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Original poster

That bloody tv cancer ad

21 replies

mamabear715 · 30/01/2023 11:31

You know, the one with the jack-in-a-box type of thing? Man worries about having cancer? It does my head in. Telling people to get checked out, yet every day I see news articles of (particularly young) people who've trailed back & forth for advice & been told they are too young, or just not being taken seriously, until it's too late? I have to change channel now as it irritates me so much.

OP posts:
TaRaDeBumDeAy · 30/01/2023 11:34

I'd like to know how you can get checked out if you can't even get a GP's appointment.

FictionalCharacter · 30/01/2023 11:36

Yes, incredibly annoying. GP appointments are like hens’ teeth, and as you say, it’s of the time we’re told it’s probably nothing. It’s pure PR.

NeverDropYourMooncup · 30/01/2023 11:42

I got a same day appointment at the GP on Friday and they've referred me on the two week wonder protocol.

Just come back from the surgery where they've taken half an arm's worth of blood, too, so there's up to date bloods on the system.

Couldn't get an appointment for anything else since covid, but as soon as that was in the air, she said 'we'll get you in today so you don't have to worry about it over the weekend'.

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bloodywhitecat · 30/01/2023 11:45

I agree, it is not my experience at all. My experience is you have to fight just to get a GP to listen and not fob you off then the whole of the rest of the journey is equally as hard, scary and lonely.

Original poster
mamabear715 · 30/01/2023 11:49

Exactly, re the fight to get appointments. :-(

OP posts:
TudorPot · 30/01/2023 11:56

This reply has been withdrawn

Withdrawn at OP's request

Original poster
mamabear715 · 30/01/2023 12:04

Agreed, @TudorPot - I'm not behind the door but no help with adult ASD kids & grandkids, son-in-law's epilepsy & depression, late Mum's Alzheimers.. 'so much help out there' is spot on, until you try to access it!
@FictionalCharacter yes, just PR. :-(

OP posts:
BellePeppa · 30/01/2023 12:26

It does annoy me too. It’s as if you just go to the doctor and they say yes I’ll refer you etc straightaway. The reality is even when you’ve managed to see a dr you have endless appointments and they say it’s probably nothing, you’re just run down, come back in two months if it hasn’t gone away etc , I know, I’ve been there! If I hadn’t taken matters in to my own hands I’d be long dead now.

TakeTheShiteOutYaMouth · 30/01/2023 15:13

Yep my sister was dismissed by a doctor with her cancer concerns, her (stage 4) cancer was diagnosed later.

LadyVictoriaSponge · 30/01/2023 15:19

The advert annoys me the way it does others on here but also that bloody box he is carrying around, it would have been better if he was dragging a lead weight on a chain that gets bigger and heavier with time (because that’s how I think it feels when you are really worried about your health) the doctor could then release him from the chains when he is told it’s not cancer. Sorry to derail but that box irrationally annoys me!

Original poster
mamabear715 · 30/01/2023 18:17

I'm so sorry, @TakeTheShiteOutYaMouth that's EXACTLY what I meant by my post, it seems to be happening more & more. Hugs..

@LadyVictoriaSponge yes, totally, that sodding box..

OP posts:
maddiemookins16mum · 30/01/2023 18:46

My darling SIL has terminal stomach cancer, took months to get seen or a diagnosis. She started feeling ill in October 21, was not diagnosed until March 22. We expect to lose her this summer. It’s heartbreaking.

Kazzyhoward · 30/01/2023 18:57

BellePeppa · 30/01/2023 12:26

It does annoy me too. It’s as if you just go to the doctor and they say yes I’ll refer you etc straightaway. The reality is even when you’ve managed to see a dr you have endless appointments and they say it’s probably nothing, you’re just run down, come back in two months if it hasn’t gone away etc , I know, I’ve been there! If I hadn’t taken matters in to my own hands I’d be long dead now.

Yep, my OH must have had a dozen GP appointments before they took him seriously enough to do tests and then refer him to oncology, where it was confirmed he had cancer and had other tests and put onto chemotherapy within a few weeks. If he'd accepted what a succession of GP's had told him, he'd be long dead by now. It was only a random GP locum who took him seriously that led to a diagnosis. All the other GPs he saw told him it was "probably" stress or told him "you get aches and pains when you get older". Once we had a diagnosis, we googled the symptoms and it was blindingly obvious what it was - he could tick off every sympton, yet a succession of allegedly experienced/qualified GPs didn't spot it.

Radiohorror · 30/01/2023 19:02

Yes, DH symptoms from August 2021, GPs refused to see him. Finally diagnosed in March 2022, when it was all too late. He finally saw a GP in January 2023, they are more interested now he has a terminal.diagnosis. He hates that advert.

Original poster
mamabear715 · 31/01/2023 08:02

@maddiemookins16mum @Kazzyhoward & @Radiohorror I am so, so sorry.. this, THIS is what totally pisses me off.. people being brushed off with 'you're too young' 'it's your weight' 'it's stress' etc.. God Bless you all & your families..

OP posts:
OriginalUsername2 · 31/01/2023 08:38

Completely agree. We turn it over or off. It’s a bullshit advert full of lies and it’s genuinely distressing.

barneshome · 31/01/2023 09:05

FictionalCharacter · 30/01/2023 11:36

Yes, incredibly annoying. GP appointments are like hens’ teeth, and as you say, it’s of the time we’re told it’s probably nothing. It’s pure PR.

Not my experience
Rang Monday at 8.30 was on line 10 minutes
In to see GP at 11

FictionalCharacter · 31/01/2023 11:04

barneshome · 31/01/2023 09:05

Not my experience
Rang Monday at 8.30 was on line 10 minutes
In to see GP at 11

Show quote history

That’s good and I’m glad not everyone is having the experience that we are in my area. At our surgery you’re on hold for at least 30 mins and usually more. Quite often you get cut off and have to start again. All initial appointments are phone appointments and on 2 occasions for me, the GP never called. Every member of my family had had this experience with our surgery.

EzzieM · 31/01/2023 11:20

YANBU. The advert is an insult.

People can’t get GP appointments (or ambulances), when they do see a GP the GP is exhausted and either fobs them off or misdiagnoses them.

Fuck off with this blaming-the-patient-for-dying-of-cancer shit.

Radiohorror · 31/01/2023 11:35

Ours is better now, but flatly refused to see DH, with absolutely classic cancer symptoms, because "Covid". They have admitted they were at fault but that doesn't really help us.

MissyB1 · 31/01/2023 13:03

It’s another way of the Government denying there is a crisis in the NHS. Tell people to see the GP, and if they don’t get an appointment well it must be their own fault….

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