To think if I want a blood pressure and cholesterol test I should be able to have one

[muttrat]

Without having to wait until next Friday for a telephone conversation with my gp to discuss why before they let me book an appointment?

I'm 51, going through menopause, my grandmother died of heart disease. I want to start running but want to get everything checked first.

OP I suspect if you tell the GP that you have a strong family history of earth disease then they will do the BP and cholesterol for you. Why not just wait and see what the GP says before complaining?!

Heart disease even!

God, why on threads like this do people always say 'no wonder the NHS is in trouble'? It's so patently NOT the reason the NHS is in trouble

It is though! Why do some people seem unable to see that millions of tiny incidents of wastage add up to millions and millions of pounds? It's it bloody obvious?

It isn't, though. It's due to systematic underfunding.

And you don;t think that what you spend that too little amount on matters? Ridiculous.

I'm a practice nurse that does NHS health checks. You will be entitled to one, but they aren't done 'regularly'. If all is well your next one will be in 5 years. If you want to check your own blood pressure (its more accurate to do it at home anyway), the machines cost about £20.
We usually ask people to wait to be called in, or we would be inundated with the 'worried well' (usually affluent retired folk) demanding tests for this that and the other. If you haven't had a smear in 3 years you are due one anyway, that is why they were so obliging. You can't just have them on demand. After this, your next one will be 5 years, no sooner.
Good luck with the running.

If I find out that I have high blood pressure and high cholesterol, I can take steps to reduce both. This in turn means I am less likely to need 'open heart surgery' later in life.

If you wait until you have those problems to try to address the associated lifestyle risks, you're not as health conscious as you're making out you are. Why not just be healthy now anyway ?

And you don;t think that what you spend that too little amount on matters? Ridiculous

True.
If everyone who worked in the NHS saved a pound a week it would save the NHS 78,000,000 which could pay for 2,228 full time qualified staff nurses.

Just because they have cholesterol test kids lying about doesn't mean they should dish them out without any sort of criteria

Maybe you should start walking rather than running?

Yeah, it matters, but it IS ridiculous to suggest THE REASON the NHS is struggling is people wanting appointments. It's struggling because it is being purposefully undermined and underfunded by the Tories. They just like to tell you it's the public's fault, and you're lapping it up.

pigeon

I agree. Turning on each other is what they want.

Yeah, it matters, but it IS ridiculous to suggest THE REASON the NHS is struggling is people wanting appointments. It's struggling because it is being purposefully undermined and underfunded by the Tories. They just like to tell you it's the public's fault, and you're lapping it up

It's not the publics fault, BUT, every example of wastefulness they can find gives them more fuel for "reform", i.e. sell offs. We need to pull together and prove that (what's left of) the NHS CAN sustain itself and work, and that means buying your own OTC meds if you can afford to, TURNING UP to appointments, and generally not taking the piss. Using the NHS for essentials and taking some responsiblilty for prevention

This OP appears to want to WAIT until a bad cholesterol test before taking steps to prevent heart disease - this is not the sort of bullshit the NHS was built for!

The OP is eligible for "routine" screening (not ad-hoc whenever she demands it)
The OP could get a private health screen (non scan ones are not expensive)
The OP could just follow a heart health diet and lifestyle without waiting for a problem to fix rather than preventing problems in the first place

It's not the publics fault, BUT, every example of wastefulness they can find gives them more fuel for "reform", i.e. sell offs. We need to pull together and prove that (what's left of) the NHS CAN sustain itself and work, and that means buying your own OTC meds if you can afford to, TURNING UP to appointments, and generally not taking the piss. Using the NHS for essentials and taking some responsiblilty for prevention

You appear to have cause and effect confused. They're not 'looking for examples of wastefulness'. They're creating a system that can't supply its demand, but telling you that the problem is waste of what would otherwise be adequate resources. And we don't need to 'prove that's what left of the NHS can work' because it can't without the right funding, which they know, which is why they aren't funding it, because it not working is in their private interests.

You appear to have cause and effect confused. no I haven't.

because it not working is in their private interests. so we'll just prove them right?, give them more fuel for their fire?

They're eeking out any examples they can to go "look, those plebs can't have nice things, because whatever we give them they waste"