Is the NHS closed unless treating Coronavirus patients?

[TomTomRunner]

If so, I didn't know.

I just turned up for my first routine breast screening appointment. It was at a hospital five miles away.

I'm a key worker and have to go into work today. The only way I would make it on time for work would be for my partner to drive me and then drive me to work. We have two kids so we all had to go.

I turned up and there was a note on the door saying appointments were 'paused'. Why the staff could not ring round or send a letter out was beyond me, or advise people on social media. 10 mile round trip.

Surely stopping screening causes more angst? Future ill health? Is the NHS closed unless you are being treated for Coronavirus? Are outpatients closed? I need to see my GP about a separate issue, would I get a referral now? Genuinely confused.

I had a telephone appointment a couple of weeks ago and it was summarily cancelled. I was then sent a text to say not to contact the GP unless it was an emergency. The NHS doesn't even seem wildly interested in corona cases to be honest. A relative had really rough symptoms. Online 111 told her to ring 111 but when she did (two attempts hanging on for an hour each time) they just told her to consult the NHS website for advice. Another relative has got bad trouble with her shoulder. Her physiotherapy has all been cancelled and the specialist won't see her.

It’s going to be absolute chaos when things return to normal, the back log is going to be horrendous.

It is indeed - the ONS statistics show 8,000 excess deaths in the week up to April 10th and with a quadrupling of Covid-mentioned care home deaths to 1,000 in the course of that single week..
MIL is in a home and has had pneumonia once this year already. At 91 I seriously doubt she’ll get to a hospital if it hits her. I thank my lucky stars that DD finally had her autoimmune condition diagnosed last year, she’s out the other side and can be managed by me. I do really worry though how those people who can’t seem to access care for serious conditions at the moment can be fed back into the system to get excess deaths down and manage Covid spread at the same time.

A lot of routine things have been cancelled but my hospital team have been wonderful, giving medicine that Gp stopped (well technically not stopped but I’m still waiting on a repeat prescription I ordered two weeks ago). I thought it was my pharmacist fault and asked them to release my prescription so I could find another pharmacy that has it in stock. Gp receptionist tried to cover her track and blame the one item that was missing from my regular order was sent 3rd of April. Even after naming the exact item I wanted. The receptionist then lied further said it would be ready today before lunchtime. It wasn’t but I thought I give them extra time, as they are over run. Only to be told they stopped dealing with prescriptions issue after 3pm (I called 15min to late). I have no idea when that rule started.

Re B12, I was talking to my neighbour (74, with a few ongoing health problems) on the phone yesterday and she mentioned she'd had a B12 injection but it was done in the hospital car park.

One surgery here the nurses are giving injections in the car park, but mine isn't. They've decided they won't do it until it's three months late - will have to see if they give it to me then.

I have to go and get a blood test tomorrow because hospital consultant is worried about how anaemic I now am based on test results from January, so who knows. If it was bad in January, when I was having the injections goodness knows what it will be when I've missed the injections.

What do you do if you need 6 monthly appointments. Properly need them and your body relies on them?

Do you go private instead? Is that even possible now? Do you need to get your NHS notes for that? I have no idea how much it would cost or where I would go.

Otherwise I'm imagining I may not be seen for at the very least another year on the NHS and my body won't be able to keep functioning healthily with that.

Polly02

I truly don't know. I have three monthly appointments with each of three different specialties, which I'm not getting, plus weekly physio (I pay privately for this) and monthly hand therapy - I'm not getting any of it but I am struggling already. Just moving around at home is getting noticeably more difficult and my hands are so bad now that I can't write or cut up food. I am genuinely frightened that when this lifts I will be too disabled to go back to work or get back to anything like I was a month ago. That's been years of fighting to stay as well as I can, gone in just four weeks.

In my department all of the face to face outpatient appointments have been moved to telephone appointments or rescheduled for later (if appointment). If it is deemed a face to face appointment is required we have a special clinic once a week. Patients are told the risks of coming into the hospital and ultimately it is their decision to come in or not.

No one, I can assure you, in my department is sat doing nothing! Some have been redeployed to the Covid effort. Others are preparing for when we can see patients again as we will have the backlog of postponed appointments and those who would be due later in the year anyway. It's going to be chaos.

We fully understand that to those whose outpatient or diagnostic appointments have been temporarily cancelled it is a very distressing time. But we are asking you not to come in for a reason; to protect you.

We are in unprecedented times. There is no manual for this situation or how we should operate. We are having to react, change and adapt our processes on a daily basis.

Please know that whilst you might not have heard anything or you think your appointment has been forgotten, there are a lot of us in the background working extra hard to ensure that things will return to normal as soon as we able to do so.

*if appropriate

LMW1990

I doubt that will be much consolation for those who haven't had their cancer diagnosed or chronic conditions left to deteriorate.

No I fully understand that. I can only speak for my own department at my trust.

We are seeing patients if it is urgent. We are running acute clinics.

My consultants (I'm a med sec) have been fantastic in calling patients, seeing them face to face where necessary and liaising with GPs to find ways of getting patients what they need.

You probably already have but if not, I would speak to your consultants secretary and ask for a telephone review to find out if anything can be done.

I hope things get sorted for you soon x

I had a smear about 3 weeks ago... they did my b12 at the same time and asked if I’d be willing to inject myself next time. Obviously I said yes!

(NB neither were done in the carpark!)

Scotland has paused all screening appointments for now.

You probably already have but if not, I would speak to your consultants secretary and ask for a telephone review to find out if anything can be done.

I've left messages for one of the consultants secretary's but they haven't got back to me.

I've left a few messages and e mailed re hand therapy to see if they can speak to me on the phone but had no response.

The respiratory referral.that I'm waiting on because pulse oxygen is only 91% and that's as considered urgent at end of February I've heard nothing from.

I am so sympathetic to.whats going on, but other patients have just been forgotten about. I don't know who to contact really. I would be more reassured if I knew they were going to be straight on to it once this is.over but they won't will they? There will be such a backlog.

I would call the switchboard and ask to speak to the team leader of secretarial department.

I wouldn't get away with not getting back to a patient. It is completely not on.

Alternatively, speak to PALS. Even in the current climate we should be remaining professional and courteous towards ALL patients.

If I were your secretary I would be doing everything I could to reassure you and to expedite some alternative solutions in the meantime. And I would expect a complaint if I gave anything other than my usual service.

I obviously can not vouch for any other trust or department but we are doing everything to ensure that no one is forgotten and we will be running additional clinics to ensure that everyone who has had delayed appointments is seen as soon as is practically possible. This will mean evenings and weekend clinics. Basically, we will do whatever we have to go get the job done.

I would call the switchboard and ask to speak to the team leader of secretarial department.

So, I don't ask for the consultant's secretary, but the team leader? Is that for the specialty I'm trying to contact or for all of the secretaries?

It's the lack of information that is driving me mad at the moment. Normally when I come out of a consultation I make my follow up appointment there and then whereas I'm being told that they'll see me again in three months but no appointments have been sent to me so now I'm thinking I'm lost in the system somewhere. I saw a cardiologist at the end of February who referred me urgently to a respiratory consultant but I've had no appointment or even a clinic letter. Now, I have no.idea what's happening. I assume they are all really busy and I do understand that but equally I have no idea what "urgent" means and whether I really need to be seen now or if it can wait.

Rather feels that way. My Mirena coil is out of date and the replacement appointment was cancelled with reassurances "it'll be fine till all this is over", and I was due to donate blood this week - that got cancelled too.

If you have already tried to speak with the secretary then yes ask to speak to their team leader. It will be for the specific department you are under. Some trusts have team leaders other have patient service coordinators. Similar roles. They over see the admin of the department.

Have you checked with your GP regarding the clinic letter? Occasionally clinic letters may go to them only. This can be for a number of reasons and sometimes just in error. That letter might contain information about your referral if they have it.

Just because screening has been stopped does not mean the staff are twiddling their thumbs. Who do you think is nursing those with COVID, ringing family members with horrific news, supporting staff at breaking point and ensuring critically urgent scans take place?

Some trusts have team leaders other have patient service coordinators.

This secretary is the patient pathway co ordinator - is that the same? So, who is over her?

Have you checked with your GP regarding the clinic letter?

I have. I spoke to my GP on Tuesday and asked him. They don't have a letter either.

I know everyone is absolutely up against it and I hate to think about what they are facing so I don't want to make a fuss but at the same time I don't know how urgently I need to be seen. The cardiologist said I was being referred urgently so I'm assuming that means I need to be seen quite quickly. God knows, it seems chaos.

It's hard to say. In some trusts they give fancy titles for essentially medical secretaries. Just ask to speak to the team leader for the department.

The NHS is not closed but some services have been paused or reduced to tackle the pandemic. You should have had a cancellation letter. GP surgeries should still be open but via telephone and video.

@Bulcky Flowers, I had my B12 injection this week. It was a bit of a palaver, ring the bell tell whoever answers who you are, wait in car park until calked, temperature taken before I could go un. My sister, different part of the country is also having hers next week. If you look on the Pernicious Anemia website, it gives some advise on when you absolutely must contact your health care provider. The one thing I remember from when I read it a couple of weeks sgo, was if you start getting pins and needles in hands or feet.
And it also gave ideas for alternatives to injection.
Good luck

It's not closed to anything other than covid but it has been massively scaled back to reduce transmission, that seems to be the priority.

I was in an NHS meeting yesterday where we've been told to work remotely with patients basically until there is a vaccine. There will be some face to face work but the logistics of space, PPE, deep cleaning etc is really difficult to manage in buildings not set up for it. Add into that that people don't know if they are infected or not.

Our a and e, especially the children's one, are putting tweets out all the time urging people that they are open and not to delay treatment on the case of accidents.

Some appointments are happening. I had a nurse appointment yesterday for a blood test linked to medication I take. My rheumatology appointment isn't for a couple of months but at present they are doing some over the phone and some going into the department if need be.

My understanding is the nhs is open for business but with restrictions and changes in place. Our GP surgery and the rheumatology department have both been in touch with us to let us know what's going on and to phone in advance of any appointment, wherever it is and whenever it is.

This is why the one thing uyou can be sure of is that from cradle to grave the NHS will not be there for you and even if you have covid 19 an ambulance probably will not even come out and we should be look at next year how we can change it and reduce taxes.