Please seek medical advice

[hobnobsaremyfavourite]

A plea to people that if you have concerning symptoms don't delay seeking advice because of the current situation
Medical professionals have huge concerns that in six months time we will be seeing people that have much more complex or even untreatable conditions that could have been treated if they had been seen earlier.
People are understandably fearful and don't want to be a nuisance in the current situation.
But please, if you find a lump that is worrying, have a sudden drop or change in your vision, chest pains, changes in your bowel habits just as some examples
Please, please speak to someone
It's great that people are thinking before using services but this may prove counterproductive in the long term as just when this is calming down and resources are thin and frayed you may need considerably more intense and complex treatment
Urgent medical care for other conditions is ongoing
Chronic health conditions need to be kept in good control
Clinicians will triage and see those that need seeing
Covid is a risk but other health issues still happen and may pose an even greater risk to you health and wellbeing

I’ve passed your message on to my DP @hobnobsaremyfave. He’s going to contact our GP next week and go from there. I’ve told him that he should try a bit harder and not just accept it’s a fait accompli.

That's brilliant
Royal College of Ophthalmology has issued
A statement explaining that whilst all things routine are stopped emergencies must be and will be covered
Hope he makes some progress

Well I'm a delight when my daughter may be dying of undiagnosed lymphoma or have sarcoidosis and is in constant pain

I have a breast lump, saw gp just before all this kicked off, scan was meant to be 1st week of schools shut but I was called by the consultant in the morning and told it was 'probably just a cyst' so I shouldn't come in. Fingers crossed eh?!

I work for cancer services and we are very much still open. Routine screening/surgery has been cancelled but urgent is still ongoing

While it is good to hear this,I do wonder how much truth there actually is in it. My son-in-law has been experiencing worsening symptoms of type 2 diabetes over the last few weeks (constantly thirsty,needing to get up several times in the night to wee,blurred vision) and I urged my Dd to make him phone the doctor. He did,2 weeks ago,and the receptionist was extremely obstructive,telling him that it wasn't classed as 'urgent'. It was only because he persisted and asked for a doctor to call him back that he actually got an appointment for later that day. The subsequent blood test confirmed that he was diabetic. The doctor said that he was right to have been worried and persisted. I'm not saying that the medical profession as a whole would be dismissive of things like this,but it's not helped by receptionists who think that they know best.