blood tests

[bboy]

Had full bloods, kidney and liver function last month because of a med I take. Been on it three years but this is my first test. My doc (Senior Partner at the practice) said NHS are tightening things up, testing where they might have let it slip in the past. Anyone confirm this? Is it likely to just affect patients on certain treatments, or is it a general push?

 

[kaz7]

Had full bloods, kidney and liver function last month because of a med I take. Been on it three years but this is my first test. My doc (Senior Partner at the practice) said NHS are tightening things up, testing where they might have let it slip in the past. Anyone confirm this? Is it likely to just affect patients on certain treatments, or is it a general push?

Everyone is being encouraged to have a general MOT to catch things like diabetes ,cancer and liver disease early as it costs the NHS less than treating diseases later,it's a very good thing

 

[BlueMedic]

Had full bloods, kidney and liver function last month because of a med I take. Been on it three years but this is my first test. My doc (Senior Partner at the practice) said NHS are tightening things up, testing where they might have let it slip in the past. Anyone confirm this? Is it likely to just affect patients on certain treatments, or is it a general push?

Guidance & regulations change constantly in medical practice so certain patient groups may get affected by certain changes in guidance; some will get tighter whereas some may get more lax.

But in general yes as Karen says prevention is cheaper than dealing with more serious problems later down the line so there's definitely an effort to try to predict & prevent more conditions - so I'd expect more screening/testing to get done as the techniques progress & get fine tuned.

 

[SilverFox2]

Guidance & regulations change constantly in medical practice so certain patient groups may get affected by certain changes in guidance; some will get tighter whereas some may get more lax.

But in general yes as Karen says prevention is cheaper than dealing with more serious problems later down the line so there's definitely an effort to try to predict & prevent more conditions - so I'd expect more screening/testing to get done as the techniques progress & get fine tuned.

Whilst any testing is better than none I note that the low / high limits are indicated on the print offs I have had.
With that in mind, presumably ones doctor only does something when an item is out of tolerance. So who decides this tolerance level ?

 

[BlueMedic]

Whilst any testing is better than none I note that the low / high limits are indicated on the print offs I have had.
With that in mind, presumably ones doctor only does something when an item is out of tolerance. So who decides this tolerance level ?

Research will have been done in to what is "normal" & what results will put you at high/low risk of having certain problems - that will be where the basis for most of these limits on tests come from. Medicine is an evidence based practice that constantly adapts to new studies & findings - so those "normal" levels likely change over time.

As for only doing something when results are out of tolerance, that's where a doctor's experience & knowledge will come in, often results are normal/abnormal on paper but in the context of an individual those readings may actually mean the opposite - i.e. a "normal" reading may actually be abnormal for that patient. Decisions on what is relevant & what requires treating etc. of course ultimately lies with the doctor themselves - but guidance on what to do is usually provided by organisations such as NICE (National Institute for Health & Clinical Excellence).

 

[SilverFox2]

Many thanks.

I ask because for instance in UK PSA blood test for possible prostate cancer limit is 0 - 7 whereas in Spain it is 0 - 4 where higher indicates likely problems which for an indicator seems an alarming difference in opinion.