Have I been a twat or should the GP surgery have given me an appointment?

[Isgreasl]

For context I am a single parent and I work full time so I may be feeling a bit overwhelmed with stress. I don’t know if I’m being unreasonable.

I have had swelling on my toe after falling. It swelled up really fast and has lessened since but the bruising is still bad. I asked for an appointment for the GP to review and I was told to go to a minor injuries unit as it might need an x ray. Minor injuries is 40 minute drive (we are remote) and will take almost an entire day to be seen. I can’t go in first thing as I need to drop DD at nursery (unless I wanted to take her with me which I don’t!).

I have asked them again for an appointment and asked for it to be escalated as I’m not happy with being told to go to minor injuries. I’m really exhausted and confused as to whether I’m in the right here?! From what I’ve read it’s usual to have a few signs looked at with the toe to decide if an x ray is needed and that this is something a GP could do.

Minor injuries is the correct pathway, but there's unlikely to be any treatment anyway. I broke my big toe a few years back, confirmed by x-ray, and the treatment was literally nothing, they just said stay off it if it's painful.

What are you expecting the GP to do?

Wave a magic wand and diagnose / rule out a broken / fractured toe without an xray?!

Take your snotty 🙄and shove it in your big toe.

Oh sorry yeah big toe. So minor injuries then. Other toes they say just have to leave it.

They wouldn't be doing their job properly to try and make that decision without access to x ray so have signposted you correctly. If the GP did say oh yes looks OK then later you had ongoing issues how would you feel then? MIU will be a quicker route to the appropriate treatment surely...?

Is it just sweeping and bruising or do you have pain with it? Don't assume it's not broken.
When I broke a bone in my foot I didn't have bruising but it was extremely painful. Before I knew it was broken I kept saying it felt like a pain deeeep in my bone, and kept me awake at night.
I walked around (hobbled) for weeks in agony not realising it was broken, having been misdiagnosed with inflammation since I hadn't had any bruising.

Angry?! 😂

And yes, I have broken 3 of my toes over the years and have hobbled about in pain. The first time I went for an x-ray (big toe) they confirmed it was broken, strapped it to the next toe and sent me away telling me to rest. The other 2 I just strapped myself.

A GP / minor injuries unit don't magically take the pain away.

My yardstick for seeking a GP appointment is: ‘Would I be willing to pay for it?’.

Because I AM paying for it via my taxes. And so is everyone else.

If my answer is: ‘No, I’d rather wait to see if it gets better before paying for a medical examination’, then I have my answer.

Invariably, most ailments have got better with sensible care: rest, plenty of water, healthy food, fresh air, antiseptic/bandaging, strapping, monitoring signs of infection, pharmacy advice etc.

However, I’m a trained first-aider and have a pretty good sense of danger signs.

People should never put off seeking medical advice if they’re worried, as many conditions (e.g. cancers) have the best outcomes (and can cost NHS much less) when caught early.

Pharmacists are very good at providing advice and will always suggest when you should see a doctor.

This. Hope you feel better soon.

Hi OP I can sympathise as I hurt my big toe last year and it was so painful, but thankfully not broken, however what I did manage to do when I injured it was to splinter my toe nail, didn't realise it at the time as it was a tiny sliver which embedded itself down inside my toe nail, this became infected and I had to go to the chiropodist to have it removed along with part of my toenail. So just a heads up to keep an eye on your toe nail as well as your toe.

You are spreading misinformation and giving potentially dangerous advice. You are wrong. Your big toe was x-rayed and the medical staff treated it according to what the x-ray showed. In your case, it needed to be taped and rested. For other breaks, the advice could be different. Nobody knows without an x-ray.

Broken toe - NHS

nope and they wouldn't try. A break in a swollen bruised toe or finger CAN'T be diagnosed just by looking at it. So basically yes you are a twat.

Do they even treat broken toes? I thought they neighbour strap and that's it. If you are managing to drive it just seems a matter of time to heal

No point in wasting a GP appointment, if it’s that bad go to minor injuries.

I wouldn’t bother with minor injuries or the gp. You know it’s an injury. It just needs to get better. Racing around to get to a clinic isn’t going to help that.

Your GP is right, minor injuries. Other pp’s have said not to go but given it is your big toe I would advise it

I know this having broken a little toe and at the time looking up broken toe treatment on the NHS webpages. On the NHS 111 site it advises that if you think you have broken a big toe you should get it seen.

I left it as it was a little toe but actually ended up going to minor injuries after a few weeks as although it wasn’t a big toe, the bruising was that bad I (and as it turns out, the nurse) were concerned that a bone in the foot may be broken. Turned out the toe was broken but nothing in the foot, it was just terribly bruised. It was a hell of a whack

If it’s your big toe then yes it needs an x-ray. It’s important it’s managed properly or it can impact on balance etc

I’ve broken several toes including a big toe twice. The first time I went to A&E and they didn’t even strap it to the next one. Obviously if it is sticking out at an angle or in any other way deformed I would go and get it xrayed.

Even if the toe is broken there is nothing they can do. It will heal itself. A lot of minor injuries open late and on the weekend

OP, for what it is worth, I stubbed my foot about 3 months ago. It was very painful and so swollen that I couldn’t narrow it down to which toe was hurting the most. I knew I had broken at least one of the little ones. I knew there was no point going to my GP. Without out an x ray, the GP would not be able to tell better than me which toe(s) was broken. After 2 weeks the swelling went down and went to the minor injuries unit and they said that now, unless the toe is sticking out at a funny angle, they only x ray big toes for fractures and wait for it to heal. They also said I could buddy strap my toes together but I didn’t want to. It is still painful when I dry in between my toes but so much better than it was.
GP appointments are like gold dust because they are short of GPs and a lot of people go for things they don’t need to, for example, a cold they have had for 3 days. People don’t want to wait for things to get better. Life for you isn’t a bed of roses at the moment, but really the GP cannot do anything about your toe and you would just be another person wasting time.

If it’s not bothering you enough to be worth a forty minute drive then it probably doesn’t need minor injuries tbh.

The GP surgery has limited appointments to give out so they were absolutely right not to waste one on a sore toe when minor injuries units exist specifically for this reason.

YABU

The GP cant say if its broken, just tell you to get it reviewed in case it needs an xray.

And if it does need taping for anything they don't have the equipment.

So you'd just be going. And they'd look at it and say.

It probably needs an xray.

Then you'd be in the same position you're in now except you'd used up an appointment.

You'd complain if you are told to go to minor Injuries without being seen.

You'd complain if the GP said it didn't need an xray and it was broken.

You'd complain if GP told you to go to the Minor injuries and they told you it doesn't need an xray and was just something bruising cos the GP had wasted your time.

The GP isn't an expert in injuries.

For them the complaint after attending minor Injuries if you didn't need to would be easier to respond to.

So they would tell you to go even if you don't need to. Just for that tiny percent chance that it may be broken. Because obviously the GP doesn't have xray eyes.

So much misinformation on here. As I’ve said, if it’s your big toe you need to go get it x-rayed and depending on how bad the break is you may even need a boot. You may also need follow up in fracture clinic. I’m a nurse practitioner and worked in an and e and now gp. Your surgery advice was correct. If it had been longer than 2 weeks you might have needed to get an X-ray form from gp depending on area rules.

You are lucky to be referred to minor injuries, it's just a bruised toe!

You need an x-ray - I know more than one person who ended up with a boot for a broken big toe. You can't just hope that it heals okay, your big toe is key to balance. If it was your little toe then meh, but it's not. Your GP can do nothing as they can't xray, so you need minor injuries. Sorry OP, but you are being unreasonable.