GP negligence

[bubblesxx]

For months I have had grape sized lumps in one side of my neck started with just the one. Now 3/4 they are not disappearing i am not unwell. I have no real reason for lymph node swelling. 8 weeks ago I was brushed off an told I just have low iron. More lumps have appeared since. Something feels wrong and I am not being listened to. I contacted the gp this morning to request an ultrasound and I was told I have to wait to be contacted in the next few weeks to be assessed again by the gp. I have already been assessed and they didn't do anything other than a blood test. Am I wrong to say they are taking the pi**? I'm clearing concerned and it's beginning to affect my mental health.

Call the non-emergency number and request a hospital appointment. You should at least have had a blood test.

Doctors don’t normally refer on the say so if a patient. I’d get an urgent gp appointment and go from there.

Ring 111. You definitely need some tests.

You need a gp referral, 111 cannot do this and it is not negligence to offer a routine appointment. If you are not happy with waiting call for a more urgent/cancellation but the fact you are otherwise well is a good sign. Or pay for a private one.

111 will not do this. You'll need to go back to the GP.

It could well be post viral swelling. I had a swollen lymph node in my neck for years after having glandular fever.

Exactly this.

Did you do an e consult and what did you say?

I'm a bit confused about role of private GP's.
If OP did get a private GP appointment, would scan then have to be private too (presuming it is indicated)?
Or would the private GP contact NHS GP about there findings?
From what I have seen online, it seems private GP's can refer into NHS but when I asked at a local private GP, they said not. I asked the admin staff, not the doctor.

*their

I would write an email and ask again for an appointment and bring someone with you. And a notebook.

Good luck.

Is there just one gp at your practice? If there’s another go and see them. Other option go and see a ent consultant privately, they will refer back in to nhs care if you need it.

Please keep pushing for a referral, tests or scans. And if you go to urgent care push there as well as they can also fob you off!

I’ve recently lost a close friend suddenly who was not listening to for months. Multiple GP appointments and trips to urgent care. Just given different meds and told all was fine. Well it bloody well wasn’t, if they were scanned just once they would still be here!

Not saying that yours is life threatening but my only advice is to push as much as possible to be heard.

I work for an nhs service that needs referral to be seen. Lots of people we see have seen a private GP but they can't refer. So they write to the patient's nhs GP, who essentially forward on the letter as a referral. It all seems a bit of a waste of GP admin time but that's the system here, may be different elsewhere.

It is unusual not to refer for neck lump unless there's an obvious cause for them. Obviously I don't know anything about you, but are you someone that attends the GP surgery regularly with various medical concerns/problems? It can be if these is the case you're on a plan where you're no longer allowed to have urgent appointments and have to wait for routine. If you're not attending very often this won't be the case. But if you do attend often this could be what's going on.

If anyones wondering - essentially surgeries can become overwhelmed by a small number of patients who' attend (or would if they could) several times a week for every single ache and pain, always examine normally, no interest in exploring any other opinion it could be a non-physical condition, increasingly frustrated when every test comes back normal/shift to new symptoms once their current symptoms have had every examination possible (literally as obvious as - "well your lump has now been examined extensively via specialist clinic with MRI & several ultrasounds no actual sign of this can be found, you've been discharged and no further investigations are indicated - oh well actually I'd now like to talk about this thunderclap headaches I've been getting".... The burden of these patients absorbing massive amounts of appointments has to be reduced - so essentially a plan is created (with great consideration/not lightly) no longer allowing same day appointments for x ailments - and just offered an appointment in x weeks - this is to consolidate what would have been 30-40 appointments over 3 months into 1 or 2 (with the same GP whom can get to know the patient and just monitor them routinely).

They did have a blood test

Did low iron show up on the blood test you had?

Find nice guidelines for lumps in neck.

Obviously there different types and presentations.

But when my mum had lump she was given AB and when it didn't go away a biopsy as that's nice guidelines. She wasn't unwell and GP literally said it's just precaution.

She had cancer.

Again don't want to worry you because her GP genuinely thought they'd find nothing. But the GP should at least be testing to rule this fact out.

You need to be assessed by a GP to determine the best cause of action and what investigations are required. It doesn’t sound unreasonable to do this in the timeframe of a few weeks.
It sounds like you have enlarged lymph nodes which can be due to many things.
They have asked you to have blood tests so that the results are available when they see you .
They can’t just request an ultrasound as they need to give history and ask focused questions on the request.

You can’t just request an ultrasound, what did GP say about the lumps 8 weeks ago? You need to go back and see GP. My daughter had this and it was post viral swollen lymph nodes

Unfortunately, experience has taught me that you have to really assert yourself with GPs (and their receptionists) sometimes. I would tell them that this is affecting your mental health and you’d like to see your GP tomorrow.

I feel like I didn't explain properly and there's a bit of confusion in the comments. I have already had bloods full blood count and a few other things iron came back low and that was all. After having bloods the initial first lump wasn't mentioned by the gp again, he just kinda said yeah it's fine, and that was it, the first time I went to the gp the lump had been there for a few weeks since I discovered it. Once I got my bloods back and had a conversation with the doctor and asked about the lump on my neck he didn't have a reason for it and he didn't know why, he just said it will go away on its own and nothing to worry about. When I contacted again 2 months later I expected a little more urgency to it as more lumps have appeared for unknown reasons and they haven't just 'gone away' I'm not going to lie I was a bit shocked when they said I'll have to wait 2 weeks to even receive a date for an appointment, when i clearly expressed to the receptionist what it is doing to my mental health. Regardless since this conversation with the receptionist I have spoken to 111 who immediately put me through to a doctor and the doctor said in his own words that I should be seen today or within the next few days. He forwarded this information onto the doctors surgery and within the hour the gp surgery texted me saying they will see me within the next week, witch is better so I'm happy to accept that. I don't know gps and there receptionist know how things like this can completely pause a persons life and crush their mental health.

Maybe not negligence I think I was just rather frustrated when I wrote this post. But I definitely think that the gps fob people of FAR to much and it's unacceptable

You have had a blood test to check for anything more serious and this only found low iron.

A blood test won't necessarily show everything OP has multiple swollen lymph nodes - a massive red flag for cancer.