To think that, unless you can pay for it, access to healthcare is being kept away / gatekept?

[Neoerna]

Sorry I am so upset right now.
I've been having gynae problems for two years. I put up with it hoping it would get better, for ages, but my quality of life is really affected.
Basically I have at least one prolapse. It's got worse recently and I spend most of my time hobbling around like an old lady at 35, feeling like everything is going to fall out of me ): ): , sex is awful, I have had to leave my physical job, my hobbies are no longer enjoyable because they involved lots of walking and lifting.

I first paid for pelvic floor specialist physio because I thought it could help. She said yes prolapse but pelvic floor strong and it's ligament damage so physio won't help. Also tried privately pessaries but they gave me infections. I ran out of money. I went to the GP and after a couple of times back and forth, she referred me to Gynae.

I've now been sent a letter saying that due to the recovery from pandemic, demand is high, and that I am being offered 'advice that I can follow sent to my GP' !!

What is this??!! Do we not even have a healthcare system anymore??

I had prepared for a long wait, but hadn't prepared to be basically gatekept away from healthcare because I don't have money to pay private 😥😥

I'm so sorry - sadly the NHS is going to hell in a handcart.

Anyone who needs /uses the NHS needs to hassle their MP continually and STOP VOTING TORY!

really hope you get the urgent help hoi need soon OP! 💐

I'm so sorry that you are going through this.

The NHS is broken and in dire straits unfortunately.

As my username suggests im going through my own NHS referral shit show.

It's a sad time when your GP automatically says "have you considered going private for this?"

Oh yes, I'll just magic up £6k out of nowhere,

Sorry to rant but just want to say solidarity. I do feel like women's health issues are constantly deprioritised.

Write to your MP; and try to get your GP to lobby for you.

It is utterly unacceptable what you're being expected to manage (and I bet if it were a bloke's condition, he wouldn't be fobbed off- another thing for you MP's letter!).

And remember to never vote Tory.

I'm having treatment at the moment, as is my sister. We were both getting nowhere until we asked for our referrals to be made to the local private hospitals as NHS patients. My treatment was arranged within 10 days and hers within 21 days. We've both been waiting years.

You can't even go private any more..you can but the waiting lists are creeping up there too. I had a skin lesion I needed checking. I was told up to 6 months wait. So I went on the hunt for private dermatology and couldn't find anything less than 10 weeks. I luckily found a dermatologist on the off chance who had a cancellation.
Ironically my NHS appointment came a week after it was removed (it must have been on 2WW) I'm still glad I went private as NHS pathology would have taken 8 to 12 weeks for results.
Other friends are finding private health is not as speedy as you might expect.

Sadly I agree, more and more people are being forced to either live with problems they shouldn't have to, or deterioriate while waiting for treatment under the NHS to the point that those that can will pay for treatment.

My mother needed heart surgery, but the NHS would have put her on a waiting list, in which time her health would have deterioriated to a point.. well, I don't like to think. Instead she's £30k lighter but back to full health at 78 and back to walking miles a day instead of struggling to get accross the front room.

Thanks for solidarity, and I am sorry others are going through this too.

@HunterHearstHelmsley Do you know if it's possible to do this in Scotland?

@Northernsoullover I can't afford private. Spent what little savings I had on pelvic physio and trying pessaries. I am scared that I am just being 'left' like this by the NHS, with only 'advice to my GP for me to follow'. It feels to me like they are just trying to get people off the waiting lists by fobbing them off.

Evusheld is being withheld from NHS (UK is only country that has made a decision which has rejected its use). The cost there would be £400, with a rebate if it does not have the expected reduction in covid cases in the most highly immune suppressed (the ones who are most expensive to treat, and take up most hospital beds)

Uniquely, they've made it available privately, at £1000 for the drug costs (need appointments to prescribe and administer too) rising to £1400 next year.

This is an absolute scandal - this is the treatment that puts the 500,000 most vulnerable people on the same footing as the rest of the vaccinated population.

And it's another 'thin end of the wedge'

Unfortunately, yes.

After 12 years of cuts and more to come this is the state we are in.

It'd only going to get worse

The service is terrible I broke a bone in my foot during lockdown. Had a X-ray was told no break. 10 days later got a call to say actually it is. 2yrs on my foot is still swollen (at the end of the day) and painful. I paid for private steroid injection which helped for 2 ish months. Had an MRI in April this year and only just had the report despite chasing… meanwhile I’m still hobbling around.

It’s terrifying to think that any savings I have (and I don’t have much at all) I will need to keep for possible health issues (and not home improvements, holidays etc) And I am one of the fortunate ones!

I find for chronic non life threatening issues the NHS are shit. Their cancer screening is generally good, I have a severe abnormal smear I had a biopsy then later treatment all in one month.

Benenden is good it is about ten pounds a month per person it was worth it for me as they did a varicose vein surgery the NHS would not.

Worth looking into- they work with the NHS so if e.g. waiting lists are long they give you a Bupa code..

I’m not surprised that you’re upset.
you need to contact PALS at the hospital who rejected your referral, firstly and make a complaint.
If you are overweight or a smoker, stop and/or lose weight first as that will help your case.
i’d use this booklet -
www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng123/resources/surgery-for-uterine-prolapse-patient-decision-aid-pdf-6725286112
explain that you have already consulted a private specialist physio, are not suitable for the gel and tried lifestyle changes. But, that the prolapse is severely affecting your quality of life.

good luck OP.

@Orangesandlemons77 Thanks, that sounds too good to be true though. 10 pounds a month and I can see a consultant and possibly surgery, when I can't even get to see a consultant on the NHS?

@underneaththeash Thank you. I will try this. I'm not overweight or a smoker. Even if I was, I shouldn't be denied care, but I see what you mean. It has really affected me emotionally being denied an appointment. I had a few issues years ago when my teens were young, and it was never like this - rationing treatment, denying help just wasn't a thing.. never thought this would happen, and now I am scared because I have no money to pay for healthcare.

I’m in a similar position. I’m waiting for a hysterectomy due to endometriosis and adhesions. It’s taken me a year to get an appointment to be seen. I went onto the waiting list 2 weeks ago and have been warned that the list is 18 months long so will be 2.5 years from asking GP for a referral to having treatment.

@Neoerna

Blame everyone who voted tory.

I'm so frightened for the future of our NHS. As PP said, nothing will change until we get rid of the Tories; they are ideologically opposed to the NHS and any other free public services. They will never say this outright of course because everyone loves the nhs but it is at the heart of right wing ideology - low taxes and few public services. Why can't people understand this? Sorry to rant, OP, but I think the point needs to be hammered home that the NHS is deliberately being run into the ground in order to make a case for privatisation of health services.

Anyway, I am in a very similar situation to you in that I have had a prolapse for 7 + years now and it really restricts my life; sex is painful and gives me cystitis; I can't run, lift anything heavy etc so I can't exercise other than yoga which I find a bit boring. I can't swim or cycle as I get cystitis straight away and I think the prolapse doesn't help with this although I've aways had cystitis from cycling and swimming, it's juts made it worse. It feels uncomfortable down there most of the time and I can actually push it back up into place but it falls straight back down. NHS initially sent me for physio but that didn't help. I saw the gynaecologist who just said that as you've had 2 natural births and you're in your 40s it's kind of normal and she didn't suggest surgery. She told me this is because removing the womb then often causes the bladder/ bowel to prolapse as there's more space in there for them to move around. This does make sense but I'm wondering now whether I've been fobbed off because of cost. I could pay privately but I shouldn't have to and I'm still unsure about the implications of having a hysterectomy although I think it's just the norm to do it in other countries from what I can gather; which leads me to believe that it is in fact driven by cost issues - which is really really shit.

Please all remember this shit at the next general election.

Sorry to hear this, I work in a non-doctor role in a GP practice and seeing waiting lists for life altering conditions increase rapidly is depressing. We all know lots of these problems if treated early can be done so effectively, if left can become impossible to treat with the patient leaving work/becoming depressed/no quality of life. Honestly we're not with holding care, it's just no longer available with capacity we have.

To simplify it there are three categories of referral:

emergency/2ww - something that could be fatal if not treated asap (like cancer), this should be seen in 2 weeks, currently often 4-6weeks now in my area but still creeping up.

Urgent - Things like hernias/prolapse - 10-20months now depending which system. A few years ago it was around 2 months.

Routine - Known/diagnosed conditions which require routine monitoring to guard against worsening - 2 years.

We now openly advise people that ultimately if they want treatment in a sensible timescale they need to go private otherwise they've got to prepare to manage there worsening symptoms for at least a year.

It's not by accident this is happening, the NHS has been deliberately defunded and staff incentivised to move to private services so they're growing whilst the capacity of the NHS is diminished. I fully expect that if we continue with a tory government that most treatment will only be available for those that can pay, if you can't pay just get on with it. Plus then you'll have to pay for a GP appointment as well to cut down on all the people who can't afford the surgery from repeat presenting with their worsening symptoms.

@Topgub @OldWivesTale Why keep derailing posts with this? How on earth does this help the OP.
it’s really complicated, it’s due to brexit, general labour shortages, the pandemic, idiots who voted in Jeremy Corbyn for leader against Boris an ageing population.

I think if you are forced to go private because you haven’t been helped on the nhs you should be able to claim some of your NI contributions back. After all you haven’t been able to use the NHS and your NI pays towards it.

I completely agree we are slowly and dangerously being forced to go private.

@OldWivesTale are you on localised oestrogen

@underneaththeash

Oh yeah.

I forgot that discussing how the tory govt have cut funding to the nhs is irrelevant to a post about lack of nhs services.

And also that nothing is ever the tories fault.

Not even brexit. Even though that is absolutely their fault.

Fucking corbyn even more to blame than the tories

🤣🤣

It may be worth trying laser vaginal rejuvenation. I had 3 sessions and my cystocele improved dramatically. It's about 1k but worth every penny, I really feel for you.