to be pissed of with the NHS today?

[thestateofit]

I am prepared to be flamed here but I am slightly stressed at the moment so please be kind! I found out I was cheated on by a (now ex!) partner and took a sti test through the post which came back as testing positive for chlamydia yesterday, I was understandably upset but was just eager to get treatment and get it gone. I called the local sexual health clinic when they opened at 8:30 this morning to try and get an appointment and was told that I had to wait for a triage nurse to call me back so I called my GP in the meantime to try and get an appointment, no appointments for today, please come and queue at 8am in the morning when you may or may not get an appointment. Triage nurse called back at 11:30 and said that the earliest appointment is Thursday afternoon in the clinic all the way across town. I explained that I work 12 hour shifts and it would be difficult for me to attend an appointment there at that time as I work in healthcare and I can't just leave due to safety of staffing levels as I'm sure she understands, is there any way I can be prescribed the antibiotics over the phone or get an appointment sooner? No, the only way to get them is to attend this clinic on Thursday, nothing can be done sooner. I was told that I didn't even know I had the infection until yesterday so a few more days ago won't hurt and everybody has work commitments and work commitments are not her problem and she has a long list of other patients to call so please can I decide if I want the appointment or not as there is nothing else she can do. I phoned the GP back to see if they could prescribe the antibiotics over the phone, I was told no I have to attend this clinic this is the only way to get treatment. I have spent half the day on the phone and I have now found that I can buy the prescription online from Boots for £20 and the prescription will be available to collect within 2 hours. If Boots can prescribe over the internet why can't the GP prescribe them over the phone?I honestly don't think my mental health could have coped having to wait until Thursday for any treatment knowing I had chlamydia. The NHS system is so bureaucratic and frustrating for something as simple as an antibiotic prescription. I was lucky I could pay the £20 and get it over with but what about someone who can't?

I wonder why they do this if it’s simply a case of giving antibiotics. Seems like they do very little compared to decades ago. I read somewhere recently that someone got their injured toe sewn up there and then by the GP.

What a disgusting comment.

I work at a GP surgery and a young man phoned in with Chlamydia - he was going on holiday that afternoon and wanted us to help out by prescribing antibiotics before he went - I did a triage phone appointment for him with our duty doctor and he did a prescription over the phone for him. We do lots of phone appointments and of course a prescription can be issued!

I totally agree OP. It’s such an inefficient system and waste of everyone’s time. Of course you should be able to get a phone prescription.

Mad how many people will leap to defend the NHS even when it's clearly failed someone. It's broken and needs a complete top down reform. In no way could the "service" the op received be described as efficient. People are going without treatment because they can't get appointments for the time when they can actually get there. Of course they could have prescribed the drugs over the phone. My GP manages to do it.

Unfortunately the issue here is that you wanted a same day resolution instead of waiting for your result to be triaged; you also were offered an appt within a clinically appropriate timeframe which you declined. Your work commitments are not the nurses issue regardless of where you work.

An appointment during work hours is absolutely useless though. What if she was a teacher? Is she just going to ditch her class at 11am because she needs to go to the doctor and that's the only appointment they'd offer her?

If you can't get there because you're at work, you essentially haven't been offered an appointment. Not everyone can get time off work at the drop of a hat. So what alternative was she left with? No appointment.

It should have been possible, if the NHS was working, for her to get the antibiotics she needed for a diagnosed and easily treated condition. The more people blame the op for not being available during the one time she was offered the more you miss the point that in 2022 in Britain, there is such a lack of services and appointments available that she was essentially offered no treatment. That's really not ok. Thanks tories.

You had a non urgent issue, so they offered you a non urgent appointment, but still within a pretty good timescale. What's your problem? You think your chlamydia should be priotised over suspected cancer, or people who are seriously ill?

The NHS is undeniably struggling right now, but attitudes like this are part of the issue. YABVU

@Cinnabomb

What cinnabomb said. It's not just treating an infection, it's assessing your health after an exposure via unprotected sex.
If certain questions aren't asked then you are not receiving adequate care and the prescriber isn't doing their due diligence.
Some of this can be done over the phone, however the sexual health clinic may have wanted to do something in person.
There are loads of professions where it is difficult to take time off, however if it's your health it's important and there are employee protections that ensure you don't face detriment to this.
Yes, teachers, doctors, key workers etc can take time off for medical.appointments. The poster that says being offered an appointment within working hours is basically not being offered healthcare at all is being ridiculous quite frankly.
Think you need to rail against employers/working conditions that make attending necessary medical appointments impossible (this can include the NHS) and not the service provided in this case.

I've had several prescriptions over the phone. New ones, antibiotics all sorts. It's been a fantastic way of increasing efficiency in a very stretched system. OP isn't wrong to question.

My GP prescribes over the phone. They still only see patients in person if they really have to! No idea if it's different for sti treatment but as you had a positive result it does seek silly they wouldn't just do it. I think that's just luck of your GP though (mine has prescribed a new drug and increased dose without seeing me face to face)

You’re moaning about. Wait of three days?! Really?

Going to an STI clinic is important in order to undertake contact tracing. Otherwise, as you have found, STIs just keep circulating because people aren't aware that they are positive and thus spreading the disease.

The GP has patient records, they're not just prescribing blind.

What use is a consultation in person? I wasn't given a lecture about sexual health when someone gave me chlamydia and gonorrhoea, or asked about medical history. The options are you treat it or you don't, and the second option isn't really an option at all.

You can get a medical abortion sent by post, there's no reason this should require being seen in person.

Three days to access non emergency treatment in person and be prescribed medicine. Having to take some time off for your medical needs?

You are not the only person in the world, I think this is excellent service. Yes you can get quicker if you pay but I'm not saying better service of they prescribe so easily. They are concerned about their profits, not your health

My local clinic is like this. Appointments are like gold dust and they still hand them out for unnecessary things.
Last time I needed to change my contraception I told them what I needed, they said not without a check up. So I had to book time off work and waste a professionals time for an appointment that literally went "Yes that is exactly how you described it on the phone, come back in two weeks, Bye"

Having an appointment is appropriate because of contact tracing and also testing for other diseases. Yes you may have had a test for several things at home but some things cannot be tested for and some (serious) things can take weeks or months after exposure to show.

So yes, YABU, as for both your health and public health, the best course of action is to have an appointment

I’m surprised at the responses you have had on here. I agree with you, totally unnecessary bureaucracy.

You can get prescriptions via econsult (England) very efficient. Highly recommend this route in the future

Agree. Going through something similar too. Ended up paying for it instead.

No that’s not what happened, she had a diagnosis of chlamydia, she just needed medicine. She didn’t need an appointment.

What would have happened in an appointment??

”oh from your notes I can see you have chlamydia, let me get my pen and write you a prescription.”

WTF! I’ve never had an STD in my life but have had many STD tests, usually by attending just the sort of clinic described. Part of sexual health advice is encouraging regular testing.

I get it OP. I don’t even attempt to engage with the GP system any more unless I absolutely have to.

I agree with completely op.

I’ve had plenty of prescriptions from the Gp over the phone for myself and dc. Last week the doctor said, I will prescribe the antibiotics but keep them for a few days and only use them if the infection doesn’t clear up. A couple of times the doctor has offered to see us but I have made the decision not to and they have prescribed from a description of the symptoms.

I do agree the system is not very well run. When we need doctor advice the first thing you are offered is that a doctor will phone you back during the day but they aren’t able to give a time slot, just that they will phone at some point. I often have to keep children home from school for the day because of this so they can speak to the doctor, when they are actually well enough to attend school (not all reasons for speaking to a doctor also mean child needs day off school) I am sahm but I can imagine how frustrating this is for working parents. And even people without children who need to speak to a doctor, not everyone’s job allows them to drop everything when the phone rings for them to disappear for 10 mins to speak to a doctor. So do they just have to take the entire day off?