To think the care I’ve received for injury has been poor

[Batshit1]

I had a running injury that I thought might be a stress fracture, wasn’t in enough pain to go to a&a so took on the gauntlet of making a GP appointment, passed the receptionist triage test and was awarded one face to face appointment on the 5th of June. Gp not convinced by stress fracture but referred me for an X-ray to be on the safe side. I finally had an appointment for the X-ray last week 18th of July. Radiographer said you have a substantial break in the bone, very concerned etc said GP should phone me that day to advise what to do next. Finally got a call from drs surgery today to say I can have a phone appointment to discuss x ray with a dr next Thursday.. over 8 weeks since first telling my GP that I think I have a fracture.

I’m all for not burdening the NHS so just been waiting patiently for someone to advise how I should manage this but I feel like the window for treating it properly has probably long passed by now Aibu to think it could have been dealt with sooner. I asked the receptionist if I could just get the report myself and read it but apparently I’d have to ‘fill in a form’ and it would take just as long.

if anyone had any medical knowledge of fibula stress fractures any tips on the correct treatment would be much appreciated!

I agree, it's not good enough. It's difficult to say what the management plan post x-ray should have been without knowing what type of fibula fracture was found. Contact the practice manager (PM) tomorrow morning & tell them you want an appointment with a GP/clinician tomorrow. You will likely to be referred to your local fracture clinic for review & should get an appointment with them early next week.

I've just realised your initial consultation was over 8 weeks ago. The GP can call the hospital Trauma & Orthopaedic team for advice, they may decide, for example, that you need another x-ray before review or they may decide you don't need follow up based on this repeat x-ray

I'd have thought you now need someone with more specialised knowledge than a
GP.

i would have taken myself up to A&E at the time. GP's can't diagnose a broken bone - they should have sent you up at the time. That's the benefit of a triage system.

You should be seeing an orthopaedic consultant in a hospital fracture clinic, not a GP AFAIK.

The cult of our NHS is so strong people who actually need to use it don't because they class themselves as a burden on it.

I'm sorry op, yes it's shit. The NHS is ruined.

My dad died last year while on a waiting list.

I had a similar issue - I dislocated my finger (it was pointing off at an unnatural angle so knew there was vey definitely something wrong!) and I went to A&E where they frayed it and manipulated it back into place. I had a check in the fracture clinic 5 days later and 2 weeks later. All good.
It was my dominant hand and I was unable to write or use my laptop. 4 weeks later the taping was removed and I could not bend any of my fingers (whilst not broken or dislocated the hand had taken a battering). I kept asking for some sort of physio to help get my fingers moving. Nothing. The doctors kept telling me they could sign me off work but I didn’t want that - I just wanted some help with my fingers.
After 3 months and appts every 2 weeks I refused to leave the clinic until I spoke to someone who could help rather than telling me it might not improve but they could sign me off work.
I finally got my physio (I had been doing some stuff I found online) and they assessed me and the difference in 2 weeks was amazing and now 4 weeks on I am able to close the fingers on my hand and drop something.
This could have been improving a lot earlier on. I was so disappointed by the option of “oh that’s no problem we can sign you off work” instead of trying to work with me to improve the problem.

I'm surprised the GP didn't tell you to go to minor injuries/A&E the same day you saw them.

OP I've just remembered that when there was a missed broken bone for me one time years ago my GP actually told me to go back to A & E and ask for another x-ray, she said it was much better than her referring me. So I ended up going back that way, though of course that was pre the current state of affairs/crisis 😕

You chose the wrong course of action initially which was to go to GP rather than Minor Injuries/A&E. That is literally what they are there for.

They'll probably give you a plastic boot and crutches, depending on how bad it is. Or if it's really bad, a cast.

Why on earth go to a GP with an injury? They're not trained or set up for that. A&E ( or minor injuries if you have one) would be the best route.

if it was a non-complicated fracture (ie. not needing surgery) you would normally be put in a weight-bearing boot for 6 wks or so ,with or without crutches depending on level of pain/mobility. Seeing as it was a missed fracture I've no idea what they will advise at this point! from what the radiographer says it sounds like its more than a simple avulsion fracture.

I wonder why radiographer at a hospital would then refer back to the GP for a fracture? Surely it needs to be treated at hospital

You didn't pass the receptionist test they should have sent you to A&E or minor injuries/walk in centre if they can xray. Both you and them fucked up

GPs are not there to deal with issues like this.

@Batshit1 why have you been so passive over this? It’s serious, nothing at all to be gained by not getting this injury x-rayed when you first had any doubts and the GP route wasn’t your best option. So now is the time for action, or the consequences could last a lifetime, literally - get down to the GP surgery tomorrow and ask for an emergency appointment, face to face, and make sure you fully understand what will happen next. Get the NHS app, get access to your medical records and make sure information is being accurately and correctly recorded

Without seeing the actual XR it's very difficult to diagnose/manage. A stress fracture is different management to an acute fracture. If it's still painful then go to minor injuries unit/a&e. I've had metatarsal stress fractures in my early 20s and they were treated with ice and elevation, I think I was back to gentle jogging in 8 weeks.

i didn’t go to A&e because a stress fracture is neither an accident or an actual emergency. If it was an emergency I would have expected the Gp to tell me that, I’m sure they are more qualified to make that judgement. I also live in an extremely rural area a long way from a hospital so our healthcare system is set up slightly differently to other places which probably does mean healthcare decisions are made differently here. Because he was sceptical of there being a fracture I went with his opinion. I’m just annoyed that I’m still having to wait another week to find out what the report said.

So the radiographer has confirmed a 'substantial break'? I would go to A&E now and not wait for the GP to call you! It's admirable that you don't want to 'burden' the NHS, but treating broken bones is one of the things A&E is there for. I broke my finger a few years ago, I wasn't in that much pain, but noone at A&E made me feel like I'd done the wrong thing by going there, quite the opposite in fact.

So if you feel it was right to go to the GP what is it you feel wasn't done well? GPs don't have the ability to arrange same day xrays. They would send you to A&E. So as you've said that wasn't appropriate I'm assuming you agree the wait for an xray was fine?

So it's the delay discussing the xray? Surely that depends on what can be done at this point. If you require urgent treatment then obvs they have messed up. But if it doesn't need anything urgent due to having already been healing for 7 weeks then why should it be sooner?

I went to minor injuries for suspected fractured finger. They said go to the GP, the GP then sent me back for an X-ray at the same place as the minor injuries unit, then I had to go back to the GP with a form (10miles apart). The GP had to ring up A&E in a District General Hospital X-Ray dept in Wales to establish the finger was fractured and then had to write a letter which was then emailed to a District General Hospital in England. I then attended the District General Hospital fracture clinic over 30 miles away. All this took 4 days. I like the OP should have gone to main A&E but the last few times I went (with family members) it was like a war zone with not even standing room and eventually came back home at 3am (family member stayed in) and was so tired I nearly crashed the car. It is so difficult to judge what to do for the best and hindsight is a wonderful thing.

@Brunilde there a big difference between waiting a couple do weeks for a diagnosis and waiting 8. I walk around 6 miles everyday at work so without a diagnosis I’ve not been able to rest it.

Really just interested in knowing what the treatment should be to be honest. Will it have healed properly with all the walking, When can I start running again etc

If the radiographer was still seeing a break on the x ray taken a week ago, then I'd hazard a guess it's not healed properly. You really need to go to A&E asap and get referred to a consultant via them. At the end of the day, if you keep waiting for the GP to get back to you, you're increasing the chances of the break not healing properly and potentially putting more of a strain on the NHS if you end up needing more surgeries to correct the initial break.

Tomorrow ask GP for orthopaedic consultant referral, if you don't get it go back to A&E regardless of your opinion on what qualifies as meriting a visit. You've asked and people are telling you but you're not listening because you don't like the answer.