Mum who 'couldn't see doctor for months' during lockdown now told she has cancer

[LordLancington]

I think this unfortunate story is the kind of thing that will become increasingly common if we don't control infection rates.

All the people saying 'oh, but you're unlikely to die of corona virus' are right. It will instead be people like this lady who die when they can't access the medical support they need because of the NHS being overwhelmed by 'non lethal' covid cases (which still take up a bed and resources).

I'm certainly not a corona moaner, but I think the people arguing for us to 'just get on with life' are deluded.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/mum-who-couldnt-see-doctor-22938221?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mirror_main

I am a GP receptionist in a small practice and our role is mainly facilitating telephone call backs currently. During the first lockdown we were going into summer, and demand for same day appointments always slows the. It slowed to nothing because of lockdown. People weren't injuring themselves, catching anything. Many were less stressed I think because there were less demands on people's mental health. Now it seems the opposite is true and there is a tsunami of phone calls, emails and letters to respond to. We have had flu clinics to book also which has been a massive undertaking and a lot of tlelephone time Plus we are now seeing Covid in our community which hadn't happened before. All of these things make it much more difficult for patients to get through to speak to someone. As well as answering the door to patients who don't understand why we can't just let them in. As an aside you'd be surprised how many people arrange telephone call backs and then don't make themselves available to speak to. Another waste of a GP s time. Not just missing the phone call because they'd had to change the baby's nappy or nip to the loo.....

Last Sunday my dear friend died from pancreatic cancer. He was diagnosed in early July. Every test was delayed. Despite being told chemo could extend his life Covid-19 was given as the reason this was deferred. The only treatment he had was for his symptoms.
He was one of the finest men I have known and at 69, he died far too soon. On Tuesday I helped his wife choose his coffin. His funeral will have to be restricted.

There was a guy on talking about cost/value - so in the normal way if a 10k op extends life by a year its seen as worth it, 11k and a year and its too expensive. But for covid its not taken as a factor so 30-40k of treatment is seen as ok. This has to have a massive impact on other services and deaths from things like cancer if the money is gone

I am really confused.

We are now being told to help control the virus so that "other services" in the NHS can go ahead. Last lockdown, non Covid wards were empty, GP's saw no one in person and many doctors and nurses had nothing to do. There is an article on here where a GP says he had 3 months of nothing to do and it was the easiest 3 months of his 30-year career. "Other services" didn't happen and a lot of the medical profession are still using Covid as an excuse to not deliver their service e.g. NHS dental work for children.

So, the publics behaviour is causing the NHS to collapse. No, the NHS's reluctance to do anything non Covid over the last 8-months caused this surely?

The a and e in my giant local hospital was empty April - September according to my Matron friend. She also said they’ve never been as quiet in the hospital overall as they were between May and September.
Personally I am avoiding going to the gp at all costs, twice for things I probably ought to have gone for but I was ok. It just took longer for me to get better.
The only thing that worries me is that I have a chronic condition I am usually reviewed every six months for at a minimum and I’ve not been seen for over twelve months now.

100% agree OP and it's appalling.
A dear friend has just been told she's going to have to have her breast removed and intensive chemotherapy. She first noticed weeping back in April and had two phone consultations with the GPS surgery saying it was likely thrush. Can't help but think if she'd been seen in person sooner more could of been done. It's so sad

Should have added she's only 31

GPs don't look after beds with coronavirus patients in them.

Hospitals being overwhelmed shouldn't stop GPs being able to diagnose or prescribe.

The policy decision was made to not take any risk of a person seeing a GP F2F even though that delay would lead to delays in things like cancer diagnosis. Stopping covid transmission was considered more important. Who decided that stopping covid was the most important priority & was it the right decision?

My dd has a neuro developmental disability. Her review facility closed in March. Her apt, reasonably took place in April by telephone at the original time given. In September her apt was over the phone, between 9 and 5, not even a two hour slot. She had to report her own weight and BP. The office is closed- recorded message. No f2f, no video calls, no timed appointments. This is due to the danger of Covid. In September there were 8 cases per 100000 where we live and they have had 6 months to get themselves organised.

Similarly my step was due a cataract op but it was cancelled in September 6 months into this. The bar has risen from 50% affected to 70%. He has stopped driving. Similarly an area with minimal cases. He asked going privately and was told "no problem, can fit you in Friday, £5k" Same hospital, same consultant.

Whilst I appreciate some nhs staff were very busy in March and April I woukd like to know what many others have been doing whilst on full pay.

Our neighbour is an ortho consultant at our local hospital where only non emergency ops take place. He was at home all spring and most of the summer and has a laugh that he was only required occasionally again as the golf courses opened although with significant regret and concern.

It has been a national disgrace yet all we hear on the news is about the overworked front line. What have the rest of them been doing except raising the continual whine of discontent.

Tik Tok, You Tok.

I’m not quite getting your argument

A lot of people who are saying ‘get on with life’ are saying it for the exact reason that there is clearly and measurably an impact on all the other diseases that exist. I.e. Covid is now just an endemic disease that we have and is therefore just one of many that the health services have to deal with

Given that in normal times 450 people a day die of cancer, and this has risen and rising due to the way NHS resources have been allocated because of Covid, it is non-sensical to be essentially saying that covid is more important than anything else. We do know the death rate, as we do for other diseases, so ‘getting back to normal’ means healthcare is provided for all diseases not just covid

My cousin who was newly diagnosed with pernicious anaemia at the time the last lockdown started was refused a vitally needed intramuscular injection because her GP's surgery was essentially closed to anything but covid. As a direct result she became seriously ill with after-effects that will now never get better. Even once they were taking appointments they tried hard to persuade her not to come in, banging on about the danger of infection. It's very hard to understand the logic of turning someone away only to put them into a situation where they will inevitably deteriorate without treatment and will need more care.

@BornInAThunderstorm

My local GP is impossible to get in contact with. People on our local facebook group added screenshots showing they had called in excess of 50 times to get through to be denied even a telephone appointment. There are very few covid cases here so if they aren’t seeing Covid patients why are they so busy?

I would think that if 50+ people complained formally to the CCG or CQC then the practice would be forced to do its job like other practices. The Facebook or mumsnets posts won’t change anything. The people who can change this need actual complaints and evidence before they make very serious accusations.

wokes GP's saw no one in person? Not true.
Our GP' saw hundreds and phoned when people answered many hundreds more, and continue to do so. I'm a practice nurse and have never been so busy. Smears, immunisations, bloods etc, including extra work from secondary care refusing to see people. No ppe at the beginnng for weeks, I since tested positive for antibodies.
Many surgeries may be viral but not all by a long way. Be careful what you claim.

• .crap not viral!

@BornInAThunderstorm

My local GP is impossible to get in contact with. People on our local facebook group added screenshots showing they had called in excess of 50 times to get through to be denied even a telephone appointment. There are very few covid cases here so if they aren’t seeing Covid patients why are they so busy?

You really need to raise this with your local CCG.

My MIL passed away 9 weeks ago. Her treatment had been put on hold because of Covid. She should be here with us.

So sorry to read about your mum OP & for everyone with serious illness & disease with appointments & treatments being delayed due to COVID . It’s just awful. I fear there will be many more deaths due to these reasons than COVID itself.

A family member has a useless GP. He kept fobbing her off when she wanted to see him about a lump in her neck . She eventually got referred and was fast tracked only to discover that she has an oral cancer which has spread to the lymph nodes in her neck. She is only 41

This morning I have my third GP phone appointment with a GP since April. I have the same problem I had in April and it's not got any better. I don't know why they couldn't see me face to face in the summer when the virus risk was considerably reduced.

I've had a chronic cough since March. I get it every year due to allergies and it's usually gone by August. I've had 2 telephone consultations and been given antihistamines that don't agree with me and an inhaler that does sod all. As it's something I've had in the past I'm not worried but it would be nice to get to the bottom of it!

More importantly, a friend's cancer treatment has been delayed and they have been unable to contact the oncologist. All they can hope for is it hasn't spread. Stories like this make me realise the NHS isn't fit for purpose.

The difficulty can be that you arrange a ring back by a Dr but you are not given a time. It is not possible to stop work all day waiting for a call..inevitably the call will come when you are then on a work call and cannot simply drop. I have this every time and the surgery do not understand that I cannot simply wait by the phone.

DH is a GP - the practice has been operating throughout lockdown/Covid. Many appointments are over the phone which is proving very popular as appointments are usually the same day. The GP’s are doing f2f appointments where they consider it necessary. Patients are still being referred to specialists for cancer operations and treatment. They are working long hours at the moment to ensure the flu vaccinations are delivered.

As an aside you'd be surprised how many people arrange telephone call backs and then don't make themselves available to speak to. Another waste of a GP s time. Not just missing the phone call because they'd had to change the baby's nappy or nip to the loo.....

So patients are not supposed sit by the phone and not move all day waiting for the Important Doctor's call?

Patients have jobs too. My experience of telephone appointments with doctors and hospitals is that I can more accurately predict a delivery with DPD - at least they send me a text with a 1hr window.

I don't expect the call to be bang on time but if its two hours away from the appointed time and it isn't immediately answered I'd expect them to try again, after their next appt, not dismiss the patient as a timewaster (which is what happens around here) and told "if I really need the appt to make a new one the next day".

"Similarly my step was due a cataract op but it was cancelled in September 6 months into this. The bar has risen from 50% affected to 70%. He has stopped driving. Similarly an area with minimal cases. He asked going privately and was told "no problem, can fit you in Friday, £5k" Same hospital, same consultant."

Stories like ^^ and similar make me suspect that covid is being used as an excuse to further run down the NHS and push more and more people to using private healthcare.

@loulouljh how right you are! I have had a few call backs from our GP and they have never been anywhere near the time given - may be half a day later in some cases.
During the summer, when things quietened down a bit, the NHS should have done it's utmost to catch up on treating people - and also the government should have poured money into it to increase bed capacity, which is extremely low compared to other european countries.
Sod us saving the NHS, it is there to save us. We are not getting the service we are paying for.