MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Sorry, I know that I posted some self-pitying medical whinge just recently, but here I go again...
I was supposed to have had my follow-up blood test this past week so that we could establish once and for all that I have pernicious anaemia and get me started on B12 injections asap. Except that we have a national shortage of blood vials so I can't get that final blood test. A. NATIONAL. SHORTAGE. OF. BLOOD. VIALS.
Now that we are using the imperial system again, it seems I have been transported back to the effing Blitz!!! What's next? We get rid of science and start teaching alchemy in the schools? FFS!
In any case, my shins and forearms are constantly throbbing, with no relief to be had from pain killers... I feel the need to fall asleep multiple times a day... But because of the fantasies of a pack of jackasses in government, I can't progress my treatment.
I feel like claiming refugee status in Germany.
Aren't you Canadian?
I sympathise fully. What the actual… are we doing?
We are also short of carbon dioxide as well. Get that, a world that's going to a fiery hell due to an abundance of the stuff in the atmosphere and Britain has a shortage, welcome to the only place on earth striving to achieve true world class status in having **** all.
Aren’t you Canadian?
If you are do you have any of those clubs for bashing baby seals as this lack of CO2 means abattoirs can't stun animals before slaughter but a few wacks with one of those should solve the problem.
Aren’t you Canadian?
Dual. I live in Wales.
Waladian?
SaxonRider
Full Member
Aren’t you Canadian?Dual. I live in Wales
We here in UK need to be grateful for what we got. As a Canadian you should know full well how worse things can be.
A. NATIONAL. SHORTAGE. OF. BLOOD. VIALS.
You'd have thought that 18 months into a pandemic, when the focus has been on protecting the NHS, we'd have found some way to increase productivity of the basics.
The carbon dioxide shortage happens quite often. It's a by-product of the fertilizer industry that pretty much shuts down in the summer. So less CO2 produced. Warmer summers mean more fizzy drinks and cooling needed just when the amount is at its dip.
The NHS is properly falling apart. 40 hour wait for an ambulance in the press this week. My 23 year old stepdaughter went to her GP with growing breast lumps. Earliest she could expect a scan and examination is 13 months. We went private.
We here in UK need to be grateful for what we got. As a Canadian you should know full well how worse things can be
eh
My 23 year old stepdaughter went to her GP with growing breast lumps. Earliest she could expect a scan and examination is 13 months. We went private.
Yet elsewhere a friend of ours was seen inside a week by GP, a fortnight later by specialist, and 6 weeks to wait for main operation/mastectomy.
My colleague has had 3 of her Dr graduate year commit suicide this in the last year, the latest was the 4th in Manchester in August
https://amp.reddit.com/r/JuniorDoctorsUK/comments/ppfsdf/4_junior_doctor_suicides_in_manchester_this_month/
Yet elsewhere a friend of ours was seen inside a week by GP, a fortnight later by specialist, and 6 weeks to wait for main operation/mastectomy.
This is what I don't understand. For every disaster headline there are loads if cases of people getting access to potentially life saving treatment just as quick as ever. Two friends of mine have accessed cancer treatment this year with no problems whatsoever.
A. NATIONAL. SHORTAGE. OF. BLOOD. VIALS.
Article from a year ago covering why there would be a global shortage of glass vials - https://www.pharmamanufacturing.com/articles/2020/under-pressure/ . Who'd have thought that suddenly producing billions of vials of vaccine would lead to supply shortages.
Of more concern to me is that I used one of those precious vials to have some blood tests done in a hospital at the beginning of July and still don't know the results despite now having many apps on my phone that let me look at bits of what the NHS knows about me in a totally non-linked-up way. I'm assuming no news is good news; that and the fact I'm not dead yet - that can only be a good sign.
This is what I don’t understand. For every disaster headline there are loads if cases of people getting access to potentially life saving treatment just as quick as ever. Two friends of mine have accessed cancer treatment this year with no problems whatsoever.
A mix of postcode lottery made worse by the fake internal market in england that hinders strategic planning and out of area refferals and triage where the most urgent cases get on a different waiting list
along with probably some incompetence
I don't believe in country level protectionism but i do feel that for certain strategic industries like pharma we should have a level of local manufacturing capacity to ensure supply during major difficulties.
I think we will see this over time as global supply chains get local redundancy added.
Sorry to hear about the woman with the breast lumps, it does sound like an outlier as my mum had a full mri in the last 2 weeks due to concerns about metastases after her treatment
Rio - call your GP; forget the multiple apps.
Agree, Rio call your GP.
SaxonRider my Mum went through this very recently and although her test result was borderline, they ruled out pretty much everything else (lots of scans and tests) and within ~2 weeks of the injections she feels much better. Because it takes a long time for your B12 reserves to drop, and to build back up by food alone, she agreed with the GP to up her intake of eggs, dairy and started taking supplement tablets before the confirmed diagnosis and injection. Are you already doing that?
Rio – call your GP
Wish it was that simple! I'm still waiting for a response from contacting the GP in May. The blood tests were done by a hospital, I doubt my GP is aware of them apart from a mention in a letter from the hospital that they probably didn't read. Probably someone in the hospital knows the results but they're effectively uncontactable. You'd think that the one thing the NHS would be good for is centralising records and sharing data, but it's not, it's like a lot of little fiefdoms that don't talk to each other. Sorry; my own personal little rant.
You’d think that the one thing the NHS would be good for is centralising records and sharing data, but it’s not, it’s like a lot of little fiefdoms that don’t talk to each other. Sorry; my own personal little rant.
only in England. this is the result of the fake internal market and utterly shite IT
In Scotland your hospital results are shared via the magic of computers with your GP. Its not perfect - most GPs only get a summary not the full hospital records but your results are with the GP immediately
Your gp will have access to all tests performed. I had some done last year and the receptionist looks
Looked them up and said everything was normal.
Call your gp when they open on Monday and worst case is they triage you and get someone to call
Your GP should have access to text results.
Chase them! It's not just institutional incompetence, they are incredibly busy and it may have got buried by other things - including by dealing with all the people who ARE chasing them.
Rio - it doesn't matter whether the bloods were done in hospital or in surgery, the results will be on your medical record.
I have bloods done twice a year and always chase the surgery for results as their default position appears to be...if they're clear we won't bother telling you. I want to hear them say...everything's ok.
Call your GP.
Apologies to the OP, seriousy at risk of derailling your thread here, but
the results will be on your medical record
Assuming the blood wasn't lost (always a possibility) I'm sure the results will be on one of my medical records, probably the one the hospital has. But I know from past experience that the GP can't see that; the hospital's not in the same trust, and he only has limited access to stuff within the same trust. This is nothing to do with internal markets or lack of funding or any of the usual bogey men, it's just the way it's always been done and I guess no-one looking at it from inside the NHS sees a pressing need to change it.
This is nothing to do with internal markets or lack of funding or any of the usual bogey men,
Sorry - its 100% to do with that
In Scotland every gp can see every scots records. thats how its done when its properly integrated. ( OK its not 100% perfect but its a damn sight better)
The reason your gp cannot do it is because the trusts do not co operate properly because they are set up to compete - and of course NHS england totally effed up the IT - partly because theFake market making it harder
Good luck in getting the results; if it was me, I would be less sanguine about it.
Very good, I see what you did there!
This is what I don’t understand. For every disaster headline there are loads if cases of people getting access to potentially life saving treatment just as quick as ever
Because distaster headlines sell papers and make people watch the news.
Good news simply doesn't sell.
If you’re struggling to get a decent level of care from your gp don’t be afraid to call your practice manager and complain to them, multiple times if necessary. My partner is a pm and she gets people doing that all the time and they get their needs focussed on pretty promptly. Don’t tell anyone else though….
supernova, your hot tip is safe with me - and the other n squillion forum members...
More seriously, I will use that to force some attention onto an issue which has been brushed aside - so far.