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AIBU?

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Original poster

To be p'd off at the way my GP is dealing with swine flu.

42 replies

Pennies · 26/06/2009 16:32

Coz mine's not. DD has been fluey for 5 days now and I went down there for the drop-in surgery this PM and they won't let you in. You have to ring the bell and they're meant to come out. We waited 10 minutes in the pissing rain for someone to come out and give me a piece of paper with the NHS Direct number on it an d told us to go away.

Are all GPs doing this?

OP posts:
oopsagain · 26/06/2009 16:36

the advice is not to go to the surgery if you suspect swine flu- i=they are worried about people in the waiting room getting it...

sorry you've got all this stress- i hope you get some anwers.. and the party goes ok....

jumpjockey · 26/06/2009 16:39

Nope. The thing about NHS direct is crap, that's not what they should be doing at all - unless the policy has changed again and it has been changing a lot as the numbers of confirmed cases go up and up.

My DH is a GP, the policy (at the moment...!) is that if someone has any flu like symptoms they shouldn't come to the surgery but phone and a doc will go out and swab them to find out if it is swine flu. DH's practice has 3 big red signs on the door and one at reception saying "If you have any of these symptoms [...] please go home and phone and we will send a doctor to you". The problem is that if someone comes to the surgery who thinks they might have it, it takes half an hour to do the swab and paperwork (thus delaying the whole rest of the surgery) and then they have to disinfect the practice room and the waiting room (delaying even further). Yet on Monday DH had 5 patients ignore the many signs and come in saying I've got flu like symptoms.

Sorry to hear you're worried about dd, they really shouldn't have fobbed you off like that.

SpawnChorus · 26/06/2009 16:40

ditto what Pennies said

The waiting room is probably full of exactly the sort of people who would be at most danger from swine flu, so it's not at all unreasonable for you to have been kept out. The advice is to phone for help. I think they can bring Tamiflu out to you if necessary.

Original poster
Pennies · 26/06/2009 16:43

But whilst DD is fluey she's not been in contact with anyone else who has confirmed swine flu, but they're still not letting us in.

I was happy to respect the sign but it all got horrible when DD (who has got diarhhoea with this bug too) needed a poo so I had to let her use the loo which was just right by the entrance door. The receptionist when ape at me for this. What on earth was I supposed to do?

OP posts:
SpawnChorus · 26/06/2009 16:47

Well, I guess flu is flu! Whether it's swine flu or seasonal flu, it's a good idea to keep away from doctors' waiting rooms.

Original poster
Pennies · 26/06/2009 16:47

But I phoned both the GP & NHS direct on Tuesday and was told to come in at the end of the week if it was still going on.

No mention of swabbing at all here.

I totally understand the impact of going somewhere where there are people who may be immunosuppressed etc, but when you follow the guidelines as much as you can (iwth the exception of the visit to the loo but I was over a barrel with that one) and all you get is a bloody piece of paper I can't help but feel that something's lacking here.

OP posts:
SpawnChorus · 26/06/2009 16:48

Hope your DD feels better soon by the way.

jumpjockey · 26/06/2009 16:48

pennies - that's just the way they have to deal with it. The test takes 3 days to get a result, so in the days between being tested and getting confirmed most people come into contact with lots of other people (kids at nursery? friends? people in shops etc) and they can't be expected to try and contact every single one of them. It's spreading in such a way that they are now testing anyone with flu symptoms and recommending isolation until the result is through.

smallorange · 26/06/2009 16:51

Out of interest, my DD1 has had fluey symptoms for the last three days. She had some very high temps on the first day but normal temps for the last two with a rather nasty cough and cold, bit of diarrhoea.

I just assumed she had a summer cold and thought the symptoms of swine flu were much worse than that..

Fuck, should I get her swabbed? I mean, surely if it was flu she would still be in bed, not bouncing round the house eating three plates of pasta in one go?

Original poster
Pennies · 26/06/2009 16:53

jumpjockey - but my experience is that they're not testing anyone unless they've had close and sustained contact with someone who has confirmed SF.

OP posts:
Original poster
Pennies · 26/06/2009 16:55

smallorange - same here and I was quite phlegmatic about it until DH's mate's DD had it and the symptoms he described matched what was happening here.

It's mild but if there's all this broohaha about it and they're apparently monitoring spread to the extend of taking swabs a more proactive approach is required by those who are making such an issue out of it.

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smallorange · 26/06/2009 16:59

Oh dear. I've had flu and was in bed for a week. My leaflet says th symptoms of swine flu are much worse than normal flu. DD1 has been out a few times to shops etc, seen other children. Fuck.

Am 39 weeks pregnant - maybe I should get her tested.

It's all so confusing

jumpjockey · 26/06/2009 17:02

pennies - all I can say is what they're doing here. It's not monitoring spread so much as knowing who to give tamiflu to - if dh's 5 people on monday only one tested positive, the rest were just summer colds.

expatinscotland · 26/06/2009 17:05

'My leaflet says th symptoms of swine flu are much worse than normal flu.'

They aren't.

I had swine flu. All three of my children had swine flu.

I've had regular flu twice. And each time it was far far worse than the swine flu.

We were in an outbreak area and DD1 fell ill the day it really broke out. I had a gut feeling what it was. Rang NHS24 and went through all the protocol. Got her an out-of-hours appointment.

Wasn't our regular GP and the gal said she had a UTI.

LOL. Yeah right!

She tested positive although she wasn't actually swabbed till 10 days after she first fell ill.

katiestar · 26/06/2009 17:07

I friend's husband who is a GP has had swine flu .My DB had been to see him a few days earlier and was not told.A few days later DB developed flu symptoms in the meantime he has been teaching hundreds of kids at his school.My dad has flu symptoms now and has been to the theatre , shopping and dentist and to pick DN up from her playgroup since then.Yesterday DN had a sore throat headache and temperature and she has been at playgroup and nursery.I think its out of control now .

Original poster
Pennies · 26/06/2009 17:08

expat - that's really interesting. It took 10 days to get swabbed! Blimey. If that's the case then if a major and life threatening strain does occur then we're in big trouble aren't we.

Very glad to hear it wasn't too bad for you and that everyone's better now.

jumpjockey - must be the age-old chestnut of the NHS trust postcode lottery then. Oh joy!

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 26/06/2009 17:09

Exactly, katie, even if you're exposed, doesn't mean you'll get it!

Our GP examined my 7-month-old son with no precautions.

He did refer him to be tested - by that point the outbreak was so large in our area a testing caravan was set up outside the one hospital.

He did not contract swine flu, however.

My son was swabbed later that afternoon and the results confirmed the following evening when public health rang us.

sarah293 · 26/06/2009 17:10

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

smallorange · 26/06/2009 17:10

So were you given tamiflu expat?

expatinscotland · 26/06/2009 17:10

We all had it, Pennies. But DH had such a mild cold and headache the week before he tested negative out of all of us.

And he's a 20/day smoker (roll ups).

hereidrawtheline · 26/06/2009 17:12

My DS has a fever now, since last night. I know that doesnt mean swine flu! But my GPs are so shit. He had a terrible flu several weeks ago and I was worried it was swine and they insisted we came to them each time, but never even swabbed him. And I didnt want to take him in because he was so ill, and clearly infectious, cough, fever up to 39.8 etc. Our GPs take no notice of advice from the government on most things they seem to feel our village has a big invisible wall around it that will keep all the nasties out.

Anyway I am watching him now becuase he is ill again. Fever 38 & runny nose is all so far though (today)

jumpjockey · 26/06/2009 17:12

pennies - the main problem is that the website telling doctors what current centralised policy should be(swab, don't swab etc) is only updated once a day, one day last week dh and his colleagues were basically making it up on the fly

and he said he'd much rather catch it now, while it's still not too severe and the drugs are known to succeed, than in winter when it may have evolved and medication might be less effective. So in a perverse way, if your dd does have it, she'll probably get off a lot lighter than the rest of us!

expatinscotland · 26/06/2009 17:16

We declined it, smallorange. IMO it was too far into the illness to make a difference by the time we were tested, and I believed they should be saving their stocks for those who have chronic conditions and only giving it to those people so the virus doesn't mutate to become resistant to it.

expatinscotland · 26/06/2009 17:18

My son's swab only took a day. He is a baby, so only had a nasal swab.

The children, ages 5 and 3 at the time (DD1 is now 6), had nasal and throat swabs. Their results came back about 2 days afterwards.

DH and I had nasal, throat swabs and bloods. Ours took longest. I was well on the road to recovery by the time public health rang me with a positive result.

Original poster
Pennies · 26/06/2009 17:22

"and he said he'd much rather catch it now, while it's still not too severe and the drugs are known to succeed, than in winter when it may have evolved" - yes I was thinking that!

Maybe we should all try and get it a la chicken pox parties.

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