To be frightened and upset by NHS response?

[Rhioplepog]

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?

@PostMenPatWithACat people on the continent pay more for their healthcare, of course, it is better. We need to pay more. A very small fee? So £10, £20? More?
For people with chronic illnesses that can easily be £40 per week, £160 per month. A couple on minimum wage with no children can easily not be entitled to benefits. Benefits are largely aimed at families with children.
I have a chronic illness, not entitled to free prescriptions though, and that level of co-pay would make me skip medical checks.

I'm not sure they do pay more overall in France and yet they have more doctors who earn and complain less and most importantly better outcomes.

If a chronic illness requires two to four Dr's appointments per week then it is undoubtedly not being managed. Why is that I wonder?

The NHS cannot continue as it is with the persistent waste of resources and poor management. It claims to deliver x, y and z very cheaply but that calculation doesn't take into account lost earning among patients who can't work when services are inaccessible. The cost is far greater than is quantified as being pumped into the NHS and the attitude of staff who think they are providing a free service to the public who shoukd be grateful is too often unspeakable.

I am sorry you don't get free prescriptions for a chronic illness. Paradoxically all my prescriptions have been free for 30 years due to thyroid disease. I have never needed free prescriptions for either the thyroid disease or for anything else I have needed on prescription. Without the thyroid disease even since passing my 60th birthday I would qualify for free prescriptions. I work full time still at 61 and earn a professional salary. The system is a complete ass.

@PostMenPatWithACat I need an average of 2 appointments a week. Lots of illnesses need a lot of management. Everything from regular blood tests, visits to the hospital, physio, GP visits. It is not all to the GP. And it really is not that unusual with complex chronic illnesses.
But everyone acts as if healthcare is the basically well working person visiting the GP a couple of times a year.
I read a news article yesterday that a small number of people used up half of GP appointments. That does not surprise me at all. So much is pushed out to GP surgeries now from packing and dressing complex wounds to blood monitoring tests on behalf of consultants.

the UK spent £2,989 per person on healthcare...of the G7 group of large, developed economies, UK healthcare spending per person was the second-lowest, with the highest spenders being France (£3,737), Germany (£4,432) and the United States (£7,736).

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthcaresystem/articles/howdoesukhealthcarespendingcomparewithothercountries/2019-08-29

If the UK had the same spending as France or Germany our NHS would be much better. But people want a world-class service for little money.

The data you have quoted @RoyalFamilyFan is five years out of date and in some parts eight years.

Have you considered it may be hyperplasia and not cancer?

@PostMenPatWithACat it is on the ons site. I cant find anything more up to date that is reliable.