To expect my doctor to see me.

[Vedaisawesome]

I have Lupus, lupus nephritis, arthritis and also suffer from avascular necrosis. I have been fairly stable medically wise for the past few years but recently things are starting to go wrong. I am losing my hair, in copious amounts, which in my case, is a trigger for a very serious flare. I cannot get to see my consultant due to isolating, but AIBU to at least expect my GP to see me somehow and adjust/ give new treatment with perhaps consulting my consultant by video. I can't get an appointment at all with anyone. I am very worried which isn't helping. Last time I had a major flare I almost died. It is not something I want to risk again but all I can do at present is try to self manage,which having had Lupus for over 35 years I'm pretty good at. But now I can just about manage pain and am using what drugs I have to control symptoms but I need professional help. Also if anyone knows anything to do to prevent hair loss, please share as nothing I'm doing is working.

That is definitely not right.Isnt your GP doing phone appointments? Ours is and video calls,I know hospital doctors are doing the same,a friend was called by her consultant last week.

Sorry I have no advice,but do hope you get something organised.

My GP is only offering short telephone calls but that won't help. I can describe symptoms etc but I need my bloods checked to properly prescribe treatment and they just won't see me to do that. A phone call won't diagnose what's going wrong. Without up to date blood tests even my consultant will not know how best to proceed and will just best guess based on my past.

Why won’t they do blood tests? Have they given a reason? All my local surgeries are providing needed appointments after telephone consultations?

Have you actually had a telephone consultation or are you presuming this from reading social media?

Get a phone call with gp explaining your prob & say you need bloods doing ASAP. My parents are both isolating but still having important bloods done even though the gps are not seeing people in person etc, nurses are still taking blood at their surgery

Have you actually spoke to the doctor yet?

...it sounds like you're just assuming they won't be able to help. Have you actually asked?

I have asked. Receptionist says no appointments unless urgent and even though I've explained I can't get past her. Even before lockdown our surgery was restricting access so I'm not surprised really but what do I do? I have to go via receptionist and she won't acknowledge it's urgent. Maybe there's a list of urgent she's working to and my condition is not on it! Who knows!

Book a telephone consultation. Then you can request bloods via that.
Receptionist may not understand it is urgent but a doctor can decide that in a telephone call.

This confuses me, I have a blood test scheduled for Friday for an ongoing issue. They will ring me before I attend though. I then have instructions to buzz reception when I’m there and they’ll tell me which side entrance/fire escape to wait at

Get on that phone again. Keep trying. Ask to speak with the surgery manager if they refuse and make a complaint. That’s unacceptable.
I hope you get seen

Have a téléphoné appt, then the doctor can arrange for you to go in if you need to. I did this last week with my son. Short telephone chat, then he had a nurse call me to arrange an appointment for bloods the next day.

I have no idea why those accents are on telephone

I just read it in an ‘allo allo’ type accent @ginandsonic 😂

I agree with asking go speak to the practice manager if you can’t get past the receptionist. You need a telephone appointment with your gp who can hopefully arrange the blood tests you need.

Alternatively, you could try to contact your consultant via their secretary. They may be able to talk to you by phone which would be much more useful than your gp.

This doesn't sound right, I think your receptionist isn't telling you correct information.

My mother has a condition that requires blood to be taken, her surgery have set up a separate place for blood to be taken not far from the surgery. She was given a time, arrived at that time and had to wait outside the building for 5 minutes and then was called in.

All set up so that she could avoid contact with anyone other than the nurse. No other patients were inside and outside was marked to safely que.

Check with your actual doctor.

Maybe the receptionist is being a bit of a gatekeeper? Probably heard “hair loss” and assumed it’s just a minor cosmetic thing so doesn’t warrant an urgent appointment?

Next time, I’d say you’re suffering through a flare up of your condition and the last time this happened, you almost died. You can then explain further to the GP

Or if they continue to refuse to let you speak to a doctor, ask for the practice manager. They should hopefully listen to your concerns and get you seen.

If that fails, call 111 or use their online service. They might possibly be able to get you seen elsewhere, or can send a message to your practice saying you must be seen within X hours/days - the receptionist won’t ignore that

Check with your actual doctor.

Isn’t the problem that the op says she can’t speak to her doctor because she cDNA get past the receptionist?

cDNA?!! That should say can’t.

Contact the practice manager.

They are not taking bloods because the hospitals aren't analysing them. There's little the GP can do if there is no working lab to send bloods to. Your GP practice should be explaining this at least though.

I think you've misunderstood. The phone call is to triage you as to whether you need to be seen. I'm a GP and with that story I would either see you, or arrange for your secondary care team to see you. But you have to have the phone call first.

First you do the telephone conversation, then the doctor can decide to see you. The receptionist is just doing as she is told. Everyone needs a phone consultation first to minimise risk. Too many people think that they need to be seen when it can be solved in a different way. You need to book the phone consult. Pressuring to be seen first is just a waste of time right now.

Things might have different solutions to what we are used to. Because I'm diabetic I periodically go to the hospital for my blood tests. Now I don't because they sent me a plastic vial, told me to put three drops in, close, shake and send back by mail. They'll phone me with the results in a week. Anything possible that can be done now without contact will be done that way. New methods are being invented and implemented.

Does your surgery have the option of booking appointments online? If not, ask the receptionist/practice manager how you can have access to do so. I was sick of their phone being constantly engaged, so now just book a phone consult online when needed. The GP will then decide on next steps and if you physically need to come to the surgery.