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

@Legooo

Did GPS all over the country do things differently?

I had the same symptoms, had a telephone appointment, then was referred and had a colonoscopy to rule out anything serious (thankfully wasn’t). All during lockdown.

My Dniece gp sent her to hospital with a suspected ectopic pregnancy (unfortunately it was).

If there was genuinely areas of the country where you couldn’t once get hold of a gp receptionist in 6 months that is terrifying!

Yy it seems to be a problem in England although NHS staff in England have posted on lots of these threads to say certain treatments were prioritised throughout lockdown so they didn't understand why people were missing treatments. It seems different trusts in England had different protocols.

Two of our family members were diagnosed with cancer and started treatment during lockdown. DF had three emergency hospital admissions and GP appointments. It's awful that there's such discrepancy across the country if others couldn't access treatment. There are a lot of 'she claims' in the initial article OP linked so I assume that means it wasn't fact-checked.

It would be easier to ‘make myself available if I was given a rough idea of when the GP will call, rather ‘than it’ll be sometime this morning’*

Exactly. Its the persistent attitude that nobody else is as important as the Important Doctor.

Everyone is under stress, many people under stress are at risk of losing their jobs. GPs are not some exceptionally challenged group, they are doing a difficult job but so are many people.

When patients are elderly or disabled and struggle to get to the call at the random time it arrives its utterly inexcusable.

There are some great GPs out there really trying to do their best for patients. There are also others who frankly should consider why they are in the job. Between there is a lot of variation.

Lets not paint them all as put upon saints or demons but where there is bad practice take it seriously and at least aknowledge it happens rather than accusing people of "snarking" when they are describing bad practice. Nothing improves when you do that.

Decent "customer service" models actually make life better for both sides. Companies don't spend money of them out of love - it actually makes the service easier to deliver.

The story in the OP is really sad - as are all the others - and there will always be a ‘what if’ for her but anyone with bowel problems will tell you it’s really hard getting a diagnosis without being fobbed off at first. Unless you have a really good GP, or alarming symptoms like bleeding (it’s not mentioned in the article, is it?), they will try to sort you out with diet changes and buscopan/peppermint capsules first. You just need a look on any IBD forum to see people take years to get a diagnosis

My DH contacted his GP during lockdown with severe back pain, had telephone appointment and pain medication prescription. Rinse and repeat this several times until he sought help via A&E. He was turned away without being examined because he didn't have Covid-19.

I took him back to A&E a couple of weeks later as he couldn't cope with the pain. Within an hour he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Fifteen days later he was dead.

He would have died anyway but might have had a better death.

The same hospital cancelled our DS's urgent surgery yesterday.

The virus is serious but so are other things. We as a family are following the rules but it's hard sometimes.

I think there’s huge disparity over how GPS are handling things.

DS ended up hospitalised for an ear infection because GP repeatedly refused to actually see him and A&E felt he didn’t need to see a pead when I went.

A huge delay and then Wrong antibiotics too late in a very low dose ended up with DS on IV after having a high temp for a week possibly looking at sepsis.

It's a straight up lie that the NHS was overwhelmed.

Plenty of NHS staff have posted here that they were sitting around twiddling their thumbs-mortified at the nightly clapping.

My mother's cancer was not discovered in time for effective treatment, but I don't blame Covid for that as she was developing the cancer long before the virus appeared.
I don't think ten years of austerity has done any favours to people like my Mum.

There are some appalling stories on here. So sorry for your loss @StopGo. By prioritising Covid in such a blanket manner, some departments are allowing patients to die.

We have been lucky with the paediatric care my ds gets, they have gone out of their way to keep regular appointments and treatment. We needed to visit A&E during the night in July and they saw him, and treated him which I am thankful for.

It makes me wonder why other services have turned some very poorly people away?

welliesarefuntowear

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....

This is a fundamental flaw in the GP ring back system- I take ring backs not only for myself but my two children, but I work, so I can't be available from 8-5pm, there are times I'm teaching I'm not available, when I'm on the loo, when I'm in a shop, driving the car to and from work. You can't expect working people to sit by the phone for an entire day! I've also done this and then the GP hasn't called...

My GP surgery are fab though and understand that people are sometime unavoidably not available and have made arrangements to call back or leave messages for the GP, so I think some go above and beyond for this.

I am also worried that with an increasing reliance on telemedicine- that some sections of society are getting left behind or just not even bothering to try- this would be people who are deaf (not necessarily deaf enough to have telephone aids but increasingly old age deaf), people with brain injury, people with dementia, people who struggle with communication- how are they supposed to ring up, speak with the receptionist, get an appointment, answer the phone later, get a full account of their problem across and then visit the surgery to get the medication? For data protection reasons they are often not allowed to get others to speak for them unless this has been prearranged in advance (which I had when I had a relative with brain injury).

Also, you end up with weird situations such as my 17 year old son is treated as an independent adult and so I'm not allowed to call on his behalf, but he's at school all day and travels home an hour, so is not available between 8-5 at all to answer embarrassing personal questions on the phone!

As usual, health inequalities will be massively widened by this move to telemedicine- the pushy articulate middle-class people (like me) get what they want out of the system, and those that can't or won't or who have been guilted into not ringing or bothering anyone, will suffer.

The NHS has been run down by the tories since they got into power, for political reasons.

Waiting lists are the obvious metric that's been in the news around this, pre covid.

As for GPS. Probably depends on area.

Getting any kind of appt was nigh on impossible pre covid. Then we were told services were under pressure and stay away. So people did. To protect the NHS and leave them free for others.

I mentioned earlier that our gp surgery started texting saying we are here please call if you need us. Because people just stopped.

The reduction in people presenting at gp and a and e etc has been in the news, as docs were worried.

On mn at the time a lot of posters said it was great as obviously snowflakes and time wasters were not going... Not that they had any evidence for that claim. But there you go.

It's not about NHS services being overwhelmed, it's about GPs making access to their services very difficult if not impossible. It wasn't exactly easy before covid, but now you have to get past the receptionist to even get a phone call; some won't accept emails and e-consult only works if you have the technology.

Nothing to do with covid and everything to do with dodging obligations.

It varies from surgery to surgery. My mother's surgery have been brilliant. She's had all the treatment she has needed through lockdown, but then her surgery have always been really good. FIL's surgery has always been crap. It's one GP with locum cover. He is notorious for never referring anything and was the reason MIL died. He's still not referring, or seeing patients in person. Reluctantly saw FIL who has a huge and obvious skin cancer. Have him a card for someone who would remove it privately 😞

The other problem with phone consultations can be lack of privacy. If you don't know quite when you are getting a call you could find yourself discussing private matters in a public place, or in front of little ears flapping at home.
Reading these posts, it strikes me how often cancer is mentioned as having ended someone's life too soon or unexpectedly. Not covid, but cancer. I think, when eventually all the statistics are gathered for this and the next 5 years or so, deaths from cancer will far outweigh deaths from covid.

I work in an emergency assessment bowel ward and we are ABSOLUTELY seeing patients. We have a clinic where we get walk ins for any abdo pain and most get blood tests/xray/ct that day. If they require admission they are admitted and we treat them as required. This sadly sounds like a GP misdiagnosis which sadly does happen with bowel cancer in young females as it is the lowest risk category for bowel cancer and also we have so much going on in the pelvis that can cause pain that it's often assumed it's a gynae issue. This has been an ongoing issue for years before covid and there have been a number of campaigns around it.

I'm in tier 2 Scotland and our GPs have been seeing non covid cases. Initially by telephone then they will request face to face if they need to examine. Our elective procedures are delayed but starting to move forward now.

@Poppingnostopping I don't disagree with anything you've said. Many older people struggle with this kind of GP contact which is absolutely understandable.

Just to clarify I think what I've said has been taken a bit too literally by a few posters. I will do my utmost to make sure that contact is made with the GP. The GPs do call back when callls are missed. I'm forever sending little notes saying Mrs Smith apologies for missing call she and just nipped out to put the bin out etc. Some people will not answer. At all. Even when they've got some idea of a time and that time has been adhered to. And they've arranged the call. It's the equivalent of not showing up for an appointment.

I live in the North east of England. In April found a lump in my breast. GP saw me next day. I was in the hospital for tests the week after. Back in the week afterwards for results( cancer) where i had all my pre- ops done for op the week after. Healed as normal for 8 weeks then had 3 weeks radiotherapy. Service was outstanding.

witches incorrect. The GP plays a big role if you are unwell with Covid symptoms. We see several patients a day since March in a 'hot hub' separate and in addition to other patients. Then treat or refer if necessary. But you wouldn't know that because presumably you don't work in general practice.
If everyone was currently given appointments as requested as usual without telephone triage, you would soon end up having several months wait to be seen, due to limited number of patients allowed in clinic, social distancing rules, staff absenteeism and self isolation and cleaning required between patients.

Got a text today again from GP surgery saying we are here please get in touch if there is anything wrong.

Round here. It was always difficult to get any contact with gp at all. Then this happened and they said stay away. So people have.

And that's kind of that.

We know there is enormous pressure on services here normally. They said at beginning of first lockdown. Don't come.

Wtf did they expect?

@HeyBlaby

'The NHS where I live in March (covid central then and probably now...) was not taking people of any age who could say 5 words, compared with those who could say 3 - the ambulance service had that instruction. Indeed one mother of children in London died because of that - her husband found her the next day dead on the bathroom floor as the ambulance had come out but she could say more words than their rule as to who would be taken in'

Can confirm this is fabricated bollocks, can't believe I even need to say this.

My chin is on my chest at that comment. Thanks for the reassurance 😳😲