to expect gp to refer ds back to original consultant?

[isitme1]

Background info
Ds has gastrostomy (feeding tube in stomach) due to food aversion, reflux, cows milk and soya intolerance. He keeps having episodes of being ill: mouth ulcers, pain in joints, pain in back, constipation, blood in stools, blood in stomach coming out of gastrostomy, gets tired easily and is on the sofa with a blanket with very little energy and complains of pain in tummy, he asks for medicine and thinks his tummy is broken

Despite having all this going on with his tummy hes a very energetic little boy with a lovely personality which confuses everyone as he likes to entertain people. You knlw hes ill when hes laidon the sofa not wanwanting to get up as its just not him.

Ive spoke to gastric consultant here and hes not bothered tbh hes never taken ds seriously abd and have always fallen back on his original gastric dr in Sheffield. Here the waiting list to be seen is horrendous even though ds is in a lot of pain. Hes not seen as an emergency so a+e are useless.

I asked gp to refwr back to original consultant and he said
If I refer him back it will make our hospital here look bad and me.

I said you did it last time and should be able to do it again and he said the hospital here has to refer which they won't see him and havr been told gps have to make yhe the referral. Gps once were going to refer to gosh and now they cant refer to Sheffield? !
He said I cant refee patients to America just because they ask. I said ds is losing weight even though he is fed via tube
Dietitian thinks it colitis or crohns and he needs the referral and yet he did nothing despite mr speaking up.

:(

Ps hes only 3
X

Change GPs an option? Or is there more than one local specialist?

I was just about to say it sounded like Crohn's.

I'd be tempted to wait till he's having an episode and go to a and e. In a different town if necessary. If he was vomiting blood, that'd be an emergency. Blood coming out of the gastronomy is no different.

I don't know if it might be worth contacting Crohn's and colitis UK to see if they have any advice for you.

I had this issue recently, went to get referred back to my previous consultant.

Apparently the NHS referral system has changed and so you can no longer refer to a person but rather a speciality. But you can add a note that mr x was the previous consultant.

I was lucky and got the same consultant, but it is just a lottery. Not your GPs fault!

Your GP is talking rubbish, I was refereed out of area because I was there mon-fri. I do believe their may be financial implications for the GP but that shouldn't matter.

Go back to GP and insist, if not change GP. If you have £150 spare go see original consultant privately and ask him / her to transfer you to the NHS.

You could also try phoning the consultant (in Sheffield)'s secretary and asking for an appointment, as a routine follow up.

Thanks.
He said he didn't want our local hospital to look bad as we want to go elsewhere.

Ds was referred last year and I can't see it change that quick.
Ye money comes into it as it costs to refer as last time I had a fight on my hands too.
Im a young mum and he sees me amd thinks shes chatting shit. Ds was surviving on 2oz of milk with no food until I was blending food and giving it him in a syringe like medicine and yet je thought that was ok?!
Ds was 18months old at that time.

Ds also has omeperzole on prescription which is 150 a bottle but he needs it and out pharmacist agrees that its not the parents job to make a med like you have to with the tablet which is cheaper plus the pieces of the tablet could block tube
Ive rang dietitian to see if she can do anything Iike a letter or something.

Ds did say he was hurting and he just ignored him.
X

I did try phoning them but ds had been discharged and handed over to local hospital as he was ok at that time and I was heavily pregnant at last appointment so he thought it was easier more local
X

Do you know anybody who lives in Sheffield? If so could you possibly use their address to register your son at a Sheffield GP and get a referral from them?

Also, there is an A & E at Sheffield children's hospital. If you took your child to that A&E he may well be admitted to the children's hospital and get to see the consultant that way.

It says right here on NHS Choices that you have the right to choose your consultant: www.nhs.uk/choiceintheNHS/Yourchoices/consultant-choice/Pages/choosing-a-consultant.aspx

I also found this on another website:

^Seeing a consultant
You have the right to choose a particular team headed by a named consultant for your first outpatient appointment, provided that the doctor referring you agrees that your choice is clinically appropriate. You can choose a team based at any hospital. However, you don't have the right to choose a particular consultant-led team for certain services, including accident and emergency, cancer, maternity and mental health services.

You may wish to get a second opinion after seeing a consultant, either as an out-patient or an in-patient. You will need to request this from the consultant, who may arrange for you to see someone else. If the consultant does not agree, you could ask your GP to help.^

I am not sure if this means that your GP doesn't have to refer you back to the first person.

Gosh gastro department has a really bad reputation. Keep fighting, have you asked the charity pinnt for advice?

It's to do with money...

If the GP refersit comes out of his pot

If the cons from local hospital refers it comes out of their pot

They dress it up in having tiers of specialism so GPs will say they can't refer because its a specialism referral, which it is BUT the system allows for a second opinion

I was bounced around like you with a second opinion request.... I made a formal complaint via the specialism trust in the end.
Hope you get sorted

I think its rather pathetic that I've got to beg again for them to refer.
They saw the state ds was in the 1st time round and hes going back down hill again.
The cons here at the local are pretty useless too as he just dismesses what I say. I think of a child os bleeding inside and pooing black blood and has history of gastric problems plus the fact thay it could be a dislodged tube or the tube becoming burried on thr inside of the stomach wall calls for an endoscopy to be done and he as reluctant to put him on tje waiting list which god knows how long it is
He only agreed when I challenged him. He thought a endoscopy would change nothing. Imo it would help properly diagnose him

I think my plan of action would be

Appointment with GP demanding a referral to Sheffield if he refuses contact PALS at local hospital and ask for help dealing with poor care there

If things don't quickly improve start to look much higher and contact your local MP / Healthcare watchdogs etc,

You should not have a 3 yr old with the symptoms you have described receiving such a fobbing off.

Tbh, I can see lots of points of view here and the cogs of the nhs and how they are working.

My opinion would be that you take your child to a paed a and e, with a stool sample containing blood and take it from there.

However I would be careful not to slag off your cons to others. It gets you off on a bad footing. And tbh he may be awful with you and brilliant with someone else.