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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be frightened and upset by NHS response?

106 replies

Rhioplepog · 19/12/2021 20:04

For background I have been having random spotting throughout cycle and sometimes after sex. Went to GP who was great saw me same day, examined me and immediately sent me for colposcopy and Gynae specialist as a two week wait, she said she couldn’t see anything on my cervix but that this needed immediate attention. I was sent for blood tests also.

Im a nurse who used to work in oncology. I know 2 week waits should be taken seriously as cancer is a possibility. My GP said it’s unlikely, as I’m 35, but nevertheless possible. Possibly due to my old job I have sensitivity around this, but I keep worrying, thinking what if something is wrong and I need urgent treatment? I have 2 little kids to look after.

This was 4 weeks ago, and I have no appointment. The sent me a letter saying they would be in touch with an appointment by 3rd of December. I called the hospital and there is a recorded message saying saying they will be in touch in due course. So I stayed on and got through to another department who wouldn’t discuss with me. Friday I spent hours trying to speak to GP for help, couldn’t get through, then got cut off. Then couldn’t get through again etc.

I am starting to get more and more anxious as time passes. Tomorrow I will try again and I will also call the patient liaison people for help.

I know Covid a thing, but AIBU to feel this is really shoddy and needlessly horrible for someone?

OP posts:
RussianSpy101 · 19/12/2021 22:49

I really hope you’re okay. I can’t imagine how worried you must be. I always try and tell myself if it was really concerning they would see you ASAP. I know that’s probably not much consolation right now.

IamGusFring · 19/12/2021 22:49

I was referred on 2 week pathway on 9 th November . The hospital acknowledged the referral on 12th Nov and said to bear with them as they were running to longer times currently . I got a message 2 weeks ago giving me an online appointment with a consultant on 6th Jan. It's not something they need to see as it were as digestive tract issues but am hoping for a quick screen asap . I think this is pretty normal right now .

TheOriginalEmu · 19/12/2021 22:53

I was referred by my GP for an emergency colonoscopy, this week i got a letter saying sorry no can do because of covid and asking me to send in a stool sample. Which I appreciate is helpful for cancers, but that’s not the concern, but an IBD flare. I’m just gobsmacked.

NovemberNovemberDarkNights · 19/12/2021 22:54

@SweetBabyCheeses99

It may as well be called the National Covid Service. Maybe they might have bucked their ideas up a bit had people not been calling them heroes and standing in the streets to applaud them.
Don't be ridiculous.

It's not like the staff are choosing this bloody pandemic either. They have to prioritise sicker/immediate care needed patients, it's just the way it is.

@Rhioplepog. I'm sorry you're having to wait & worry. I hope you get some answers soon and it's easy to fix x

GoodPrincessWenceslas · 19/12/2021 22:55

YANBU. I was referred for an urgent investigation after an appointment last Thursday, the appointment has come through for Friday. I could do without it on Christmas Eve, to be honest, but it shows it's possible for the NHS to fix quick appointments if they have to. I suppose all you can do is keep pestering.

ESGdance · 19/12/2021 23:02

This time last year my son was referred due to a testicular lump - but because there were so many no shows due to fear of Covid we got a last minute call to turn up in the next hour if possible - we did - all was fine.

Wonder if it is possible to call to say you are on standby for any availability arising due to no show / cancellations?

thenightsky · 19/12/2021 23:15

Wonder if it is possible to call to say you are on standby for any availability arising due to no show / cancellations?

As a medical secretary, people who can turn up within the hour are a dream! I get so many people who cancel last minute. No shows are a different ball game. We don't actually know they are not coming until around 10 mins after their appointment time, so too late to fill that slot.

JaneTheVirgin · 19/12/2021 23:19

Just to hopefully reassure, I had the exact same symptoms and also work NHS (ICU and A&E, not oncology, but have seen some terrible cancer cases) so was also panicked. It was a uterine fibroid, no issues with it other than the spotting, and nothing to worry about.

Good luck OP Flowers

NotSonicTheHedgehog · 19/12/2021 23:20

I had similar symptoms in my early 20s but it just turned out to be a Cervical ectropion - I still get bleeding after sex sometimes. I did have a smear back in February 2020 which required a colposcopy. Waited until April but was seen as soon as everything opened up (moved to the top of the list as no one wanted to go to hospital at the time) They then saw me again this year in January as a follow up (appointment got moved back but only by a few weeks). I have an appointment for a yearly follow up in February so they’ve been great, I’m sorry you haven’t experienced the same. On the other hand a mental health condition I have has deteriorated and it was going to be February just to see the CMHT; the appointment letter came through in November. So I went private. My GP sent the referral and I was seen 5 days later.

Bunnyfuller · 19/12/2021 23:23

This type of spotting at your age doesn’t fall into red flag country, as you’ve said yourself. Add the stresses of Covid and you are where you are,

It’s horrible op, but hopefully nothing desperate

bumbleymummy · 19/12/2021 23:26

Is there any way you could go privately for reassurance? I completely understand how awful it is to wait and worry. Flowers

VaccineSticker · 19/12/2021 23:33

I agree with the above posters - go private.

Bagamoyo1 · 20/12/2021 00:13

@SweetBabyCheeses99

It may as well be called the National Covid Service. Maybe they might have bucked their ideas up a bit had people not been calling them heroes and standing in the streets to applaud them.
Are you blaming the individual staff and accusing them of not working hard enough?
Bagamoyo1 · 20/12/2021 00:15

OP if you call your GP surgery tomorrow, don’t ask for a GP appointment. Ask to speak to the secretaries. They can chase up the referral and find out what’s happening. All the GP will do is ask the secretaries to chase it up.

(I’m a GP)

DBI78 · 20/12/2021 00:38

I had spotting/bleeding after sex a few years ago. I had some abnormal cells that had to be frozen off. I had 6m smears for two years after. Hope you get seen soon.

DrGoogleSaysSo · 20/12/2021 00:50

If you can afford go private OP, the waiting is terrible. Hopefully it's nothing serious but time is of the essence otherwise.
Good luck!

KittensWearingWoollyMittens · 20/12/2021 01:23

@Alexandra2001 I damn well didn't! Hmm

TwinkleToeMatilda · 20/12/2021 02:12

My smear was 27 October and I had my colposcopy Friday just gone. I know this isn’t the 2 week turn around however I think considering everything going on right now that they are doing a pretty good job. And like other posters my results can take 6 weeks.

Nat6999 · 20/12/2021 02:28

My 17 year old ds had an MRI for suspected MS on 31 October, we are still waiting for the results.

20viona · 20/12/2021 02:45

I'd imagine it's been downgraded at referral. Doesn't help you but I reckon that's the case.

OutIsay · 20/12/2021 03:24

@Nat6999

My 17 year old ds had an MRI for suspected MS on 31 October, we are still waiting for the results.
I was in this situation a few years back. Thankfully, it turned out I don't have MS, but it is really anxiety producing. I would advise you to ring up and check your DS is on the waiting list for follow up - I did this and they were able to tell me that patients scans are triaged so the very urgent are followed up first. That put my mind at rest a bit.
PostMenPatWithACat · 21/12/2021 12:25

The ambulance service is bizarre. I had an accident in the summer and was on the pavement in the pouring rain. They couldn't triage because I couldn’t tell them whether my deformed wrist or suspected broken back was the worst injury. An ambulance came after 2 hours and four very difficult phone call, the last of which was with a clinician who told me he'd dispatch my free ambulance. That was after an operator had told me I could take paracetamol or ibuprofen but needed to get a pharmacist's advice first. When I asked how that could be achieved he told me to Google one if I had a smart phone and phone them up for it! Eye wateringly incompetent. My wrist needed surgery and my back was indeed broken yet I was treated as wholly inconsequential. Their response to my complaint to date has been woefully inadequate. Their resources may be atrtched but that is largely because where I live they take people to a hospital that does not do emergency surgery and has no 24/7 orthopaedic Dr's available so once assessed the patie t has to be transferred to another hospital in another ambulance. It would be common sense to take people tonthe other hospital less than 4 miles away in the first instance.

MercedesBenz · 21/12/2021 12:52

@HollywoodTease
I found I was bleeding yday v v light , had my jab 13th , plan to speak to doc tomorrow, watching your posts with interest , am 59 , haven’t had a period for 10 yrs , I also have dragging feeling ,
I am worried, but trying not to get ahead of myself

aliceca · 21/12/2021 13:02

@PostMenPatWithACat you shouldn't have been told just to take paracetamol. But broken bones, even a broken back are a low priority for an ambulance. Because they know whether they get to you in one hour or two hours is not going to make any difference to your survival. They prioritise people who could die if they don't get an ambulance quickly.

PostMenPatWithACat · 21/12/2021 13:14

@aliceca yes I appreciate that, so they need to tell people that and that the ambulance will be an hour or two, not as I was told 4 to 5 hours when I was on the pavement in pouring rain. They also shouldn't refuse to triage unless the patient can prioritise the injuries. I couldn’t do that without an XRay machine and they hurt equally. As for the clinician telling me my free ambulance would be dispatched...........

The ambulance service and NHS is only free at the point of delivery and the public are entitled to respectful and high quality communications rather than something from little Britain. Further if the ambulance service takes people 2.5 miles to a hospital that can't help and then had to go back and take them 5.5 miles from there (3 miles from the original location) that is mismanagement of resources and does nothing to ensure the patient is at the centre of care.