New rule for GPs, Jess's Rule

[PerriDowton]

I watched the news today, and one story that struck me was about a woman named Jessica Brady, a bright, young, and beautiful lady who died of cancer. She had visited GPs numerous times but was dismissed, and it was a private doctor who finally diagnosed her with cancer. I’m glad her mother has finally achieved the implementation of Jess's Rule in surgeries starting today.

Her Mum was on LBC earlier, we should all be grateful to her and her family for the work they have done to get this rule put in place. Jess’s death was a tragedy and preventable. RIP Jess.

Except it’s not being implemented anywhere, there is no change to day to day gp practice and unfortunately despite pomp and ceremony nothing has actually changed.

It is a problem I have also experienced. Luckily my condition is debilitating but not terminal. I have gone private and they have diagnosed and provided a treatment pathway but the NHS still states I am 'anxious' and there is nothing wrong with me.

I saw her mum on Lorraine this morning with Wes Streeting, what a woman all in the name of her Jess. Hopefully this helps others be listened to.

I never met my MIL. My husband told me she died of cancer. She had abdominal pain all the time, but her GP told her to take paracetamol and ignored her symptoms. Eventually, she did have some tests and chemo, but it didn’t prolong her life. I hope there is change…

@defrazzled Hope you are ok. It's good to get a second opinion and treatment.

Happened to a friend’s mother. Fobbed off by GP, eventually diagnosed with ovarian cancer, far too late to give her anything but palliative care.

It happened to my friends friend years ago the GPS fobbed off womb cancer for months , she died without treatment she was mid 20s.

Such an awful illness, one that often presents very late too, your poor friend. Thankfully
one that I think is gaining awareness!

It happened to someone I know. They had mental health challenges so when she started having concerning symptoms she was told it was her mental health. It was cancer and she was gone within 3 weeks of finally being diagnosed. It's highly likely she could have been treated if they'd listened in the first place. The family worked out that she'd been to the GP 11 times before getting referred.

It takes weeks to even get an appointment with the doctor nowadays, most cases, you’re either better or dead by then, it’s barely worth it.

Not as serious as a missed cancer diagnosis, but my mum went to her GP many, many times over four years with quite obvious signs of Parkinson’s disease. He fobbed her off repeatedly with a diagnosis of anxiety. It wasn’t until she had a bad fall and head injury that it was picked up by a locum GP when she went to have her stitches out. Had she started treatment when she first saw her GP, her symptoms would be nowhere near as bad as they are now.

Dh has been visiting his GP for an ongoing issue for around 10 years for an issue, he has had to go to A&E at least twice in that time
He has finally had the proper tests and scans and found he has a dead kidney. Of course he can manage fine on one but The Consultant said that if the issue had been discovered 10 or even 5 years ago he could have had a minor op and it might have been saved. He is now awaiting a date for it to be removed

Happened to a friend of mine. Fobbed off with IBS and anxiety. In the end she paid to go private, diagnosed with late colon cancer and all they could offer was palliative care, further delayed due to COVID. She had 2 young children. Makes me so angry so many chances missed and delayed.

This has been going on for a long, long time. My dad went several times in the early 90s with terrible headaches and personality changes. You guessed it: have some paracetemol and anti-depressants and go away. By the time he got the brain tumour diagnosis it was terminal. The neurologist actually said he could probably have treated it at an earlier stage, if he’d been referred when he first went to the GP. Fobbing off serious symptoms is a real killer in the NHS.

As far as I’m aware it’s not mandatory for GPs to adopt it though ?

That said her mum is to be commended - what a wonderful thing to have done in her daughter’s memory.

Sadly it is sorely needed. I don’t know how these GPs live with themselves. 20 times she went.

My aunty’s cancer symptoms were dismissed so many times by her GP. She was eventually diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer and died in November 2021. My mum was diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer 6 months later, which sadly had already metastasised. I just wish the GP had recognised all of my aunty’s symptoms sooner. It’s so sad how many families have similar stories.

Also - it took 20 years for me to be referred to gynae and diagnosed with endo, I hope this will mean other young women can be diagnosed sooner.

Too many actual timewasters, it’s unfortunately no surprise that some genuinely ill people get put in with them by overworked GPs, who I imagine will feel awful when they find out they were wrong - I can’t think that many of them went into medicine to not care about what happens to their patients.

Resources are limited and it must be be really hard trying to sort things so that the people who really need them get them.

Another reason why I think there should be a small, even token charge for every GP appointment you have that everyone has to pay, and I do mean everyone.