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NHS - It worries me.
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
I have been to the doctor/hospital 6 times in 6 months re: a chest problem. I have had pain in my chest, and there is a problem with my stomach.
I went again today, and they refered me to another specialist......in 6 weeks!!!!
They all think there is something wrong, but it will have taken 7-8 moths before I get any real help.
If its serious I could be sead by then!
I went again today, and they refered me to another specialist......in 6 weeks!!!!
They all think there is something wrong, but it will have taken 7-8 moths before I get any real help.
If its serious I could be sead by then!
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Comments
My dad is actually currently taking our local NHS trust (well, specific individuals, of course) to court on charges of clinical negligence as it took them over 2 years to diagnose his cancer due to insane periods between appointments with various specialists - despite the grave (and oft-voiced) concerns of his GP. It was almost four years before he was pencilled in for the necessary surgery, and let's just say the facial scarring he now has could have been avoided which is obviously very distressing. So obviously this is a hot topic for me at the moment.
Try not to worry, be vigilant about your condition and look after yourself. Hopefully you'll get to the bottom of it [eventually :rolleyes:] and it will prove to have been less serious than you suspect.
stop whinging!
Exactly. This is what they had to do to my dad after he had his fit. About a month after having the fit (I experienced the same as well) they did the various tests needed.
That's if they even know what it is! People fall into the trap of thinking the doctors will know if it's serious, and treat them straight away, and i'm sure the majority of times this does happen, but medicine in general is not in my good books at the moment.
Couple of reasons why (although there are loads more):
My Aunt spent months on a waiting list to see a specialist about her "irregular heartbeart". She even had a pacemaker fitted. It was actually a brain tumour causing her symptoms, and by the time they found out, it was much too late, and she died. The doctor at the (awesome) hospice where she died admitted to us that she had all the classic symptoms of a brain tumour.
My cousin went to the emergency doctor last year, with severe stomach pains, vomiting, blacking out. He told her she has gastroenteritis and should go home and rest. When my Aunt ignored his advice, and took her to A&E, they told her she had gallstones, and put her on a ward for 3 days while she got iller and iller. They even wanted to discharge her. From the get-go, my Aunt had been saying 'she had a miscarriage last week, are you SURE it's not related', and they fobbed her off. When, on the third day, my Aunt demanded that they get a second opinion, they scanned her and found that she had had an ectopic pregnancy which had burst, and she was bleeding internally. In emergency surgery they drained a litre and a half of blood out of her abdomen, and while they tried to make it sound like it wasn't a big deal, her GP and the gynae specialist at another hospital later told her it was a miracle she survived. Oh, and she had all the classic symptoms of ectopic pregnancy, and later all the classic symptoms of internal bleeding. Deja vu? She's considering legal action.
</soap box>
I see your point, and I realise that there are loads of 'horror stories' you hear about that are just unfortunate misses blown way out of proportion, but doctors are not infallible, and I think it's important for people to realise this. And if they are worried, to know they can ask for more advice, or for a second opinion, as the doctor might be wrong.
It makes me shudder these days when I hear people saying stuff like 'well, I still don't feel right, but the doctor says I'm fine, so I must be fine'.
Not really. I'm suggesting that, like in all other careers, there are some doctors who are just not very good at their jobs. And there are lots of good doctors who make the occasional mistake.
I also think that, hypochondriacs and worriers aside, people know their own bodies, and if they feel like there is really something wrong, then they shouldn't let themselves be fobbed off. Maybe they are fine, but sometimes doctors miss things, and sometimes they are just plain wrong about things. And even if that is 0.01% of the time, would you want to be the 0.01%?
If you are not confident in your doctor's ability then by all means seek another opinion, but do not assume that every bad outcome is due to an error and that another doctor would have instantly known what was wrong. It is not unreasonable to treat the heart when the presenting symptom is a heart problem. The fact that the underlying cause was a brain tumour may not have been apparent at that time.
I think it was more the almighty fuss my Aunt kicked up. They were not entirely concerned by her rapid decline. She's been advised that there were so many mistakes made in her case that if she were to consider legal action, it would be unthinkable that she would not win.
Her symptoms were blackouts/fits, dizzy spells, forgetfullness, slurred speech, confusion, and a mild, persistent headache with sickness that was worse in the morning and gradually got better through the day.
They actually treated her for epilepsy for a few months initially (without a referall or any tests!) and when it failed to improve, they told her it was probably something like panic attacks. No one is even sure how she got from there to the cardiac ward, but they were adamant it was a heart thing, despite normal ECG results.
Anyway, I think I should probably get off my hijacking horse now! You might have noticed this is a sore spot and I could rant about it forever!
Panic attacks and stress seem to be good ways of fobbing people off. Such a shame my grandad died of cancer because his chest pains weren't "stress" as 3 GPs maintained for three years. Oh well.
Sadly, though, the good stories never get heard. Whilst one GP fobbed my depression off, the next one couldn't do enough to help, including teaching me how to dress my wounds. And then when I was referred, the consultant rang everywhere in the north of England to get me seen, and I was jumped up every queue going.
I wouldn't say "if it was serious you'd be treated soon", because it doesn't always work like that, but sadly in some areas there are more people than consultants- mostly because all the GPs take out £250,000 a year, so there's no money, and the consultants are always either doing private work or playing golf, so there's no appointments.
The best advice is if your family have private medical cover, try and claim on that.