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!

Yes, you cannot get access to orthopaedic consultant care easily through a GP. It is a slow and cumbersome system that is ineffective and antiquated. You will access the correct line of treatment through A&E. That is wrong but it is the way it is.

The GP won’t do that though.

You should definitely have gone to minor injuries. If GP then done X-ray depts are walk in but that did change with covid. Our local ones are walk in.
I think the GO should have called you on the day they were informed of the fracture.

I would have gone to a&e. I recently badly broke my toe. Usually I would just bandage it up but it was at a weird angle and starting to go numb. A&e sent me to urgent care and I got an x ray and treatment within an hour. Great service.

A GP can refer a patient to hospital fracture clinic, with a 3-5 working day wait for an appointment. This is run by the Trauma & Orthopaedic (T&O) team but is a different system to a T&O outpatient appointment

Yoh should have gone to A&E you had a broken leg your gp should have sent you. Imo you are saying you didn't want to "burden " the NHS then complain the NHS isn't treating you quick enough !

I honesty had no idea what the correct treatment should have been. I didn’t even know for sure that there had been a break in the bone until the X-ray last week. I’ve only realised that more should have been done when I emailed my online coach to ask her about returning from the stress fracture after the X-ray and she said “well if you’re out of the boot now and had the go ahead to start running etc’” and I realised that just stopping running might not have been enough to let it heal.

I will take the suggestions on board and call the DRs again today.

I clocked YABU because you should have gone to A&E (accident) or a minor injuries place straight away. You have put yourself into the wrong system.

Your GP referred you for an X-ray and you didn't actually get it until over a month later?????

That's terrible, what on earth has happened to make your health system so bad? People complain about ours, but I've never heard of anything like that.

Stress fractures are usually complete rest and elevation

I don't think the GP is the best person to manage this. You need the fracture clinic. I'd insist on speaking to GP today and ask them to refer you today

Failing that, A and E or minor injuries ( if available) who will be able to view x-ray and refer you.

This is an 8 week old injury, & from what I understand the OP has been weight bearing as usual, although with pain which prompted the initial consultation. At this stage, & from what the OP has already said, this isn't an injury that would be managed by walk-in/minor injury/ED services. This can can be managed by the OPs GP referring to fracture clinic to be seen likely next week.

OP, the GP or PM can text you a link to your x-ray report . I hope you're getting specialist follow up sorted today x

It's very poor service. I'm sad for all the people who work in the NHS but it's bad that something was missed and now could be worse. The same thing happened to me in June. Fractured wrist but a scant x-ray, was told to go home and come back the next day then minors put half a cast on my wrist...not all the way around and heavy and barely supportive. I then had another cast a week later but now it's not set in the right position and I'm facing surgery to put it right. It's my dominant hand and I now I have the risk of long term problems. The right help initially could have avoided it. Ring the fracture clinic and ask to see them. In my experience they're helpful. Good luck.

It’s actually the best practice to not put a full cast on immediately following an injury - the first week or so, there is an increased risk of swelling leading to compartment syndrome, so a half cast is put on to give some flexibility. It would have been the wrong thing to put you in a full cast.

@Rosebud21 that is why I suggested that she call the GP and ask to be referred to the fracture clinic!

Going to minor injuries and asking to be referred to fracture clinic was "failing that", that is, if the GP can't or won't do that. I did not say that minor injuries would manage it, but they can refer to the fracture clinic if the GP won't

Also depending on where the OP is in the country, an email link to her x-ray report may not be available. It's not, where I am.

I've had the same terrible experience recently with a complicated fracture and such appalling (lack of) "care" that I felt I had no choice other than to start making phone calls and pay to go privately. I cannot remember the last time I had need of a hospital, but I seriously couldn't believe how shit it was. I can only describe the experience as deeply traumatising. I felt like a total nuisance and nobody could have cared less.

Go to A&E today. Explain that you have had an X-ray via your GP. That the Radiographer has told you there is a substantial break but your GP hasn’t referred you anywhere and you’ve had no treatment. Explain that you are concerned a lack of treatment will delay healing. You will be seen by an A&E Dr or advanced nurse practitioner and at the very least referred to the fracture clinic. Your GP can’t do anything other than refer you on, and with a substantial break, you need to be seen…

For future reference, with any suspected fracture, you should go to A&E or a minor injuries unit. The only way to exclude a fracture is X-ray, and the sooner the better. No health care professional will have any issue with that.

I'm sorry your fracture hasn't healed & hope your surgery goes well.

Just to clarify, it's usual practice in acute injuries to apply a backslab, or as you called it "half a cast". This isn't inadequate or inappropriate management. A backslab is recommended in acute injury to immobilise the fracture, while allowing for expected swelling at the injury site so that the blood & nerve supplies aren't compromised. It's also usual management that the backslab is replaced with a full/circumferential cast at the injury site when the person is reviewed in fracture clinic as the initial swelling will have settled.

I stand corrected, thank you. I just felt there was a lot of movement and the weight of it and trying to keep it in the right position was a hindrance but if that is the procedure then I accept that.

I’ve just spent a long period of time in hospital where the patients couldn’t walk at first and the patients were left to pee themselves and sit in their own urine and feaces. Thank God it didn’t happen to me but it was absolutely disgusting and the mindset was toileting was not as important as other tasks and the staff ignored buzzers asking for toileting. I couldn’t wait to get out.

They are heavy, and you do have my sympathy! It would probably have helped if they had just explained this to you at the time - I always tell patients this when applying a backslab, so they are reassured that there’s rationale for only having half a cast. I’m sorry this wasn’t made clear for you, it should have been!