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.

Dad being told he had a chest infection and given antibiotics. He died 7 days later of a pulmonary embolism.

8 years of being told nothing was wrong. Had about 40 blood tests, and over 70 courses of antibiotics for infections
I saw a locum GP, who opened every single blood test and sent me for another one. That night I got a phone call asking where I was and could I get to hospital straight away
Neutropenia. Virtually no white blood cells for 8 years and nobody spotted it

Grazed my arm at school and after a few days it looked infected. Went to the doctor who told me it was psoriasis and that I needed to treat it with Vaseline...
It was clearly weeping and it was only when I, a 13 year old, pointed this out that he suddenly said, ‘ Impetigo, impetigo’. had it not been for me standing my ground I could have been in a far worse place

Had severe episodes of abdominal pain. Told its wind in a really patronising tone. Got so bad one night I attended A&E to be told by a male doctor it’s probably ovulation pain. Went private and had a crohns diagnosis in two weeks. My bowel was partially blocked due to a stricture.

Misdiagnosis by medical people isn't specific to the NHS though. There are many dreadful cases on here - but I take issue with the blame being placed on the NHS as an organisation.

Yes this has happened in my family many many times. The most serious being with my daughter who now has brain damage because of it.

I was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder by an NHS Psychologist.. got to the clinic to start DBT which is the therapy for Borderline & the Specialist Nurse talked to me for a long time, did some questionnaires & said that I didn't meet the criteria for Borderline at all!!
In fact I was having an acute Psychotic breakdown and had been suffering from symptoms for months.
I was seeing faces in everyday objects, thought that Mi6 were spying on me & following me & believed that my managers wanted me to commit suicide. I also believed that my neighbour was going to shoot me dead. I felt everything was unreal like in the Matrix.
So the DBT clinic referred me back to my Psychiatrist urgently who started me on Risperidone- a tiny dose which didn't work of course.
Another month of misery followed, the armed police attended my home once, etc, then they decided to change my meds & I began to recover.
The side effects of the anti psychotics were terrible for at least 5 months but at least the Psychosis was under control.

Im now diagnosed with Schizoaffective disorder and the Borderline label was dropped.
I never did agree with it and the stigma of having BPD among Mental healthcare practitioners is awful.
With BPD I was spoken to like dirt.
With Schizoaffective I'm treated well. It shouldn't be like that!

Plus, I was 36 when I had the psychotic breakdown... if I'd been 35 the 'early intervention in psychosis' team would have been involved. I feel that I suffered as a result of lack of intervention- even when it was clear I was extremely poorly I had limited contact with the mental health team.

The Psychologist who misdiagnosed me has been promoted to a really senior position now. I never did get an apology.

By the way I've worked for the NHS for 21 years.... the Schizoaffective disorder ruined my career & I still get symptoms so I just work in a band 2 role part time.
I just still feel a lot of anger over the way things have happened.

I could add horrors to this long list, but instead I want to know why so many millions of people in this country worship the NHS and won't hear a word against it. The first step to solving a problem is admitting it. The system is so broken, it's almost 3rd world. In fact, I'd say there are doctors far more competent in the 3rd world.

The NHS has been like this for as long as I've used the NHS as an adult (and I'm 30 now lol!). I don't blame the staff at all, I blame a lack of funding (and while that has a lot to do with tories I think a huge part is also the sheer amount of waste and mismanagement - I say that as a left leaning centrist who hates the tories).

My experiences -

▪️ Almost giving birth to DD in the waiting room because they just would not believe she was coming right now. I started taking my leggings off as I just couldn't fight the urge to push any longer and that's when they finally stopped fobbing me off.

▪️ Missed a DVT which turned into PE and resulted in a month long hospital stay with a newborn baby (so I was on the "do it yourself and stop moaning" labour ward instead of the ACTUAL ward where I'd have been, you know, looked after with basic shit like being made aware I should be lying with my leg raised. The health visitor claimed it was due to being too active in labour. When it stopped me being able to walk she said sciatica. Limped into the GP surgery with the help of my Dad as I couldn't put an ounce of weight on it only to be given a print out of exercises and told I'd prob pulled a muscle giving birth. When it got to the point that one leg was a size 8 and the other a 14 I phoned 111 who send a doctor out - middle of the night when he arrived - took one look and called 999. Waited ages. Abandoned in A&E waiting room until I felt like I was being stabbed with a rusty knife in my lung, struggling to breathe etc and about 6 doctors came running and sent me straight to HDU.

This basically broke every bit of faith I have in the NHS but if that wasn't enough....

Elderly fall and I've had to hold them while they've essentially bled out in front of me because the ambulance took almost an hour to arrive. Every towel in the house was soaking. You could barely see the floor. Absolutely fucking traumatic.

Lost someone in their 20s from something that wouldn't have killed them if the ambulance had shown up within even 20 minutes. It just didn't turn up and people were too scared to move them.

During the pandemic when people used to say things like "the nhs is on its knees" and how it was the fault of those selfish fuckers who enjoyed having basic human rights I just used to laugh bitterly. The nhs has been on its knees - aka not fit for purpose - for YEARS.

The pandemic just opened more people's eyes to it.

This makes for painful reading. the deaths, the accusations of Munchausen's / fii, are very upsetting.

@Afolnerd , can i ask what the diagnosis was? My daughter also stopped growing in the womb and has been delayed on milestones - keep being told there is nothing wrong :/

My brother was told he had piles. He has stage 4 rectal cancer.

I do think the sad fact is errors will be made - maybe especially now with understaffing. The shifts some of my NHS friends are asked to take on are not safe, but I think they feel pressurised to do them because it's them or no one - even when they know they won't be working at their best.

I was a 'victim' - my mum was told she was being 'neurotic' when she was complaining I didn't seem to be able to stand at 14 months (despite the fact i was her 3rd child, so she knew pretty well what was normal, and wasn't precious about me). Turned out I had an unusual manifestation of what they now call hip dysplasia. If spotted earlier it could have been solved without surgery, but instead I required operations months of being immobilised and separation from my parents. I will also need an early hip replacement. TBF, I acknowledge it was unsual, so it may not have been obvious. Annoyed they didn't trust my mum's judgement though!

My ds

hes my no4 so not pfb at all

he wasn’t sitting up by 6 months-told nothing wrong with him-she didn’t look at him,let alone touch him-in fact she told me to leave him in his pram

back at 7 months-ditto

back two weeks later-ditto

8 months-she did at this point check his hips-got really snotty with me but did it-nothing wrong

8 months and 3 weeks-same

9months-I took him and again she barely looked at him-I refused to leave until someone took me seriously

they threatened me with the police-I told them to go ahead-I wasn’t moving until someone took me seriously-they did call the police,I was chucked out and told I was ‘lucky’ they where keeping me on the books-I walked straight round to another doctors and registered with them

i took him to the new doctors who rushed us to hospital-they wanted to know why he wasn’t coming on as he should

They kept him in for 6 days-the problem was in his knees not his hips

they called in ss who asked why I hadn’t bothered to take him to the doctors!

i had-endlessly but nobody wanted to know and I was treated like a clueless new mother who didn’t know her own baby

the original doctor denied ever seeing us which ss seemed to believe and nobody seemed to check his records-proof I had taken him-they seemed hell bent on covering their own arses-my baby had been let down badly

he was meant to have physio but irl we got two appointments which where cancelled-nobody bothered to tell me until I got there-and I had ss breathing down my neck as they’d put us down as no shows!

as it was,he did start walking at two and a half (and came on in leaps and bounds) and ss backed off (as I’d done nothing wrong) but I will never let go of being called a liar over and over again

the whole time was a shitshow which I’m sure brought on my pnd which (no surprise) I got zero help to overcome-at one point a female doctor patted me on the hand,told me to ‘go home and have a cup of tea and enjoy your baby’

I lost a lot of faith in the nhs and will never recover-he’s 18 now and is at the gym daily so it didn’t hold him back at all

I had a severe pain in my lower back. I had a CT - I was told one of the vertebral discs had slipped. Then the letter that was sent to my gp said there was nothing wrong with my back. By that stage I couldn't even get out of bed. I paid privately to see a consultant spinal surgeon who confirmed the disc had badly prolapsed. Paid £1200 to have it injected...now resolved and pain free.
I feel let down by the NHS having worked in it since 1975.

Midwife

Also less serious but quite traumatising at that time was being told I wasn't in labour with my first child and to stay at home and I was actually fully dilated and my daughter arrived 30 minutes later.

Was diagnosed with allergy. It was AML (leukaemia)
Had a stroke with all the symptoms of a stroke except on both sides instead of one and was sent home after waiting 6hours at Whittington A&E (only seen by a nurse) and diagnosed with Stress... 🙄

Gosh, nowhere near as bad as some of these! This reads long, but it WAS a long process.

My leg kept giving out under me or locking or feeling like it was dislocating. I saw gp who said it was nothing, just rest.
Then sent me for an x ray when I went back a month later saying it was still causing me pain and problems. (6 week wait for x ray)

GP then said they couldn't find the xray results.
Then phoned me up to tell me the results were fine as far as my hip was concerned, but that I had something (I still don't have any symptoms from) on my spine.

Leg still really problematic so I went back to the gp after another month or two who referred me for physio. 8 week wait to get on their list (then).

Physio said bursitis. Do some physio for 12 weeks. It didn't improve. Sent back to the hospital. (4 week wait)

Hospital physio lady said...bursitis, go back to physio but maybe see the chartered physio. I had to remind them I'd only just been referred FROM their dept only to be referred BACK to their dept when they tried to tell me it would now be a 12 week wait to be seen. They relented and put me back on their books. 10 more weeks of physio.

Still no improvement. Chartered physio scratched head and referred me back to the hospital to see orthopaedics. 6 month wait.

When I'd heard nothing after 6 months (at that time that was the max allowed wait time) I called them and magically got an appt letter through for 4 weeks later.

Orthopaedic surgeon was very unimpressed to find he was looking at a, by then, 3 year old x ray where he could instantly see the mechanical problem. Steroid injection and CAT scan verified surgery was needed. Arthroscopy surgery fixed it.

Nothing really drastic resulted except due to having to favour the problematic leg for so long it's lost a lot of strength which I have still yet to regain more than 7 years on.

My father went to the doctor repeatedly as he knew there was something very wrong with him. After several fruitless visits, the doctor actually threw his notes on the desk in frustration and called him a malingerer. He then went private, was diagnosed with a fast growing cancer and was dead within 8 months.

It’s not a lack of funding, it’s mismanagement of funding and pure waste.
I found out recently that every pair of stainless steel scissors they cut the umbilical cord with is just thrown straight in the bin. Back in the day these things would have been sterilised and reused, now they’re just thrown out and new ones are bought.

DH was told he had asthma but it turned out to be pneumonia. I'm glad, asthma is worse problem to have.

DH was told he would have a nasty scar (after a car knocked him off bike). Healed well, no scar.

Nowhere near as serious as some on here but my mum was told her health issues were age related when she was actually in heart failure.

My sister was told her painful leg was a sprain when she had a DVT.

I was told there was no way I had hypothyroidism despite displaying many of the symptoms because my TSH was low and my GP believed this was the only blood test result that mattered. I have central hypothyroidism caused by a problem with my pituitary gland not the thyroid. A couple of months on Levothyroxine and I feel like a new woman but I lost 6 years feeling shit because the proper blood tests were never done.

Had an operation on my back -slipped disc.
When I came out of the operation I had a big lump on my foot that was really hurting.
I kept saying to the nurses/doctors about it but they kept insisting it was a ganglion cyst.
10 years later I had slipped over and had to have an X-ray on my foot.
The X-ray showed I had a very old fracture in my foot and that lump they insisted was a ganglion cyst was in fact bone. My fracture has now healed badly with this permanent lump in my foot because they never treated it.
So basically in the operation for my back they had somehow fractured my foot whilst I was on the operating table. Even though I insisted my foot was really painful they didn't listen.
I knew it was more than a cyst because of the pain it was giving me. However they kept making telling me I was fine.

Made to feel like a timewasting 'UTI' by a telephone consultant nurse telling me to take paracetamol for up to 6 weeks to wait for improvement from the pain in the absence of a positive urine test...ended up screaming on way to A&E with an appendix that had been ruptured by 3 days by the time they operated and sky high blood infection results. Unbelievable

My partner was told he was a drug seeker fabricating a back problem to claim benefits and was fobbed off for 10 years.

He had tethered spine and is now quadriplegic. It is too late for the operation.