If you need to see a nurse every 3 months, how do you make appointments?

[didyouwritethe]

Our surgery seems bonkers on this. Dh has to have B12 jabs every 3 months, but the nurse is very hard to make an appointment with, and will not make appointments more than 2 weeks in advance. So mostly he just doesn't have the jabs.

Any suggestions? This is not a trivial medical issue.

bonkers isn't it
madness cos practive nurses do loads of regularly times injections etc

write to practice manager and ask for 3mos apps to be allowed
do it yourself???
book in your diary to book appt on time?

I see the nurse every 8 weeks and you can't book that far in advance
If she's not available then I see the GP instead

GP is perfectly able to do B12 jabs so he should ask to see the GP instead

I have this for depot injection. Have to wait for 1 month before due - actually think I need to book up March's thanks!

Yes, march 23rd!

Oh really, Ave? Reception were denying today that GPs would do B12 jab.

I know it sounds obvious but is there a reason why he can't make the appointment 2 weeks before it's due? Or does the nurse become booked up almost at once?

Does your practice offer online appointment booking? (This doesn't always include nurse appointments as they may want to schedule more or less time depending on what the appointment is for).

I would book a GP appointment - they'll soon get royally hacked off with doing B12 injections and change is more likely to come from inside. It's more important your DH gets the injection than who gives it.

Nurse does get booked up straight away.

His condition, which worsens without B12, affects his memory and his organisational skills. And his anger if I nag him.

No nurse appointments can be made online.

How do surgeries cope with adults with learning difficulties?

Yes GP can definitely do it
Our practice nurse left so they only have a part time one now reducing availability further
Over the last year I think 50% of my injections have been done by a GP

Were the B12 injections ordered by a consultant? If so, I'd be tempted to ask for a referral back to the hospital to discuss having them administered there. At the moment the practice is unable to meet his primary health needs. Is there another practice in the area?

When he needs the injection, does he pick up the drug from the pharmacy and bring it with him to the surgery? I think that's what my DH does with an injection he has every 12 weeks.

I also get B12 injections every 12 weeks. In my last GP practice, there was no nurse so the GP administered the injection. At my current surgery, the nurse sends a reminder when it's due and I call up and make an appointment for the following week but there generally isn't too much of a problem getting to see the nurse there, luckily.

Thanks, I will ask him all this.

A reminder would be bloody helpful to him! He just doesn't get it done at all.

GPs can do them but but what a waste of my time. Often surgeries don't allow to book ahead too far because of DNAs 2 weeks does sound a bit much. But why not put a reminder on your calendar for 10 weeks and phone up then? Also the recent update I heard was that B12 lasts for much longer than the3 months so it is not crucial.

Would it be possible to get taught how to administer the injections yourself? It's pretty straightforward and then you can do it whenever is convenient for both of you.

Musical - the problem is the nurse is booked solid as soon as the slots open up. Yes, I'm sure if the DH were persistent two weeks before and completely flexible about time (the way any of us would be if it was a dc who needed the injection) he would get a slot. But this does feel unnecessarily arduous for a regular course of treatment.

This is madness, I get an appointment through the post a few weeks before the date and need to call and rearrange if I can't make it, either on the day if ill or immediately if I need to reschedule.
I'd change practice if it was me because I'm not the best at remembering or even if written down I don't always check.

He's got to get this sorted, does he have them because of pernicious anaemia? If it's not treated properly it can cause permanent neurological damage.
If he doesn't remember to book in 2 weeks in advance, what happens when he does remember? Does he just make an appointment for two weeks time, regardless of the gap between jabs?

Yes, pernicious anaemia. Plus pre-cancerous lichen planus.

When he does remember, he tries to get an appointment, fails, gives up.

Presumably if they take the attitude of Musicaltheatremum, they think his need for B12 is not that important, so they don't give a fuck.

suggestion: put daily reminders in your calendar, on days 14 to 0 before he needs next appointment. & be resigned to phoning up daily until next appt is booked, then set up the reminders again as soon as he has had his jab.

Why don't oral supplements help?

I know this is nuts... but if diabetics can self-inject insulin, can OP really not get a prescription to do the injections herself? Or could a pharmacist do them?

It's my dh, but yeah, I'd like answers to any of those Qs, too.

I would write to the practice manager and ask them what solution they propose.

I need B12 every 3 months and my surgery has a similar approach.

I figure as an adult its up to me to book the appointment so put a reminder in my diary and then phone at the appropriate time. I often have to be a bit flexible about when I get there as the nurse only works 2 days/week, but appreciate I'm lucky to be able to do this. I think many surgeries don't release appointments more than 2 weeks in advance because if they do then people book them and then 'forget' about them or something else comes up and they don't reschedule, so it wastes a lot of time. With only a two week window, people tend to have a better idea of what they're doing in that time.

What solution does the surgery offer when your DH phones and there aren't any available slots?
Can your DH ask for the nurse to show him how to self-inject? it might be a better solution for him if appointments really are a problem.

Self-injection does sound a much better solution - I will suggest that. They clearly haven't got time for him.

Reception don't offer any solutions, they just shrug.

Thanks for all the explanations of the thinking behind these systems. It's hard not to read the stonewalling as a message of "fuck off and die". Which he might.

Vet, he is an adult but he also has issues which make remembering difficult.

Is this a valid website? They seem to sell self-injections for B12 in UK.

There are Youtube videos, too.