Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

So angry! This will cost lives

104 replies

hellywelly3 · 15/06/2021 20:54

Anyone who has been trying to get a doctors appointment will now how difficult it is at the moment. Took an hour most days just to get through to reception. I had a nightmare getting a face to face appointment for a breast problem that I wanted looking at. I had 2 telephone ones first but eventually got a face to face one. I was examined and was told I would be referred to the breast clinic as it was agreed something felt not right. I got a telephone call after a few days offering me an appointment 8 days later. I felt so relieved that it was finally been taken seriously. Then this evening I got a phone call from hospital saying the consultant in charge of the clinic won’t see anyone due to COVID restrictions and now my appointment has been changed to a telephone one 2 days later! I said to the woman on the phone that it really wasn’t good enough and how can you fully assess someone over the phone. She said completely understood etc but she was just the messenger. I said this will cost people their lives to which she agreed and said I should tell my concerns to the consultant when they call. I really feel like crying I’m so worried. Sometimes it’s hard to describe a problem on the phone and I’m worried it will just get dismissed.

OP posts:
MurdockTheMouse · 15/06/2021 22:06

Oh and at the height of the 1st pandemic I got bloods done at the GP

Sugarplumfairy65 · 15/06/2021 22:14

Please complain to PALS. I found a lump towards the end of February. My gp saw me face to face within 2 hours, referred me to breast clinic, saw consultant, had scans and biopsy by 2nd March, got results on 8th march and had surgery on 17th March. Treatment now ongoing.

Egeegogxmv · 15/06/2021 22:19

Doctors etc took up a career in health care, when a health care emergency comes along they pretty much shut up shop and hide away
We can't expect those important highly paid people to tolerate being breathed upon by the hoi polloi!

NailsNeedDoing · 15/06/2021 22:19

It could be that the consultant you’re due to see has to isolate because they’ve been exposed and they’re a risk to patients. Or they’re otherwise ill. It may be that you’ll still be called in for the same testing that you’d have been called back for if you had been seen in person. It’s awful for you just now and I understand how worrying it must feel for you, but try not to panic just yet. Maybe make a list of what you want to say/ask and have it with you when they phone. Good luck OP.

youshouldbeplotting · 15/06/2021 22:22

[quote Flyonawalk]@tttigress is right. Lockdowns will have cost enormous numbers of lives.

A Canadian economist calculated that for every year of life saved for a potential covid victim, nearly 300 years of life have been cost by lockdowns (lack of healthcare, poverty etc).

It is too soon to know if he is right but I believe the human cost of lockdown will be enormous.

I hope you are ok OP.[/quote]
Do you have a link for this @Flyonawalk? I am betting the economist you are referring to is Brian Caplan.

OP I am sorry this is happening to you. You must complain. Plenty of consultants are seeing patients face to face.

strawberryforever · 15/06/2021 22:25

I work in breast care services. We have have been face to face for symptomatic patients all through the pandemic. I would wait and see what the consultant offers you and see how your local service is currently working. There maybe a reason why the clinic is working as it is. Those who think another colleague can just jump in and see the lady, do not realise how overwhelmed services are currently. As for going to your local MP, that attitude, when we are working under so much pressure just makes me want to leave the NHS.
I'm not sure why it's so difficult to see a GP though. You'd need a GP to answer that.

MaloInAnAppleTree · 15/06/2021 22:29

I’m sorry OP, hope it goes well when you do see someone.

I rang my GP last Monday morning with a breast lump (would have been done by e-consult not phone but the website was acting up), was seen face to face Monday evening (different practice within the same group), in to hospital breast clinic on Friday morning, examined by consultant, mammogrammed, ultrasounded, aspirated and out by lunchtime with a clean bill of health and an empty cyst (would have been faster but they were understaffed).

Kitkat151 · 15/06/2021 22:35

Get yourself referred to a one stop shop breast clinic...that way you will see consultant and have all scans and biopsies ( if needed) on same day

Anotheruser02 · 15/06/2021 22:36

That's so awful and you should absolutely complain. In the meantime (I know you absolutely shouldn't have to) but are you in a position to book a private mammogram? I just remember when I was in your position being passed around services and worrying about how much time had elapsed between finding symptom and finally being seen, when my head was clearer I looked it up and at that time it would've been about £250 for a same day mammogram.

Money no one wants to loose when screening should be available, but had I know at the time I'd have even put it on a credit card or something, even though thankfully the news was good for me, it would have given me those two months I spent worrying, I could have dumped that fear and moved on. I really feel for you it's so stressful and exhausting having health issues on your mind. Good luck OP.

hellywelly3 · 15/06/2021 22:36

@Kitkat151

Get yourself referred to a one stop shop breast clinic...that way you will see consultant and have all scans and biopsies ( if needed) on same day
That’s what I was being referred too
OP posts:
hellywelly3 · 15/06/2021 22:38

@Anotheruser02

That's so awful and you should absolutely complain. In the meantime (I know you absolutely shouldn't have to) but are you in a position to book a private mammogram? I just remember when I was in your position being passed around services and worrying about how much time had elapsed between finding symptom and finally being seen, when my head was clearer I looked it up and at that time it would've been about £250 for a same day mammogram. Money no one wants to loose when screening should be available, but had I know at the time I'd have even put it on a credit card or something, even though thankfully the news was good for me, it would have given me those two months I spent worrying, I could have dumped that fear and moved on. I really feel for you it's so stressful and exhausting having health issues on your mind. Good luck OP.
Spoke to my parents tonight, I’d not told them any of this and they’ve offered to pay to be seen privately. My DF mum died at 52 of breast cancer so my poor DF is concerned
OP posts:
motogogo · 15/06/2021 22:46

@SchrodingersImmigrant

Gp appointments are available face to face but you are triaged by phone or e consult. My gp requested blood, urine etc before my face to face. Dp has had appointments under the 2 week pathway. Don't be fobbed off

Puzzledandpissedoff · 15/06/2021 22:50

What I don't understand is why my mum in another country saw gp face to face numerous times since the first lockdown, yet here we get phone consultation ...

Is she in a place where GPs are paid per consultation - which some UK ones have been suggesting for a while?

What's happened to you is a disgrace, OP, but rest assured; if they get their way (or if Boris privatises the NHS, whichever comes first) they'll almost certainly decide that Covid is no barrier to seeing you at all

Isadora2007 · 15/06/2021 22:51

Self isolation after their child was marked as a close contact in school?
Nope. You’d be expected to still go to work when your child is self Isolating.

FixTheBone · 15/06/2021 22:53

@Aberforthsgoat

What Covid restrictions prevent the consultant from seeing you?!
Might be restrictions on clinic space. I used to see 30-40 patients per half day, now management have drcided 20, max.
3rdcircle · 15/06/2021 22:55

This is terrible. I needed to see a doctor in person last year for something annoying and painful but not life-threatening - I had a phone appointment with my GP to discuss it, then a referral for an in-person appointment. You're quite right, some things cannot be diagnosed over the phone - an initial chat is fine, but at some point, you need to be within touching/squinting range of a human.

I'm sorry you're not getting the service you deserve. It really is a postcode lottery.

FixTheBone · 15/06/2021 22:57

@Egeegogxmv

Doctors etc took up a career in health care, when a health care emergency comes along they pretty much shut up shop and hide away We can't expect those important highly paid people to tolerate being breathed upon by the hoi polloi!
I think the point was that if we just let all the health care workers get infected, the country would have been utterly f**d when it came to looking after sick people or administering vaccines.
hellywelly3 · 15/06/2021 23:04

So what happens to the 10-20 people that don’t now get seen?

OP posts:
hellywelly3 · 15/06/2021 23:07

So what happens now to the 10-20 people a day that don’t get seen?

OP posts:
LibrariesGiveUsPower45321 · 15/06/2021 23:08

YANBU.

I was referred to breast clinic 4 weeks ago and still haven’t had an appointment letter.

ExpulsoCorona · 15/06/2021 23:15

@strawberryforever

I work in breast care services. We have have been face to face for symptomatic patients all through the pandemic. I would wait and see what the consultant offers you and see how your local service is currently working. There maybe a reason why the clinic is working as it is. Those who think another colleague can just jump in and see the lady, do not realise how overwhelmed services are currently. As for going to your local MP, that attitude, when we are working under so much pressure just makes me want to leave the NHS. I'm not sure why it's so difficult to see a GP though. You'd need a GP to answer that.
@strawberryforever am I reading a different thread to you??? The OP literally said she saw a GP (face to face) and was referred via a 2 week wait pathway to the breast clinic. It's the breast clinic who have converted her appointment to a phone call, not the GP.
Notgoingtobefatformuchlonger · 15/06/2021 23:16

@Aberforthsgoat

What Covid restrictions prevent the consultant from seeing you?!
My friend is unable to have cancer treatment in the hospital even though he's fully vaccinated. Apparently they are worried the vaccine doesn't work against new variants so he has to have the treatment at home. He lives alone and will be very vulnerable. He's also a stubborn mule and won't even give me a key to check up on him!

So basically they can do/say what they like. What are people going to do?

ExpulsoCorona · 15/06/2021 23:18

@hellywelly3 sorry to hear your appointment got changed, I can well imagine how stressed you must be about it. I would go ahead and have the telephone appointment, if they have cancelled face to face appointments that day due to staff shortages/isolations, they'll probably try and get you in within a day or two of your original appointment but may be triaging the appointments first in case anyone's issues have resolved or been dealt with elsewhere.

Conchitastrawberry · 15/06/2021 23:20

That’s crazy. I saw a doctor about a breast lump in January. He referred me to the hospital for a mammogram and I was seen within 2 weeks. The hospital was super organised. Had a mammogram and ultrasound sound. No waiting around. Straight in when I got there. Is there another hospital you can be referred to?

m0therofdragons · 15/06/2021 23:27

GPS round here have seen a 20% increase in demand. That said, Cancer care here has continued throughout so it’s awful to hear that’s not the case everywhere. You should be on the 2 week wait pathway.

Dh recently had a neurology appointment that was 54 weeks away to see if he had in the worst case a brain tumour. He did question is and suddenly got an appointment a week later. Utterly bizarre but thankfully that’s now ruled out and he has a diagnosis.