AIBU to be appalled by delayed NHS care for possible shoulder fracture

[WiggyClawsThe2nd]

So I requested a doctors appointment for excruciating pain in shoulder 5 weeks ago now. Got an appointment 2 weeks later. Was referred to an urgent physio to assess, this was another week later. Physio booked an urgent xray for another week later (today) to check if it was broken. Told it'll be another 2 weeks to find out if it's broken. So by the time the results come, it'll be 6 weeks since it was broken. I know the NHS is struggling but this is ridiculous is it not? Surely a break will be impossible to fix right by then?
AIBU to be absolutely appalled?

It’s not really appalling…it’s what happens when you access the wrong service. Five weeks down the line there probably isn’t masses of urgency to it any more. Not sure an osteopath would be my first port of call for shoulder trauma - sounds like they were advising outside their expertise a little.

You fell down the stairs, were in excruciating pain, can’t move your arm but never went to A&E?

I don’t think this one’s the NHS’s fault tbh.

Except I wasn't in excruciating pain at first, only when I tried to raise my arm above my head. Now however my whole arm is painful, and my arm muscles are pretty much constantly spasming. It's only weeks later that it's become unbearable, I suspect because the tear or break has worsened.

Except I wasn't in excruciating pain at first, only when I tried to raise my arm above my head. Now however my whole arm is painful, and my arm muscles are pretty much constantly spasming. It's only weeks later that it's become unbearable, I suspect because the tear or break has worsened.

No not surprised. I had a T8 vertebrae fracture diagnosed on 14th May, after waiting from 19th April for the xray results.
I was referred by GP to musculo skeletal on 15th May they rejected the referal and I was re referred to fracture clinic on 19th May, that was passed onto spinal orthoepdics on 27th May. Now on a waiting list and cannot chase until 24th June.
All GP can do is offer pain manegement, tell me to lift nothing and do no strenuous activity and tell me to go to A&E if (and I quote) I lose control of my bowels or lose feeling in my legs.
I didn't know I had broken it. It was a traumatic incident, but thought it was a sprain/ soft tissue etc. But wasnt getring better. So went to GP. And here I am.
Could well have healed in the last 2 months. Guess I will find out in July maybe. Cant do any physio for the not inconsiderable muscular pain until fracture addressed.
Meanwhile my life is pretty much on hold.

Voted YABU not because I think any of the waiting times you’ve described are reasonable, but because you chose a rather bizarre route to getting help. You fell down the stairs and were in ‘excruciating pain’ in your shoulder afterwards, but rather than calling an ambulance or taking yourself to A&E or even an emergency walk in clinic, you called the GP and decided that you would then accept an appointment in 2 weeks time?!
Now either the pain is not that bad or you are a real martyr.
If you have an accident that results in excruciating pain the obvious solution is A&E not only as you get seen sooner but also as you are signalling to the medical team the severity of your pain.
Calling up a GP in these circumstances is a bit like having an oven fire and calling a gas engineer to get your oven disconnected.

Then go to A&E now! Or a local fracture clinic. They will xray this evening, have it read and start treatment or surgery if needed. You would be even more ridiculous to wait any longer. At least they could give you some pain relief.

Sorry, but if I thought I had a shoulder fracture 😳 I’d go to A&E or minor injuries for immediate assessment. Dd has broken her arm and had a suspected broken wrist. With the broken arm, we went to A&E and we were in x-ray in 20 minutes of walking through the door and told immediately, literally by the x-ray tech who showed me the fracture on the screen. We were in a bed to have the fracture set and cast straight from x-ray. With the suspected broken wrist (not broken), we went to minor injuries the next morning, had to wait maybe 45 minutes, x-ray and told by nurse that it was just a sprain, sent on our way, 1.5 hours total from start to finish.

If you have been able to wait this long for an x-ray, it’s not broken or if there is a teeny hairline fracture, it would have healed anyway by now. The x-ray sounds like a courtesy rather than a clinical necessity.

What you describe sounds like muscle and joint pain from restricting movement so you have a loss of range of motion. It will be a physio who can help you with that.

It isnt always obvious to go to A&E. I didn't either. We are told so often not to.
I totally sympathise OP.
And now we are in this rabbit hole going no where.

I have been in a similar position to you (I fell off a skateboard - don't ask!!) for the last 6 months. I think it is pretty standard procedure to rule out a break with this type of injury, then go on to ultrasound scans to check for any tears. As it has gotten worse over time you may find you now have frozen shoulder rather than any break or tear getting worse. That happens quite a lot with a shoulder injury, and that is what has happened to me. I have to admit I didn't know too much about frozen shoulders, thought things were just stiff with that, but it can be very painful.

Edited to say mine ended up being chronic bursitis - bascially inflammation of the soft cushioning between the bones of the shoulder joint not a tear. The cushioning has gotten hard with the inflammation and I was squashing the tendon which caused the initial pain.

Op, if its rotator cuff it's quite normal for the pain to increase, and sadly you might find it increase yet more. Im afraid it takes as some time to heal and it requires very specific physio as each case affects a slightly different point within the shoulder.
I was advised to sleep on back and embed a pillow directly below shoulder joint to immobilise during sleep.
You might find IF it is rc related, that the pain comes on stronger during the night.

I'd treat it as such until you have diagnosis, providing you remain comfortable. Good luck.

Do you have a walk in clinic (minor injuries) nearby? They xray and results are instant.

Massive sympathy; broken shoulder (or similar!) is really so painful.

My mum broke her shoulder in a nasty fall and she was put in a sling and just had to rest. There wasn’t really any proper way of immobilising it and her physio couldn’t start til end of six weeks.

So it may be even if they knew it was broken the treatment wouldn’t be too different at this stage . But I’m not a medical person, just trying to reassure you!

It completely depends what kind of break they think is a possibility - I'm guessing they think that if it does happen to be fractured, it will be the kind of fracture that has to be left to heal on its own anyway. Not all broken bones are/should be set. Some have to be left to do their own thing.

Unless you've had some sort of major accident which might conceivably break your shoulder, what they will be checking for is likely some sort of tiny crack or stress fracture that wouldn't need urgent treatment but should be ruled out before physio.

There are so many surprising things about this. So you told your GP that you were in excruciating pain but they only offered you an appointment 2 weeks later. Did they not suggest that you should go to A&E? Then you had to see a physio. So the GP did not send you for a x-ray. Did the GP not think it might be a fracture?

And why did you go to an osteopath?

what sort of pain relief are you using? If it’s excruciating I would go to an and e now. That is what it is there for.

Please please please can everyone rtt before commenting, it's getting tiresome repeating myself.
I wasn't in excruciating pain at first, it's worsened over the last few weeks, prior to that it was just bad when I lifted my arm up to my head.
I was under the impression it was a soft tissue problem until the NHS physio refered me for an urgent xray as she thought it might be broken. My AIBU is that surely an urgent xray shouldn't require a 2 week wait to find out if it's a break or not.

I'm going to have thread removed now as am getting increasingly grumpy because people aren't reading the full thread first!
Thank you to those who did!

Oh no that is truly awful. I do hope they get to you soon, and have fingers crossed for you 💐

Yep huge rabbit hole!
Have much stronger meds now thankfully.

Like I have repeatedly said, I didn't think it was broken, it was the physio who said it was. Please rtt.

I didn't go to an osteopath, a friend who is one had a look for me as I was surprised at the level of pain.

I'd be surprised if a physio wasn't sure that it's a rotator cuff injury. I was told when I did mine that there are classic signs of it (pain when holding onto bicycle handle bars in my case), so it probably isn't that.

The waits are ridiculous. Everything has taken longer when DH had a knee injury this time than when he did exactly the same thing to the other knee 8 years ago.

I'm so sorry, OP.
What a miserable time for you. I hope you get some answers soon.

You know people endure excruciating pain for years, don’t you? Because they have no choice other than suicide. This “if it was that bad you wouldn’t be able to wait/eat/sit on a chair in A&E” trope has got to stop. It’s dangerous, manipulative and stupid.

Is the pain worse at night?