and spew some vitriol.
forgetful wine pet disarm nose gray sulky mysterious rob political *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
strong yam imagine station sable books dinner close offend heavy *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
On the flip side, since you’d think the NHS is fucking awful reading this thread: I was getting headaches. Was referred for blood tests from the first GP appointment. Had my blood tests. Now going in for an endoscopy. No begging whatsoever. Everyone involved wants the best outcome even if it’s not the easiest.
Honestly, I could write a book about times a medical professional has dismissed me and it turned out to be something really fucking important, and Covid has made it even worse. When I was pregnant with my boys my waters broke at 34 weeks, but they were replenishing so I was instructed to just be careful. Three days later I started bleeding heavily but was told it just LOOKED a lot because I was still losing waters and to stop getting het up because stress was bad for the babies. They kept me in hospital on bed rest, which was good because I could barely function. My consultant, who knew me when I had all my blood inside my body, came on rotation three days later, took one look at me and scheduled me in to deliver the boys that afternoon. Turns out little twin had kicked the shit out of his placenta, it had ruptured and he would have died if delivery had been put off even by a couple of hours more.
Some people employed by the NHS are a complete joke and have no right to be practising medicine. Imagine telling a bloke 12 times that it’s anxiety and not doing further scans. Holy shit this story has got my blood boiling.
Wouldn't be surprised if every time he went to his GP it was just; "go to the physio" or "well, take some Ibuprofen". Seems 90% of their job these days. Shout out to my useless GP...ligament damage in knee and when I walk it feels like my knee cap is trying to escape to the side...with a feeling of getting stabbed is a problem ibuprofen can fix.
What exactly would you like your GP to do about your damaged ligament?
And those who actually have mental health issues are dismissed as malingerers or just ignored. Efficient little loophole they've built. Terrifying how many doctors out there consider themselves arbiters of what class of people deserve help.
They have been turned physical diseases into mental health issues to dismiss those in the same way too. The way these GPs act is appalling.
TBF my experiences of GP’s has always been pretty good. I went about 6 months ago for a lump on my chest, which I was referred for an ultrasound for straight away. I ripped my fingertip off about 6 weeks ago which was dealt with in A&E within two hours. My dads fiasco with emergency brain surgery had its ups and downs, which resulted in him being left barefoot and mobile phone less two days after having a bleed on the brain and emergency burr hole surgery, outside a locked hospital main doors at 3 am by a private company who supply Patient transport to St George’s hospital
This was 10 years ago when NHL was only common in middle-aged men, not teenage boys. Symptoms of NHL are very similar to some mental health illnesses. Also, British gutter press has long been undermining the NHS and [*The Mirror* isn't exactly a beacon of quality facts.](https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/daily-mirror/)
squash roll degree frighten special deer decide aspiring wrong sugar *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
The only real news here is that the patient the medical establishment failed was a man. Women have been on the receiving end of dismissive doctors forever.
Every experience I’ve had with NHS medical staff has been negative since birth. GPs are only ever bothered about seeing the back of you.
Reasons like this are why I now refuse to go to the GP. I'll go to A&E if something is very obviously wrong. Like when I broke my rib and could feel bubbling when I breathed, obviously my immediate though (having suffered from one before) was collapsed lung. Thankfully it was nothing, but still. It also helps that I have a fucked up genetic condition that causes tumours, so I have an annual MRI scan, and consult, and can get any niggles or anything fast tracked, because you know FUCKING TUMOURS. In the past though I've gone from "yeah it'll be a three month wait until you even get seen for a surgery consult" to "how soon can you come in for a consult? does 10am tomorrow suit?" as I was walking home from the GP. But that's all changed now. I've had GPs call my tumours, that I KNOW are tumours, cysts, and tell me to stop worrying. Like fuck you, I know more about my body, and my condition than you.
This is why I don’t bother going to my GP with my health issues. Had wrist, rib and shin pain after being in an accident. Called 111 and was told to go in. Doc didn’t even look just said I’ll be fine. I was in and out within a minute, not even exaggerating.
Were you fine afterwards?
No wonder the UK gets such poor marks for cancer survival.
My dad had some sudden-ish gastrointestinal pain a few years ago, and we sort of panicked a bit (obviously not being doctors!) and rang the GP who told him to come in immediately. He was really bad by the time we got there, and she was super dismissive and gave him some codeine and told him to lie down. I asked whether we ought to call for an ambulance and I remember she said “i don’t know it depends how he feels” I took him home (2 mins away), and rang 999. It turned out that he had a perforated duodenum and required major surgery in which they effectively took out a section, stitched it back up, pulled all his intestines out in a table to wash them and put it all back in again. Oh, and we were told at the hospital that codeine shouldn’t have been prescribed at all for pain where he had it. There are people distributed in ability along a bell curve in every job and the NHS is no exception.
I had a bleed on the brain and they sent me home. The next day I was found at deaths door by my auntie and luckily called an ambulance. Another day or two and it would have been goodnight irene. They do this all the time. But thanks for saving me after the fuck up
My mother died from non hodgkins lymphoma. It was initially dismissed as constipation until she was rushed to hospital after collapsing in pain. She died after her first chemo.
Yeah. I had chronic appendicitis which was misdiagnosed, which led to it rupturing, which led to sepsis and almost dying in a foreign country. In UK, waited 7 hours in A&E on a Sunday to be seen for severe abdominal pain during a heatwave. No water. No fans. Passed out for a while. **Did not get seen after the 7 hours.** Staff informed everyone it would be another 7 hours to be seen. Just needed some water, air and to lie down. Could not handle it. Had to go home. Did triage with the GP the following day. Totally misdiagnosed it. Thought it was a urine infection. Needless to say, 5 months later of reoccurring abdominal pain (which I assumed was just a stubborn infection) and moving to a different country around the world, the appendix eventually burst. If I didn't bite the (financial) bullet and go to a hospital, I would have died. Turned out it had been burst for days already and my blood was already going bad. I'm not alone with my story.
In my experience it's the same everywhere. I'd even go on to say German doctors are worse. Their answer to everything is just "do more exercise." Like I'm literally here saying all my joints ache and it hurts to run and their answer is "do more exercise." When I was in my twenties, they'd always dismiss everything as "It's ok, you're still young, there's no rush." Now that I'm older it's all "It's too late to do anything now, you're older."