Changing Surgeries

[Summerbuzz]

I'm 46 non smoker non drinker, had a heart attack and angioplasty ten days ago. I hadn't spoken to my usual surgery in two years, because despite repeatedly reporting various recurrent symptoms including tacchycardia, I felt they were just brushing me off. And I was not keen to get into an argument with them. Worse still, my regular GP left (5th in 7 years). But I bit the bullet finished a half hour phone conversation with a GP there - which I had to push for - which left me feeling the GP was almost wilfully scattergun, disorganised and slow, and incapable of listening to my concern or requests... let's say it did nothing to address my fears. He managed to express more sympathy for himself than for me... I hung up after half an hour when he basically offered me another text message after a blood test... when my opening complaint today was that they didn't even phone me after my discharge, just waited a week to send a test message asking me to book tests (apparently I was handed to the new hire, who felt I was better left in peace?).... put it into context, I didn't realise I was supposed to take one drug (clopidogrel) for a year, rather than a week, and had stopped, if I hadn't been told that today, I might have had a serious relapse... but I don't even know for sure what the Consultant's notes say on the matter because the DR didn't get round to checking it. I literally begged this guy for a face to face, and he just said, "I'm away for ten days, and your doctor isn't in today.". "Right, so I think I really need this so we can start sorting out, how on earth am I begging you for this"..." Well it's not routinely possible". I shouted, "what is routine about this?"

And he said, "Well, I suppose having a heart attack at 46 is unusual, but we do it this way because we can see more patients."

I don't want to know how that can be the case, if it takes 30 minutes to pass on like two pieces of information and book a blood test. He was so random, I kept saying, no, stop, we need to get this relationship back on track with a face to face first, but he'd just start asking different random questions or rambling on about, ooh, now did they test for diabetes, hmm, I don't know.
FUCK OFF!

What the hell has happened to the NHS etc etc. Never mind. Fuck that lot.

I guess he's actually got into this habit to keep his patient numbers down, people either go along with the 'new normal', or they find another surgery - win win.

How quick is the process of finding a new surgery? Am I completely out of touch? Is it realistic to expect to get a face to face appointment, and set up a relationship with a experienced doctor?

 

[denislawsbackheel]

It’s the new normal bud.
I suffer from Meniere’s syndrome.
Not life threatening but debilitating when an attack is bad.
Been suffering for 5 weeks with it.
I have had to have two email consults and one phone consult before a GP agreed he needed to see me.
First email was two weeks ago. The face to face was yesterday.
He was a visiting GP from another surgery. He didn’t know me or my history. He thought a record of seeing a certain consultant was about Meniere’s, it wasn’t it, was about my hip replacement!
God help anyone who is seriously ill.

 

[Alan Harper's Tash]

It’s the new normal bud.
I suffer from Meniere’s syndrome.
Not life threatening but debilitating when an attack is bad.
Been suffering for 5 weeks with it.
I have had to have two email consults and one phone consult before a GP agreed he needed to see me.
First email was two weeks ago. The face to face was yesterday.
God help anyone who is seriously ill.

My grandma suffers from Menière’s syndrome and we were in a position similar to yours a year or so ago.

Once she was finally seen, the doctors treated it, but also prescribed extra Prochlorperazine to have if another attack started.

Hope you get sorted soon.

 

[Summerbuzz]

Yeah. Figured.

GODDAMMIT

 

[denislawsbackheel]

My grandma suffers from Menière’s syndrome and we were in a position similar to yours a year or so ago.

Once she was finally seen, the doctors treated it, but also prescribed extra Prochlorperazine to have if another attack started.

Hope you get sorted soon.

I have that and betahistine as well.
Trouble is they don’t help with a really bad, crawling on hands and knees, can’t see, throwing up attack.

 

[Alan Harper's Tash]

I have that and betahistine as well.
Trouble is they don’t help with a really bad, crawling on hands and knees, can’t see, throwing up attack.

Sounds horrific, hope they can find a drug that helps DBH.

 

[Blue Mist]

OP. I put a post in the Getting a GP appointment' thread yesterday about my mum.
What is happening is an absolute joke. It's not over work, it's not under funding and it's certainly not low wages. These wank stains are deliberately making it impossible to see a doctor.

 

[Blue Maverick]

Going through the same shit, once you get past the GP it seems to get better, mine is fucking useless, supposed to be referred to a specialist in February I only found out in April they hadn’t because I was in with my daughter about something and I was literally on one leg in tears, the GP sheepishly pressed a few buttons and hey presto a few days later I was in the system. I’m now struggling to talk to anyone as my pain medication is not working, I can’t get an online appointment because it says there aren’t any, turns out the whole IT NHS in our area is fucked, so now what!
Anytime I’ve been in the surgery there is no one there waiting so how are they fully booked up? I’m at the edge in pain now and literally swallowing double what they recommended still now effect and don’t get me started on the admin staff they are bloody useless and just put the phone down on you.

 

[Summerbuzz]

OP. I put a post in the Getting a GP appointment' thread yesterday about my mum.
What is happening is an absolute joke. It's not over work, it's not under funding and it's certainly not low wages. These wank stains are deliberately making it impossible to see a doctor.

There's sommat not right. I noted in the winter before COVID came that they'd basically been told to put up and shut up by the Govt, and the head of one of the professional bodies basically went in line with that. I don't know why, but they as a profession were definitely being leaned on to keep quiet.

Then COVID came.... and things have gone bonkers. I agree with what others have said. It's not just the lack of resources, they are being pretty wierd at times.

But then I've seen some wierd stuff by members of the public post-COVID, people making a big joke of coughing as loudly as possible (people with long standing coughs btw), people coughing on others... asked my neighbour an innocent question about her health the week before and she gave me both barrels and told me I was a massive hypochondriac and to leave her alone. Fucking hell, when I bumped into her and told her I'd had a heart attack and op the day before, she basically said 'So?', and ignored it, to turn round and tell me what great morals she had and would never wish harm on anyone, like I'd ever suggested she had.

Hypochondria is a social thing was noticable during COVID, people taking measures that probably wouldn't work... but it works both ways, I reckon. There's definitely an anti-hypochondria that says we're all on our own, fuck off for asking, no one is ever ill, all in your head, you're just starting trouble.

It's got to the point where when the Doctor at the hospital told me I was having a heart attack, I genuinely thought she was telling me it was really a panic attack, emotional suffering, psychological.

The best about bit today might actually have been him calling me a fit and healthy person. Despite not having seen me. Despite having a heart attack, despite me telling him I'd had headaches, sore throats, red sore eyes, arthritis, red 'lupus' mask on my face, confusion, poor memory, and lack of attention, despite me having cried nearly every single day for two years. Despite me not getting out of this town for over a year. Despite having to give up exercise because it led to bouts of unwelness.

Oh and despite taking twenty minutes to go through my meds, he still managed to fuck it up on three out of five counts. The advice he was giving was just so dreary and useless. Asked me what my heart rate was 'right now'. On the phone. Going on about how difficult it was to measure BP, he might want to do it in a month... maybe four.

Anyway, I'm sorry to rant, but I needed to get it off my chest.

I'm writing to the 3rd party advocacy group, and my MP. My heart attack was very clearly related to stress. The last time I bothered to talk to the GP was to this same doctor, about 18 months ago. I told him I kept getting ill, with the same odd symptoms, and it always seemingly ended with bouts of tachycardia. He just brushed me off. Wouldn't even confirm that it might have been long COVID or A N Other virus. I couldn't believe it at the time. There is a serious question, if they don't check people with tachycardia. Especially if they go on to have heart attacks at 46. Non smoker, non drinker.

I think there might be a slightly political attitude of, if the patients aren't happy with the service... maybe then they will make the complaints publicly... the doctors and professional bodies don't seem to want make waves politically, I don't know why.

TBF, knowing GP's, a lot of 'nice' ones left in recent years. Now we're relying more on the hard core, the hard nuts, who just do the fucking job whatever, and usually regard increased patient complaints as a sign they are being efficient in their work. People who did 120hr rotations as juniors, and reckon other people should work like that.

It really is on normal people to speak up now.

 

[Blue Mist]

There's sommat not right. I noted in the winter before COVID came that they'd basically been told to put up and shut up by the Govt, and the head of one of the professional bodies basically went in line with that. I don't know why, but they as a profession were definitely being leaned on to keep quiet.

Then COVID came.... and things have gone bonkers. I agree with what others have said. It's not just the lack of resources, they are being pretty wierd at times.

But then I've seen some wierd stuff by members of the public post-COVID, people making a big joke of coughing as loudly as possible (people with long standing coughs btw), people coughing on others... asked my neighbour an innocent question about her health the week before and she gave me both barrels and told me I was a massive hypochondriac and to leave her alone. Fucking hell, when I bumped into her and told her I'd had a heart attack and op the day before, she basically said 'So?', and ignored it, to turn round and tell me what great morals she had and would never wish harm on anyone, like I'd ever suggested she had.

Hypochondria is a social thing was noticable during COVID, people taking measures that probably wouldn't work... but it works both ways, I reckon. There's definitely an anti-hypochondria that says we're all on our own, fuck off for asking, no one is ever ill, all in your head, you're just starting trouble.

It's got to the point where when the Doctor at the hospital told me I was having a heart attack, I genuinely thought she was telling me it was really a panic attack, emotional suffering, psychological.

The best about bit today might actually have been him calling me a fit and healthy person. Despite not having seen me. Despite having a heart attack, despite me telling him I'd had headaches, sore throats, red sore eyes, arthritis, red 'lupus' mask on my face, confusion, poor memory, and lack of attention, despite me having cried nearly every single day for two years. Despite me not getting out of this town for over a year. Despite having to give up exercise because it led to bouts of unwelness.

Oh and despite taking twenty minutes to go through my meds, he still managed to fuck it up on three out of five counts. The advice he was giving was just so dreary and useless. Asked me what my heart rate was 'right now'. On the phone. Going on about how difficult it was to measure BP, he might want to do it in a month... maybe four.

Anyway, I'm sorry to rant, but I needed to get it off my chest.

I'm writing to the 3rd party advocacy group, and my MP. My heart attack was very clearly related to stress. The last time I bothered to talk to the GP was to this same doctor, about 18 months ago. I told him I kept getting ill, with the same odd symptoms, and it always seemingly ended with bouts of tachycardia. He just brushed me off. Wouldn't even confirm that it might have been long COVID or A N Other virus. I couldn't believe it at the time. There is a serious question, if they don't check people with tachycardia. Especially if they go on to have heart attacks at 46. Non smoker, non drinker.

I think there might be a slightly political attitude of, if the patients aren't happy with the service... maybe then they will make the complaints publicly... the doctors and professional bodies don't seem to want make waves politically, I don't know why.

TBF, knowing GP's, a lot of 'nice' ones left in recent years. Now we're relying more on the hard core, the hard nuts, who just do the fucking job whatever, and usually regard increased patient complaints as a sign they are being efficient in their work. People who did 120hr rotations as juniors, and reckon other people should work like that.

It really is on normal people to speak up now.

Not a problem about the rant. I am currently paying £100 a week, (had 3 sessions up to now,) with a private Nerve Specialist Physio. in the hope she can sort me. I wont be able to keep paying this but I have been written off by the NHS.
Anyway, back to GP's, covid gave them the excuse not to see anyone and they are taking full advantage. I used to do some work for a bus company. They used to say they could run a brilliant service..... if only they didnt have to pick people up !!