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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To suspect my gp is blocking referrals from other gps?

27 replies

IncessantNameChanger · 22/10/2021 13:29

I have nothing to base this on and want to be clear I'm not gp bashing.

My gp is reasonably high up as gps go. He has vast experience but youngish and on advisory boards. He is very competent basically.

I try not to see him as my named gp as he is very dismissive and makes me feel stupid. I prefer seeing other GPS in the practice.

Recently I have had three referrals that the gp has made in front of me. But in fact there are no referrals for me.

Can one of the senior partners revoke referrals of their more junior gps? I have even phoned the hospital and they was never received. Now I'm being told the bar is high too high for one clinic dispite have some very obscure blood tests already run for them.

I was told yesterday they was never requested so they would be put in yesterday again.

Today I was told that was a mistake and one had been put in a month ago ( the one that hospital confirmed didnt- a ecg).

The ecg was requested a month ago after heart failure symptoms and after a good cry this morning I'm not sure it matters a month later as I'm not dead so it cant be that. I just dont know what to think but I'm definitely getting very mixed messages. Do gp surgeries pay for ecgs?

I cant make sence of any of it

OP posts:
CocaColaTruck1 · 22/10/2021 13:33

Sounds like an admin error somewhere.
You would have been told if they didn't think you needed to be refereed anymore.

ScaredOfDinosaurs · 22/10/2021 13:33

Sorry, just to clarify your question.. You suspect that your named GP or someone within the practise is stopping a referral made by the doctor you actually saw?

You need to write to the practice manager, then submit a complaint if necessary. If they aren't passing on a clinical referral for a legitimate medical reason, they should at least be able to explain why. Alternatively, they have messed up. Either way, you're owed an explanation.

Woeismethischristmas · 22/10/2021 13:34

I’d ask to speak to a practice manager. Explain what you’ve said here and ask for an explanation why the referrals aren’t being made. I’d do it by email so you have a written paper trail.

zigzagzab · 22/10/2021 13:39

Something similar has happened to me as well. Had two separate referrals from the gp to a gynaecologist in the past year- 1- covid meant I couldn't see the gynaecologist so apparently the doctor did a conversation on the phone with them and they said there was no issue. 2- Months after my second referral called up and the gp said he'd cancelled it as I'd be waiting too long for a response, with no communication.
Both times none of this was told to me and I was left chasing everything up

SisforSoppy · 22/10/2021 13:40

If the ecg is ordered by the gp to be done at hospital then the GP pays the hospital for it.the threshold for referrals was increasing before covid and has gone up significantly since, so many referrals get bounced back to the gp as not meeting criteria.

Original poster
IncessantNameChanger · 22/10/2021 13:51

I spoke to the ecg team and said I had sudden onset odema, ongoing exhaustion and breathlessness. I ask them if in my situation should i push for the ecg. The hospital said yes i should.

I have told the gp today that i have confirmation from the hospital there is no record of any referal being received so can they put it in again. I said this is my 5th or fourth time of chasing and if they will not reffer me can they please just say so. I said I feel like I'm a hypochondriac and they assure me they not seeing me as such. So why no refferal? Why ignore four lots of chasing?

If the practice pays I think it's the senior partner. I had a ten day headache and a BP of 180/120 and he told me to take the max dose of aspirin four times a day and see him after 7 days if that didnt work. Two days later I had a suspected stroke. The hospital told me to never ever take that dose of aspirin ever again.

I told the gp and he said it was a random event.

OP posts:
Fallagain · 22/10/2021 13:52

In our area referals

RAFHercules · 22/10/2021 14:11

Most likely is he hasn't completed the form correctly, or sent it correctly or the receiving service has rejected it as an inappropriate referral.

Dahliasrule · 22/10/2021 14:16

After reading about your suspected stroke after the treatment given by the GP I would think about changing practice. My GP can do the ECG at the surgery.

nitsandwormsdodger · 22/10/2021 14:17

It’s an error plain and simple
No one is being up front and admitting their mistake
You sound bit paranoid
Just complain and push for what you need

Ozanj · 22/10/2021 14:20

GPs can do ecgs in the surgery. If yours can’t move practice.

purplesequins · 22/10/2021 14:24

dh's referral to cardiology was blocked by a review group a few years back. he had to appeal to get an appointment.
good thing he did as he needs beta blockers...

bringmelaughter · 22/10/2021 14:35

Did the hospital not do an ecg when you were in for a suspected stroke?

cantrememberagain · 22/10/2021 14:47

@nitsandwormsdodger having been medical gaslight myself the last thing the OP needs right now is that comment.

It sounds to me exactly like they are being totally disorganised and I'd change surgery ASAP to get the correct treatment for your conditions, which do sound very concerning.

romdowa · 22/10/2021 14:53

Yes this can happen, I've had a senior gp block several referrals for me in the past.

MythicalBiologicalFennel · 22/10/2021 14:57

It sounds like administrative errors.

My second midwife was like this, she apparently referred me 3 times to the consultant to discuss a c-section but there was never a record of it anywhere in the system. It was only my persistence and spending lots of time on the phone chasing things up that meant I got that bloody appointment.

At the time I thought it was just a series of unfortunate coincidences. After speaking to other mums who had the same midwife I got the impression she was just incompetent with paperwork.

OP - you can do this. It sounds like you are upset by these errors and understandingly worried about your symptoms. I second suggestions above to contact the practice manager. I would make a list of the "lost" referrals, stripping it to the bare facts - keep it with you while you speak to them on the phone to make sure that you don't forget anything. The manager needs to understand that you need those tests and that mistakes have happened in the surgery.

Good luck Flowers

ShrinkingViolet9 · 22/10/2021 15:21

Who diagnosed a suspected stroke?

A suspected stroke requires immediate admission to a rapid stroke assessment clinic.

If you were admitted to hospital with a suspected stroke, the hospital would have carried out an ECG, BP, blood tests, possibly a Doppler on neck arteries, CT scan within two hours of admission and possibly an MRI scan several weeks later, since an area of damage due to a stroke doesn't always show on the initial CT scan, which is carried out partly to establish whether there has been a brain bleed type stroke, as this would need different treatment to an ischaemic stroke.

Original poster
IncessantNameChanger · 22/10/2021 15:53

Suspected stroke was via 111 and then the paramedics who was at my door with 5 minutes. I was blue lighted to resus and bloods and a CT. No sign of a bleed on CT and no blood markers for a clot. I was then in hospital for five days where they debated a MRI and lumber puncture for Bells palsey but I recovered fully in that time and was then discharged.

There was no need for a ecg I presume in hospital. I had no monitoring on my heart at all. As soon as my CT was confirmed clear I came out out of resus.

Yes I'm paranoid. But if you put on a stone in week was in your 40s and your legs swelled up over night and breathless and feeling very exhausted you might too suspect it's not quite normal. I could be paranoid and clinically insane. It's still symptoms of heart failure.

I live rurally in a village.if I want to change gp its five miles away into a built up ever overdeveloped market town.

Another gp has told me the hospital have confirmed my refferal today ( but they didnt have it yesterday) I think it's gone in today now. I will call the hospital to talk to them and if they did put it in today I will contact the practice manager.

I have said three times to the gp "if you didnt refer me or dont believe I need the ecg please just say so. I will understand"

OP posts:
ShrinkingViolet9 · 22/10/2021 16:32

I'm surprised your GP practice can't do an ECG.

maddening · 22/10/2021 16:36

I would not be surprised, the government made a bug thing about giving the gps the power, it is possible that the odd gp will think with their pockets.

user1000000000009 · 22/10/2021 16:37

I'm not surprised by this at all. My previous GP surgery were horrendous. I moved practices because of their ways.

ShrinkingViolet9 · 22/10/2021 16:38

You might find this NICE Guideline worth a skim:

www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng106

Chronic heart failure in adults: diagnosis and management
NICE guideline [NG106] Published: 12 September 2018

Original poster
IncessantNameChanger · 22/10/2021 19:04

Thank you for the NICE guidance. Seems like the ECG was the only mandatory thing to start with.

I'm going for a two pronged attack and try pals at the hospital and the practice manager.

OP posts:
puddlebubble · 23/10/2021 10:53

He's not blocking your referrals, he just didn't bother doing it. Next time take your referral in your own hands from the office and deliver it. I've had to do this.

Original poster
IncessantNameChanger · 23/10/2021 11:08

It was a non partner gp who made the refferal in front of me. I suspect it was my named gp, a partner who blocked it.

I have asked the hospital pals when the got the refferal, on what date, by what means. If it was a month ago but it was lost that's life. If it was yesterday over the phone the the CQC can have a look. I will also say I need to see each referal from then on in

OP posts:
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