So sick of GPs not listening to people

[Wonderwendy]

So again someone I love has been diagnosed with cancer at a late stage after being fobbed off by the GP over and over again for YEARS. This is the 3rd person close to me that this has happened to and you read about it all the time. It's an absolute tragedy. What can be done about this sort of thing? Doctors just don't take patients concerns seriously, especially when they're young.

This was me, was youngish and cancer got dismissed as health anxiety, was lucky enough to be able to get a second opinion via a private dr. Now with the health anxiety (that never was) on my records I’ve had other health problems also dismissed as anxiety that then turn out not to be.

I think they do take things seriously but it's incredibly difficult for them. Many symptoms can be generic and applicable to all sorts of conditions. If they referred every single one the system would be absolutely overwhelmed and things wouldn't be any better. They have to make judgements and sometimes they might make the wrong one. Individual GPs are not callous people. They don't want anyone under their care to have a missed diagnosis. It's awful when something is missed.

I agree symptoms can be generic but surely if someone keeps coming back with the same or worsening symptoms there should come.a point where they HAVE to refer?

My Gran’s GP actually personally apologised to me on a house visit as she’d dismissed some symptoms when my Gran booked an appointment. She didn’t even suggest a blood test, just gave her some advice on cholesterol. My sparky, sharp 73 year old Gran died 3 months later in agony. I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t say it was alright, because it wasn’t.

10 years ago DF was found to have stage 4 pancreatic cancer when he'd had symptoms of digestive issues, weight loss and sudden diabetes over the previous 4 years. Multiple GP visits and even been for various scans etc. Dismissed as having IBS/stress. Only when he presented with jaundice did they scan his gall bladder and pancreas.
DSIL was fobbed off as having a breast "cyst" but it sadly turned out to be very aggressive triple neg breast cancer.
I truly hope that nowadays GPs and ultrasonographers are more on the ball re investigations.

You only hear about the stories of it being missed in the media though it's biased. A gp finding cancer isn't a "good story" dp went with a lump and his cancer was found by a gp straight away. It happens but most the time it doesn't as how many 1000s of people today alone were treated for cancer

Our GP picked up my husband's cancer on the first visit. The same GP referred my mum straight away with breast cancer. I don't disagree that cases are missed but there are lots of GPs that are doing their best everyday .
I'm sorry you've had such bad news

Please don't rely on your GP.
Goes as a first port of call, sure. Go again and lay it on with a trowel. After that make your own arrangements. Self insure if you can possibly afford it. Like you would for a pet. One off consultations are not that expensive. I know people don't like to hear this but the NHS is not going to improve. Go back to the NHS for your treatment if needed.

A family member has been in pain for literally years and been fobbed off went about three months ago and told to take paracetamol. Finally got them to go private only to find out both hips are shot to pieces bone on bone and paracetamol won’t cut it. Now paying tens of thousand for hip operations and they don’t ever want to go back to a go they can’t trust now. Hips should have been replaced three years ago

Oh I have had testing due to blood in my poo, extreme exhaustion and bloating. My Faecal Calprotectin was ‘1903’. The NHS guideline for an URGENT referral (aka 2 week pathway) is 250. So mine being beyond extremely high, yet my GP put me on the normal waiting list - which means I could wait years to see a doctor. My symptoms are urgent; my testing shows I need critical intervention - yet the doctors are NOT listening

A close friend of mine died aged 31 from melanoma. She had been to the doctor's SO MANY TIMES while it was growing. Told it was a fungal infection / eczema and given loads of different creams to try. Was actually laughed at the first time she asked if it could be cancer. Eventually was sent for a biopsy but made to feel like a huge pain. Only to be told it was cancer and it had spread. She died 2 years later. She had a young son as well.
2 family members currently living with cancer that was diagnosed at stage 4 after multiple trips back and forth with more than one red flag symptom. It's just not fucking good enough. These are people's lives.
The NHS is absolutely screwed. It's all very well saying "we're so lucky that nobody is left bankrupt because of illness" I mean that's great but doesn't really help you if your dead.

Omg. Can you get a second opinion. Please don't leave it. My relative had similar.

My MIL went to the doctor mutiple times about a cough & weight loss they blamed her having a horse for the lost of weight, even though she weighed 6 stone!
She kept going back for over a year, then she got really poorly with a chest infection.. they saw a black spot on her lung and still failed to refer her on the two week pathway for cancer.
She rang me begging me to take her to a&e, they did the scans she had stage 4 lung cancer and passed away 5 weeks later. If they had done it a year piror I believe she would still be here today.
Its disgraceful.

Not cancer related, but my mum’s GP has fucked up her care with serious consequences twice! First time she was fobbed off with stress when she was in heart failure and collapsed in the street. Rushed to hospital and needed urgent surgery. The second time he misdiagnosed Parkinson’s as anxiety - for four years! Luckily she saw a locum GP a year ago who was sufficiently concerned to do an urgent referral. She is now on the right drugs but her condition is worse than it needs to be because of that idiot.

Unfortunately he’s still at the surgery so if mum ever has no option but to see him, I go with her and sit and make notes and get him to confirm everything he says. I then email them to the surgery and ask for them to go on mum’s medical records. He doesn’t like it but tough shit, he shouldn’t be so incompetent.

I was worried about a mole. Got referred straight away and seen by dermatologist within 2 weeks and given the all clear. Unfortunately that doesn’t make news.

Same happened to my DSD. There are some amazing doctors but unfortunately some are too arrogant to listen. We begged to be taken seriously trying to explain what we could see, too late - terminal diagnosis. If any member of my family was in this position I would pay for private to get the diagnosis. We’re not rich but it’s life or death.. They also said later they put off MRI because of cost. It’s devastating when it happens. So sorry

This, this is how it goes. So sorry. My DSD’s story was v similar. I ended up going to PALs to get the MRI, cancer diagnosis, dead in 6 weeks. Absolute shit show. Of course this doesn’t always happen, but it does happen, a lot.

Dad's weight loss and nausea was dismissed as "grief" by the Dr (mum had died a few months previously). By the time they sent him for a scan it was too late. He died of esophageal cancer 6 weeks after his diagnosis.

That needs faster intervention. I had a result of 71 and was given a colonoscopy within a month. Could you afford to pay for a one off consultation with gastroenterology? I think first consultations are generally around £250-£500 and they can refer you back to the NHS. If not I would follow up directly with the department via PALS and ask for help.

I think with all these stories what is needed is highlighting them via PALS and the complaints system, the problem is when you are diagnosed with late stage cancer, the last thing you want to waste time with is complaints but someone needs to do it on their behalf. These cases need highlighting as I fear they are only going to get worse.

Im currently on an urgent waitlist which is a full year wait, for something that has low chances but could very well be cancer. Even without it being cancer, my life has stopped, I cant do a thing due to my pain and im barely managing. People are going to die with the waits we are experiencing and people need to start making more noise about it, so few people like to raise complaints because they see it as a free service, but its not and these complaints allow them to see where things are going wrong. Its scary that I think this kind of thing is going to happen more and more with the strain the NHS is under.

I know someone whose baby was diagnosed with a rare cancer. She’d taken her to the GP several times to be dismissed with “it’s viral” despite the symptoms being quite severe and not the kind of thing I’d associate with a virus eg a crawling 9 month old becoming unable to crawl due to complete lack of function on one side of her body, and this lasting for weeks. But no, it was “it’s viral” “I’ve told you it’s viral, why have you brought her back” “it’s viral, I don’t know what you want me to do” “oh actually it’s a massive brain tumour that is more than likely fatal”.

Far less serious, but I once had a call back from 111 about my then 6 week old. I was told there was no issue and that she was fine, but at the end of the call the dr happened to ask if I had any other children. I said I had a 3 year old. She said “oh, well in that case I know you’re not just a hysterical first time mother! You should take her to A&E now”. She ended up being admitted for a few days on IV antibiotics. Admittedly the symptoms were slightly vague and it was more intuition, but for her to actually say that she was basing her opinion that nothing was wrong on an assumption I was “hysterical” I thought was awful. I was also completely calm throughout the whole conversation.

I do think unfortunately OP you’ve just been unlucky & as others have said you don’t see all the vast good the NHS does because those things don’t make the headlines.

In the last 12 months alone I was flagged as at risk for cervical cancer at GP, had Colposcopy appointment and results 48 hours later. Found a lump in my breast, GP on the Friday, two week referral done and had my appointment at the breast clinic for all tests & results the Monday so not even 2 working days later.

Similarly my gran found a lump, GP referred immediately & she had her appointment and results that same week.

It is awful when people slip through the cracks but in a human system there will always be people that do.

My GP surgery is brilliant and so thorough. They don’t leave any stone unturned.

If they referred every single one the system would be absolutely overwhelmed and things wouldn't be any better.

That makes it sound like they deliberately 'miss' things, so as to not overwhelm the NHS!? If all those patients need to be referred then they need to be referred.

Is is class related? Are you less likely to be taken seriously if you sound "common"?