To find that going to the doctors doesn't resolve the issue

[Mairzydotes]

I've recently had an appointment and it's got me thinking that I always feel fobbed off ( I feel a bit fobbed off with this one too)and they never solve the issue.

Once I had been referred for a scan , and when I spoke to a clinician for a follow up, I was told the nurse who referred me was working their notice and was referring everyone , and they wouldn't be doing anything further.

The only time I've ever felt like my issues have been taken seriously, and dealt with was in pregnancy, when my pre-eclampsia showed up in my ante- natal check up.

Some people make appointments and it seems like the health care professionals bend over backwards to help them and I feel dismissed. And these are about physical things , that can be seen . I dread to think what mental health would be like.

Does anyone else find this happens to them?

To be honest I think attitudes like the one you've just seen aren't exactly helping.

Some NHS staff are so stroppy and mean. You should be grateful for any old shitty treatment because it's from the NHS, and the the staff are all selfless angels having to deal with awful patients all day. They get a wage but act like you should be kissing their feet that they even decided to show up for work.

Most aren't like that, but you really do notice the ones that are.

This 'fuck you ingrate, just you wait until you can't get healthcare mwahaha' is usually a dead give away.

Oh and if you're overweight or God forbid have anxiety then literally any symptom gets put down to that.

@OliveK yeah it’s hard. I do understand, but most posters seem to forget that as well as delivering the healthcare we’re also users of it too. We know it’s shit.

Primary care delivers approx 95% of all NHS contacts with less than 5% of the budget.

We are hamstrung by referral pathways and protocols. Often if a GP won’t or can’t refer you it’s not that they are being difficult, or don’t believe you, it’s just that they know your symptoms don’t meet the stringent criteria so the referral will just be rejected.

The poster earlier who is aggrieved that the GP gave her the paperwork to do for her child’s referral. I’m guessing it’s for an ASD or ADHD referral - if so then of course these need to be done by the parent or the school. You know the child, we don’t! All the GP can write is “mum says….” And that won’t meet the threshold for a referral being accepted.

Many times medicine is a process of elimination, or trial and error, or sifting out what is normal human condition and what is not. Without good communication skills patients may feel fobbed off, but also managing expectation is important too.

It depends how serious and trivial are defined. Plenty of people make appointments for things that they won't become seriously ill with , but still require treatment or expertise. I can assure these issues won't be trivial to the sufferer. I can also appreciate that some people expect the doctors to work magic or medicare away any discomfort.

The example of 1000 people with stomach ache, perhaps , yes , it will pass in a short while for the majority of people but a small percentage will need a referral on the Cancer pathway. Some of these will be diagnosed with a type of bowel / colon/ g.i cancer. Others may have an ulcer , or gallstones or reflux . Some ailment may have a gynaecological reason, others the liver , for example.

So not everyone will need a referral to hospital for tests , but some may need to provide a sample or a blood test. In their appointment, perhaps the patients could have the temperature or the outside of their abdomen examined.

All 1000 should have their concerns taken seriously, and recorded on their medical records.

Continued from above - a lot of medical groups use nurse appointments for things deemed nor serious enough for a doctor.

@Foggyfield I said nothing of the sort.

Of course there are crap people in the system who deliver crap care. IME they’re the minority but yes they exist.

I’m saying it’s fucked, and we know it’s fucked. And it won’t exist soon and you’ll miss it. Not because we’re angels and think you’re plebs who don’t deserve care, what a load of shite. But because you think it’s bad now and it’s only going to get worse.

Yeh, I wasn't at all overweight but he said doing weights would give me energy... at the time I was otherwise healthy, early 30s, yet could hardly walk down the road from exhaustion 🙄

Just want to say that my own GP is amazing and bends over backwards to provide an amazing service.

Don't get me wrong we're in a horrifically long list of referrals that should have happened years ago already but in terms of listening to my symptoms, not thinking I'm imagining things and taking me seriously I can't fault them. There's a few amazing Drs there but a couple I don't like and one who has given me completely wrong advice and tried to give me contraindicated things numerous times.

The thing is, many people's health issues are related to lifestyle. Being overweight, smoking, drinking, getting poor sleep, being stressed. There's not a lot the doctor/nurse can do about those things (sometimes there's not much patients can do either) so they just fob you off/humour you. They try to offer people help with their overweight or drinking habits, but people don't like it.

They're also banging their heads against the walls.

Me too, I think I need a mot .

I wonder if my problem is I dont know which of my diagnoses (CFS/ME/FM/Hypermobility/Hypothyroidism/Menopause/IBS/internal scarring& adhesions) is causing the current pain, Brain fog, mobility and digestive issues I have currently

But god am I fobbed off

If you don't mind me asking, have all your conditions been officially diagnosed, or have some been offered as an explanation.?

From my own experience , ibs tends to be a blanket term based on a collection of symptoms .

I had my endometriosis symptoms blamed on being overweight. Took me five years to get diagnosed.

Totally. I had worrying symptoms about 4+ years ago - on googling it could be epilepsy related. It was over a weekend so I got an urgent GP appt and she wasn’t worried. Ffwd 4+ years, it happens again (but worse), dh takes me to a&e and even though the Dr was about 12 it pushed things along a bit and I managed to get the GP to refer to neurology - the consultant was eye rolling when I told him the GP dismissed the symptoms originally and am now waiting for mri/eeg.
You have to be insistent on being referred - their knowledge is very limited on certain health issues unless v obvious and visible.

Yes, it took me forever to be diagnosed with hypermobility spectrum disorder. I knew that’s what it was, but I’d say it took over ten years. They did start referring me for scans etc but then I’d always be told it was normal and there was “no point diagnosing me because it won’t change anything”.

@Olivane - this is very dismissive though. I am/do none of these (when I drank it was infrequent so I don’t believe it had any bearing on my health). Now I have the healthiest diet imaginable (taking control of my reflux), am slim, sleep ok., am reasonably active and try to reduce stress as much as I can (am mindful stress is a factor in some of my health issues and I’m starting therapy - again).
So the GP has nothing to ‘blame’ me for apart from being menopausal and I don’t really want to throw hrt in the mix cos it might aggravate things in other ways (I don’t really have many traditional meno symptoms).

@Mairzydotes the hypothyroidism was diagnosed by the gp via blood tests and my stubbornness; but the others all involved multiple visits to the hospital and various tests

The ibs was 'diagnosed' in 95/96 by a consultant but I've been back to gastro several times over the years, its not polyps, or coeliac or diverticulitis. I also have a rectocele and it became suddenly worse after a surgery for a burst ectopic pregnancy (2000) which wasn't explained until they found the adhesions and scarring during surgery in 2018. Explains to some extent why fodmap/several medications didn't really work - which usually involved the gp telling me if I didn't follow my diet properly how could I expect the symptoms to stop.......
The best day at a gastro appt was when the consultant said confidently "you have a very fast transit time" not a diagnosis it's a Symptom!

I completely get where you're coming from, but I also think that this kind of approach to people's concerns is unhelpful. There are a lot of people sharing awful experiences with primary care in this thread and I don't think we need to be told we'll miss it when it's gone as if we should be grateful for what we're given.

I'm having private counselling where one of the goals is trusting healthcare professionals again after a GP's terrible communication damaged it beyond belief. That wasn't down to funding or patient numbers or anything like that, it was a GP who - for whatever reason - didn't want to have a difficult conversation with me.

I used to work for the ambulance service, I understand the urge to defend it when things go wrong, but the system has no feelings, and the people hurt by it do. If the system falls apart it's because of the government, not because of the actions or words or lack of gratitude from anyone in this thread.

I agree with the part about everything being put done to “anxiety”. I recently saw a neurologist for a fairly serious physical problem which untreated could be life threatening.

Not only did he write in his report that the problem is down to anxiety, he stated (among other glaring errors) that my bladder and bowels are normal. I’m doubly incontinent and have been from birth - I have an ileostomy bag which he would have discovered if he had read my notes beyond the part that mentioned I’d had treatment for anxiety in the past.

I’m no further forward with my problem and won’t get any more investigation or treatment for it because of this.

Oh , they never seem to read your notes.

One way to get taken seriously is to put 'Dr.' in front your name. My DH has a PhD and some of his paperwork has Dr on it so GPs always think he's a medical doctor. This backfires a bit as they use medical terms to describe things, but it's amazing how seriously they treat everything he says.

Sometimes I use medical terminology and the GP's head always snaps up, followed by 'are you medical?' The first time I was asked that I didn't know what it meant - it's such a weird way to put it. Now I just answer vaguely so they're not sure. That helps.

I have a PhD and work in medical research. I always find myself holding my tongue to avoid coming across as a "know it all" or undermining the Dr.
I do use my knowledge to ask leading questions like "is there any adjustments to my daughters medication you can make?" Knowing full well as that as she's 2kg heavier than the last time her medication was adjusted that the dose can go up from X to y.
My former GP used to joke I knew more about my medication than she did. Possibly true as I used to work with the person that discovered one of them!

I bet people who use Doctor as their title get treated with more respect in a lot of situations. Especially if they think it's a male Doctor.

I had a GP tell me once , many years ago , while I was telling him why I came, that ‘I shouldn’t make it too many things’ 😢.

I pointed out to him that I was likely one of his most irregular patients, so I would be using all the 10 minutes slots I believed I accrued, so he could help me, or I’d start making a habit of being there until I was satisfied. Cheeky fucker!

I was there last year after feeling a lump in my lower abdomen and the nurse told me she couldn’t feel anything, so it must have been discomfort because of my period. Well thank you ma’am, but after 30+ years of periods, I know what period pains and discomfort are, and having spent 42 years in this body, I know when something is abnormal; so I’ll take a referral for scans please 😒.
Turns out I have quite a few fibroids, and the lump I felt was one that has grown quite large and is now outside my uterus. That one scan explained the ridiculous pain, nausea and lightheadedness and bladder problems I have been experiencing.

My advice is go prepared, go strong and know exactly what you would like to happen. If that fails, remind them of the ‘collaborative care approach’ they now bang on about.

Ours is one appointment for one issue.

We know our bodies , we know when something is wrong / different.