Examples of Wrongly Being Told There Was Nothing Wrong By The NHS

[Westover]

Interested in examples of this, as it appears to be a growing trend to be fobbed off, sometimes repeatedly by a GP, and told there is nothing seriously wrong when there is an issue requiring treatment. I'm also wondering if it is bad in other countries. In my case:

• Developed what turned out to be pneumonia. 2 initial visits to the GP, first visit told there was nothing wrong and it was just a virus and couldn't be treated, second visit a few days later and was diagnosed with a kidney infection and given antibiotics appropriate to that. Ended up collapsing at home that weekend, ambulance called, taken to hospital, chest x ray and diagnosed with pneumonia. Was given penicillin. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a penicillin-resistant strain and so felt increasingly terrible over the next week. Managed to persuade my GP to give me an emergency appointment (this was pre-Covid), during which he barely looked at me and took a lengthy phone call before dismissing me, telling me that the antibiotics took time to work. Phoned 111 the next day and was given an appointment at a local health clinic who sent me back to hospital, where I was admitted for 4 days and put on intravenous antibiotics.

• Fell while out running and slightly dislocated my kneecap (as diagnosed by my GP). A week later, felt a sharp pain and was unable to bear weight after that. After being phone triaged, eventually got an appointment with NHS physio some weeks later where I was x- rayed, told there was nothing wrong with it and told I was being lazy and there was no reason I couldn't exercise and I should be walking properly and not using crutches (I have never been lazy in my life!). Went back 2 months later as it was worse and was told the same again by a clearly even less interested physio. Refused an MRI scan. Paid for a private MRI scan, which showed a stress fracture. My knee is now severely damaged as a result of not resting it for 5 months after it occurred.

• Fell off my bike and got a bad cut which caused scarring to develop on my face. At A&E where it was initially treated, I was told by the consultant that I should refer for possibly laser treatment or to have the scar revised once a year had passed. GP happily did this and in the consultation, I was told that "the best option" was to have psychiatric counselling to help me "get used to the change in my appearance". I wrote a stinker of a letter back saying that I would not be taking up that option as I wasn't that bothered by it but I had been advised to get further revision surgery by a consultant. I then moved house, got another consultation elsewhere and was given laser treatment to revise it which was successful.

Went to hospital being sick with pain after my waters broken. They disagreed that my waters had broken and left me in a side room on my own labouring in triage in back Labour and tried to force me on my back to monitor the baby. I was refused all pain relief other than paracetamol.
They said my moaning would frighten the other ladies and told me to be quiet.
They then sent me home as I couldn't possibly have been in Labour at 40+2 and had DD1 on my bathroom floor an hour after getting home.

My mother was told she was all clear of breast cancer, after chemo and surgery.

She died 5 months later of the metastatic breast cancer the NHS hadn't checked for.

Don’t get me started…

needless to say the hero worship and clapping on doorsteps like seals not so long ago knocked me sick.

@Daisychainsandglitter mine wasn't as bad but I was also told I couldn't make 'that much noise in the ward' and that I wasn't in labour it was just from the pessary. Kept getting fobbed off with paracetamol. I was actually 8cm and went straight into the delivery room when they bothered to check

I am currently suffering my fifth attack of Vertigo in two years.
Luckily it is not leaving me nauseous, pretty sure if I suffered with sea sickness it would be though.
The sensation of being on a boat is seriously getting me down.
I think my GP is taking it seriously, have been referred to ENT and Neurology but the wait is going to be around a year
I am annoyed though because I have been prescribed Setraline, but having done some research, it is used to treat anxiety induced by Vertigo. I asked for something to help with the sensation, not anxiety.
Also a wait time of a year is not very helpful.

The accounts on here are worrying and often heart-wrenching. However, my experience is not so much one of being misdiagnosed or of diagnosis being missed, but rather of consultations (when I can get them) being rushed and somewhat incomplete, and of the waiting times for further assessment (which may or may not rule out serious/life limiting illness) being so long that I am trying to save for private treatment.

The NHS is broken and I am well aware of the pressure that NHS staff are working under. When people work under pressure, there is more chance that errors can occur; when the system simply has more demand/need than it has the capacity to meet, people who should be treated and procedures that should be carried out, are missed.

One of the sad things is that I know if I had a few spare thousands of pounds, I could get the test I need, and I would know what I am dealing with; my father in law could have the operation that would relive his pain and give him increased mobility and quality of life, and perhaps my son could start treatment for his MH issues that would help him to engage again with life.

Not me but a friend. Went to GP and reported difficulty swallowing. GP said it’s because you’re overweight, it’s your body’s way of telling you to lose weight (!)
Returned a month later, impossible to swallow anything but mushy food and had lost a lot of weight. — there you go said GP, it’s working. Your body is telling you to lose weight.
Some time later office manager noticed he’d not gone to lunch. Told the difficulty with throat. Office manager was an ex nurse and told friend to go straight to NHS drop in centre. One look down throat and sent to local hospital.
Cancer of oesophagus diagnosed. Despite radical treatment he died a year later.
At no time had the original GP even looked down his throat, just the bizarre weight comments.

Not recently, 14 years ago, but GP looked down at my 3 year old and said, ‘ I see you’re worried but he looks fine to me.’
He had a brain tumour.

Thank you for this. That’s interesting, I don’t recall having a red tongue but it was a long time ago, Im 70 now. I can still remember the pain, redness and peeling in my feet and hands. It was back in the good old days when GP’s made house calls, I’d been discharged from hospital after a nasty ear infection, mastoiditis. I’ve never been prescribed penicillin since. Now I think back, The rash I had was limited to my face and upper body, I didn’t have any other symptoms of allergic reaction such as swelling of my air ways.
I will definitely look it up. Thank you.

My OH was fobbed off by a succession of different GPs (different partners) for around 2 years. He presented with bone pain, rib pain, weakness, excessive bruising (a slight knock would cause a huge angry black bruise), heart palpitations. He must have gone about a dozen times. All they did was routine blood tests, ecg, and suggested painkillers! Then he passed out a few times so went to A&E a couple of times due to broken ribs- they did the same, routine bloods, ecg, chest xray and sent him home with painkillers.

The pain/weakness etc got worse, so he started going to the GP more and more. One day, instead of one of the usual GPs, he saw a locum. She actually listened to what he was saying, noticed that he hadn't been near the surgery for about a decade prior to the last couple of years, and got him a different blood test. It highlighted bone marrow cancer! Looking at the symptoms etc it's blindingly obvious - he could tick the entire list of Myeloma symptoms!

My parent went to their GP on a FRiday as they were worried that they had symptoms of a condition that runs in our family. They were told it was anxiety and to try and relax. They died very suddenly on the Monday. 45.

I was sent for testing (my siblings weren't because different GP obviously...) and they said they couldn't find any hereditary condition but that I was still classed high risk but not to worry as only 1% of people die from it when they have it......

Vertigo is awful - ask for prochlorperazine (aka stemetil), it really helps my symptoms. Alternatively Sturgeron is an over the counter preparation that has helped me a bit when I couldn’t get a prescription for a whole due to my GPs incompetence.

@IVFPrayingForBioChild it was southmead hospital in Bristol. I reported all of this. They said I had never told them anything. I never called them back and didn’t tell them I was I contracting until I was in delivery room. A whole waiting room full of people could confirm that I had told them. They’re excuse was when they monitored the baby the ecg machine hadn’t picked up on the contractions and decided I was trying to get them to induce labour on.

@Westover

Never had a bad experience with the NHS, nor heard of any first hand, despite plenty of AE visits, a couple of operations and a diagnosis for a serious illness & the care my mum got after her stroke was brilliant, despite end of life, as is the care my DD gives her patients.

Oh and absolutely fantastic care perinatal.

Sorry can't be more helpful in your quest.

I believe a lot of UK doctors take this too far. Scan down to third paragraph. www.2020mag.com/article/dont-look-for-zebras
They start with the simplest explanation for symptoms but won’t move forward.

Also their reluctance to use MRIs and other scans must be well known. In a French A&E dr told me not to worry, they had a scanner on standby as “ we don’t keep them for special occasions” A&E in one of the largest hospitals in France I was seen within 10 minutes of arrival — by a dr as triage nurse immediately spotted seriousness of symptoms.

I had my first child thirty years ago. My waters broke in the evening and I went into hospital. The midwives told me my waters hadn't broken and to go home. (They had). They then kept me in and induced me with pessaries because I wasn't going into labour. The pessaries didn't work so they put me on a drip without giving me any options or explaining anything. I was left to make the decision myself with no knowledge or understanding. Because I was unable to move as attached to the drip, the pain became very severe very quickly and I asked for an epidural. The anaesthetist topped this up shortly before the end of labour, and the midwife and he were arguing over my head. I can't remember why. When I was told to push I couldn't feel a thing. The baby got stuck (shoulder dystocia) and then the true horror started. The midwife throughout was appalling. Condescending, belittling and disinterested. When I asked her why the epidural had been topped up so late on she said 'well, if you couldn't stand the pain at the beginning, you wouldn't have managed it at the end'.

I was then sent to another hospital as the baby needed special care due to the horrific birth. I was put in a room on my own and just left there. They forgot to bring me meals quite regularly, and since I was very weak and couldn't walk or stand there wasn't much I could do. They didn't bring the baby to me, didn't help me with breastfeeding (except one nurse who was only on shift for a short while). One nurse came into my room and started doing her make up in the mirror of the bathroom, completely ignoring me. It was appalling. The NHS hasn't always been wonderful.

I could cite many more examples of negligence .

Dad was told he had a cheat infection (recurrent) and a locum GP told him to gargle with pepper. He kicked up a fuss and to 'humour him' because he has mental health issues, they offered to do a biopsy (thinking he'd say no). He had it. Guess what, he had lung cancer. If he hadn't kicked up a fuss he'd be dead now. But if the GP had listened to him on one of several occasions he went to the doctor's, he would be in a much better state of health now.

Being told my skin condition was all in my head as there are no conditions where blisters come up so suddenly and I must be doing it to myself in my sleep. This must have been because I’d been going through multiple miscarriages and was subconsciously harming myself.

fast forward 12 years and they decided to do a biopsy (I think partly just to show me there was nothing wrong), and it showed I have a very rare skin condition where blisters appear very suddenly! Amazing how differently I’ve been treated since.

Do you know what…I’m hoping the DM does pick this thread up.

Or better still, Allison Pearson from the Daily Telegraph.

Had recurrent UTIs as a young woman - like every two weeks for years and would wee pure blood and clots. Was excruciating and every time the Gp would just give me another short set of antibiotics.

my GP in south London told me I would just have to learn to live with the pain and there was nothing that could be done and no referrals to be made.

private visit to a urologist, 20 minute urethral dilation and zero UTIs since. Been well over a decade since my last one. Life changing.

@LadyDanburysCane have tried Sturgeron doesn't help.
Was thinking about prochlorperazine, you can actually get it over the counter, for treatment of migraines but used to be prescribed another medication that was a dopamine antagonist and it seriously messed up my voice, so a bit reticent to try it.
Considering booking in with an ENT Dr privately though.

I’ve name changed for this because it’s identifying. Overdue with 4th baby and something didn’t feel right at all. Went to the maternity unit where they briefly palpated my stomach and said the strange feeling was due to having so many children, apparently the uterus is ‘like baggy knicker elastic’, sent home with a flea in my ear. Woke up at 4.30am with my waters breaking, every other labor the midwife had to break my waters manually. I called the maternity unit asking to come in, something didn’t feel right, was told not to bother coming because they’d send me home. I called a taxi which I know was risky but I couldn’t shake the feeling something was wrong because the pain didn’t feel right. I arrived and was made to sit in the waiting room in incredible pain until eventually being given an examination, really strange stringy discharge was everywhere, midwife had no idea what it was and thought the tight stomach was possibly the baby being breech despite the scan showing nothing of the sort. Anyway I was 8cms dilated, see I knew I was in labour! I was taken up to the delivery suite in a wheelchair due to the pain meaning I couldn’t walk.

It’s here where things started to go wrong, not enough staff, beds etc but because I was so far gone they found me a room, had a trainee midwife with her mentor popping in occasionally. I kept thinking something’s not right but I duly tried to push but the pain was far beyond regular delivery pain, I just kept crying and said I can’t anymore, told it won’t be much longer but baby was not shifting. After my repeated sobbing they got an anesthetist in to do an epidural and the Sp registrar was called, taken in to theatre and told to push, nothing and bearing in mind this had gone on for hours I had nothing left in the tank. SpR decided it was C-section time but kept asking me questions about my previous pregnancies and uterus issues, I had never had any issues with my uterus, not even period pain, ever. I could hear fear in his voice and he said not to worry but he was having trouble getting baby out, he did eventually but then said he was trying to stitch my uterus back up, he finished and I was taken back to the room I’d come from because there was no where else to put me, recovery was full or no staff.In the room I was on the phone to my mother, I said very suddenly that I didn’t feel very well, they lifted the sheet and I was hemorrhaging badly. They rushed me in to HDU and all of a sudden I was surrounded by people, they told my ex partner to not leave the hospital for a cigarette and there was no on call doctor to deal with me, apparently he was at a family party an hour away but he’d been called to come in. I remember the panic and fear on every professionals face, I was wheeled to theatre again but I became unconscious before I got there, I clearly remember feeling the life draining out of me before I passed out and I had what felt like tunnel vision with a white blur far in the distance.

I was woken up the following day feeling very strange and confused, I just heard this voice saying to keep still whilst they removed the tube from my throat and I’d been in an induced coma, I’d had a hysterectomy to save my life. I couldn’t move, speak, wasn’t allowed water except a sponge dabbed on my lips, couldn’t focus because of the IV pain medication. The SpR who’d first operated on me came and saw me, he told me he never thought I’d survive but I must’ve had a good reason to. He told me my uterus was in an X shape with the narrowest part around my sons neck causing his oxygen dips and the reason I couldn’t deliver him, he was well and truly trapped.I was then taken to HDU a couple of days later where I was basically abandoned, my parents were bringing food in for me but I couldn’t eat, asking someone to help empty my catheter bag because I was bed bound on a morphine pump. I remember asking for the door to HDU to be left open because the horrific dreams and replay of the events had started, heard an anesthetist and a midwife have a very loud row about how what I’d been through had been allowed to happen, think they’d forgotten I was there tbh.
Next day I was taken to the regular ward and basically abandoned again, in horrific pain and already developing PTSD I was told I wasn’t allowed my morphine pump anymore and I was to stay on the ward with all the other new mums. I’d had my catheter removed and asked someone to help me to the loo, bearing in mind the only time I’d stood in the last few days was with the assistance of physio in ICU to clear my chest, they told me to walk to the loo…
After what seemed like a never ending night of chattering and crying where I was too afraid to sleep and I was expected to feed my baby by myself, I couldn’t breastfeed and was made to feel like a nuisance when I asked them to get me a bottle, I wasn’t like all the other mums but was treated like I was.
Fortunately the next day a new midwife came on shift and was horrified by what I’d been through and how I was being treated on her ward. She arranged a private room for me, had my baby fed for me and took him away so I could rest. A week after I’d been admitted I told the consultant who’d saved my life I wanted to discharge myself, he wasn’t keen but agreed if I rested and ate lots of iron rich foods, I’d lost so much blood I think I’d raided their blood bank and Hartmans supplies. I agreed and went home to have midwives knock on my door just the see the woman who’d survived a major post-partum hemorrhage due to a Bandls ring, it was the savior nurse on the ward who told me what I’d had, extremely rare apparently. I ended up traumatised, psychiatrist told me to go home at my appointment and be grateful I’d survived, didn’t really help me that funnily enough, the fact I was seeing ghosts everywhere should’ve been a bit of a warning sign I wasn’t mentally well. Very fortunately I had a brilliant psychiatric nurse who visited me daily. I went for my 6 week check up to find the consultant who’d saved my life had died, heart attack apparently.

My point in all of this extremely long story is that if I hadn’t been dismissed as a neurotic mother, one that had given birth three times previously with one being a back to back labour and delivery, then they’d have possibly been able to do a planned C-section long before I was in established labour, they got it wrong and I was dismissed and it could’ve ended in the loss of two lives along with the consultant who died, I can’t imagine the stress helped him. They should never have brushed me off as a woman with a baggy knicker elastic uterus without investigating the pain I was in a full 24 hours beforehand. I’d have loved to have been at the M&M meeting after this happened to me, never got an apology or an explanation as to how this was allowed to happen.

I'm so sorry you went through that. How you were treated doesn't surprise me at all.

My own story a few pages ago was not as horrific but so familiar. Not being listened to. Being treated like an inconvenience. Flat out lied to. I asked for the midwife to explain what had happened the day after my son was born. I was promised that would happen then avoided. It was clear they'd all been told to not talk to me. I also suffered mentally afterwards. For a period of time I kept having thoughts that my son had died and they'd cut him into pieces to get him out and he'd been replaced by a demon.
Apologies are fucking rare.
More common is lying about it, faking notes and closing ranks. IME.

That doctor injured two babies that day by pulling them. My son suffered nerve damage and was left with erbs palsy. The other baby had a broken collar bone but I don't know about nerve damage because I never saw the mum again.

When I sued the hospital they just had no idea where the dr was or what had happened to her.
And my notes were falsified.

Just so so shocking. You should have sued the hospital. If more people sued perhaps they wouldn’t be so bloody negligent. Thank God you survived .