To put a complaint in about my GP practice over this?

[Newname10]

Name change for obvious reasons and primarily posting here for traffic. Sorry in advance for the long post.

Woke up last November one morning with extreme vaginal/vulval burning. Was seen by my GP who said it was thrush and prescribed treatment for that. I was told at the time swabs were taken for chlamydia and gonorrhoea. Returned a fortnight later with no improvement to be told swabs were negative for everything and was prescribed emollient to wash with as it was assumed it was a laundry detergent allergy.

Returned to the GP several times over the next few months with no improvement and was told it was dermatitis, prescribed different emollients.

After 2 months of no improvement I paid to see a private gynaecologist, who prescribed a strong steroid (dermovate) and he was under the impression I had been swabbed and was clear of the above stds, thrush and Bv as that’s what I had been told.

Was eventually sent to NHS gynaecologist who said she was swabbing for different stds and bacterial vaginal infections. Had to wait 3 weeks to be told the sample was insufficient and they needed to be repeated by the practice nurse. Arrived yesterday to the practice nurse who said there had been no communication and she didn’t know what she was supposed to swab for so just repeated them all. I then received a letter from gynaecology to say my swabs for chlamydia and gonorrhoea were insufficient and should be repeated, I thought I’d already been cleared of those and they were swabbing for something else?!

My condition is now worsening, now have spotting and pelvic pain and I’m at my wits end!! Any advice would be appreciated. It’s been a very long 4 months

I should probably add, I’ve got PTSD from sexual assault and the discomfort and examinations have made managing it so much worse. I’ve communicated this every time I’ve visited the GP and it’s been shrugged off every time. My mental health has really taken a toll from it all

Just keep going back, tell them it keeps coming up insufficient and they need to do a more thorough job.

So sorry you're going through this. Especially with the trauma you've experienced. I'm afraid I've been in a very similar situation for 20 years without much success. Hopefully, yours will be a straight forward diagnosis once they pull their fingers out. I don't think you'd be unreasonable to complain. Keep us posted with how you get on. Have you got a sexual health clinic near you? They call them Genito-urinary clinics (gum) here. I've found they're very effective because they can do the swabs on the spot which saves going back and forth for appointments and ours certainly used to have a drop in. Good luck, the pain is awful. Try sitting on an ice pack or using lidocaine ointment to help numb the burning. Could it be a urinary infection? Big hugs

Are you peri menopause age ?

Thanks for the replies so far. Not menopause age, only 24! DP says not to worry re STD screenings as he says the only person he ever had unprotected sex with is me and has no symptoms himself. All of this did follow a prescription of the morning after pill but GPs keep saying that’s irrelevant.

Also unlikely to be a UTI as no pain when peeing, just general vulval burning. Haven’t been tested for a UTI though

Have you a sexual health clinic near you? I've found that GP nurses can often be inexperienced whether it's gynae issues or even simpler things like routine blood tests. For example, my OH has had to stop using the GP surgery for his monthly oncology blood tests as the nurses often can't get a vein meaning repeated attempts, returning another day, etc. not just inconvenience but also the pain, bruising etc of multiple attempts. He now goes to the oncology dept itself where the nurses manage to get a vein at first attempt and without causing excessive bruising/bleeding. I've had similar problems for gynae issues at the GP practice. In your case, there's clearly a problem with the GP nurse(s), so I'd be trying to find an alternative location/dept to get a more specialist/experienced nurse to do it.

What exactly do you think they’ve done wrong here that would warrant a complaint? Often in medicine things aren’t black and white, it can take a while to work out what is going on and what will help. It sounds as if you’ve been unlucky that the swabs have been insufficient and have needed repeating, but to re-test for STIs you’ve previously tested negative for is perfectly reasonable if the other treatments they’ve tried you with for aren’t working. There’s not a single test in medicine that is 100% accurate, all tests should be interpreting in the wider context of your history and clinical findings and if there’s any doubt then repeating them is a good idea.

Have you changed anything? Soap, shower gel, ? Have you washed your hair while sitting in the bath ( this one thing, on e, gave me months of agony)
Would you be better off going to asexual health clinic where they’re probably better , more experienced, at taking swabs ?

I would second self referral to a sexual health clinic if you are being bounced between services. There is also a good chance they will have experience of victims of abuse if you ask to have an appointment with someone in the context.

And yes I would highlight the failure of comms but to all the services as the comms problems may not be in one place.

Could it be linked to tampon or pads? I developed an allergy to them! Are you washing with anything other than water? Try using condoms for a while, it could be friction ?

Communications or lack of are a problem. Lack of basic comms and information between departments and practitioners costs the NHS a lot of money and patients a great deal of time and discomfort.

If they don't know they have a comms problem then they can't look into it and make sure the next patient doesn't suffer the same issues.

Has DP been treated for thrush?

Thanks OnOldOlympus, I should’ve been clearer in my post. As far as I know it’s not an intentional re-test, either the gynaecologist has told me the wrong thing (she told me it was for tv and bacterial infections - which my symptoms fit more than the traditional chlamydia and gonorrhoea) or the communication from her dept has been incorrect to me and absent completely to my GP. Perhaps it’s more of an internal comms complaint than just my GP practice. Nobody seems to know what I’ve already been tested for, what I should be tested for now or a way forward

Vulvadynia? - often treated with low dose SSRIs (antidepressants)
Interstitial cystitis? - in which case a change in diet can be very beneficial while you're in a flare.

@Newname10 can you not just go and get swabs done at the GUM clinic? it’s a lot easier than going to see the practice nurse. our local one i believe you can walk in might be the same everywhere

I honestly can not see what your GP Practice did to warrant a complaint. It sounds like communication from Gynae was delayed. Would you have preferred the Practice Nurse have turned you away?

Thanks to all posters coming with advice too! I’m currently using Hydromol exclusively in the shower, washing my hair separately in the sink, white cotton underwear only and fragrance free laundry detergent.

There is a chance all of this was caused by Bold laundry detergent or the morning after pill (both changes at the same time) but until we know what it is it’s hard to tell. I have all the symptoms of aerobic vaginitis, including high ph, dryness, very occasional yellow discharge that’s sticky, burning on my skin too but nobody seems to have heard of it.

Thanks macaronicheese123, I’ve called up my local GUM clinic, still appointment only here, and they said if my GP was already involved to continue there to avoid confusion

What has your GP surgery done wrong? The nurse did swabs even though the gynaecology letter hadn't arrived. That's not the fault of the GP surgery. they can't control when hospital letters arrive. The lab was unable to process them - this happens sometimes, it's one of those things. I don't understand what the GP surgery have done that you're not happy about?

My issues really are that I’m being repeatedly dismissed with treatment that hasn’t worked (emollients and steroids for eczema), the comms internally have been non-existent and to me have been contradicting (I.e. being told I’m being tested for bacterial infections and reviving letters saying it’s for stds) and they’re general dismissal of the impact this is continually having on my mental health (my PTSD and sexual assault is all documented in my medical notes and I’ve raised it multiple times)

*their

It could still be thrush. Often I need multiple thrush treatments to get rid of it. One time I had to go on hardcore prescription treatments for a couple of months. It would make sense tho having thrush and a dermatitis - with the steroids making the thrush worse and the thrush making the dermatitis worse. Not all thrush is caused by candida - you might have a different fungal infection.

Thanks for this! I had no idea! Do you know how I would find out if I had a different fungal infection or the treatment for it? I do have a very high ph which I didn’t know was possible with thrush

Go to a specialist sexual health clinic where you'll be seen by people who specialise in this every day.

click here and put your postcode or town and it'll show the nearest one for STIs.

www.nhs.uk/service-search/other-services/STI-testing-and-treatment/LocationSearch/736