To think urgent should mean urgent??

[seasid]

TMI but I have had blood in my stools for the past months and extreme stomach pain and bloating to the point that I can’t eat without belly going rock solid and agonisingly painful. I had a stool test (the one bringing with c) and my result was 1904. The guideline was anything over 100 is a risk, 100-250 is a high risk and over 250 is concerning and requires an urgent appointment.

so considering my result is almost two thousand and I have blood in my stool - I should be seen urgently. Apparently not, I got put on the ‘normal urgent’ list and have been waiting almost two months. I chase up every single week and am being told to just ‘wait’. I’m severely concerned and no one is helping me and I’m so gutted that my symptoms are severe and my test results are severe yet I’m being treated as if it’s just slightly high results instead of results that are sky high.

I know! It was another few months before the right meds were found and by then he’d had some kind of mental collapse. He basically lost well over a year before he was back to normal (well, as normal as it gets once you have Crohn’s).

Here are the NICE guidelines for constipation,

https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/constipation/management/adults/

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng12

Above are the guidelines GP’s should follow regarding referrals for cancer investigations. Check the section about symptoms and check if the gp has followed the guidelines for a 2 week wait.

This kind of blame is unhelpful, but I was in hospital in 2006 and 2008 under the last Labour govt and promise you that the situation was appalling even then. Dangerously understaffed and barely functioning. My kids were in hospital in 2009/10 and the hospital hadn’t got enough basic stuff. Like sheets and beds and staff. It’s been broken a very long time.

Took DD to the doctor beginning of June 2021, she was diagnosed in October by colonoscopy on the urgent pathway - she was expedited due to previous resection in infancy.

So you had a 4 months wait too but they counted that as urgent? Hope she’s doing ok now.

Yes. Parents on standard pathways waited a year or more (or went private).

The sooner the NHS is reformed the better. It’s not working. Let’s look at European models and shut down the screaming it will be like the US model next year.

The NHS in its current form is untenable, so much money for such a patchy service. I think it should retreat to an accident and emergency service, and we have insurance for everything else.
I work with several Americans who can’t believe the waiting times and delays we have - they are used to swift action when they’re not well, not a 6wk wait for a GP appointment!

Who on earth mentioned superheroes in the nhs? I just asked for some respect for the many many many professions working there.

I did…

You implied that NHS staff were beyond reproach though as you suggested a reasonable response was disrespectful.