The endless NHS wild goose chase to get a blood test

[frankiesamson]

I dread becoming ill enough to need the NHS in any way, because I've never had a good service from them, and neither have any of my family or friends. My grandfather died because the GP refused to give him the needed blood test. My DH almost died a few years ago because our GP refused to give him a simple blood test- it took a huge effort to find a GP willing to do it, he finally got diagnosed & given the needed treatment just in time. My mother also almost lost decades off her life because she struggled to persuade her GP to do a specific test for a serious condition- which turned out to be positive, but only after months of fighting with her GP to get this 1 minute blood test done.

Something as simple as a vitamin deficiency can become life threatening when your GP refuses to test.

Sadly, now is one of those times again. Myself & DH stripped our staircase & skirting boards recently without realising they had lead paint on them & that you're not supposed to strip lead paint using a heat gun.

Naturally, we now need a lead blood test to ensure we're okay. Waiting for lead poisoning symptoms is a bad idea & could be fatal, it's best to get it done without delay.

And here ensues the NHS wild goose chase...

I delayed addressing this issue because I knew it'd drive me up the wall trying to find anyone in the NHS to see at short notice let alone persuade them to give us the needed blood test.

I took a deep breath & decided today to make a concerted effort to get this simple blood test done.

We've just moved house & not only have we not yet registered at the new GP but are presently away from home for several weeks in Manchester, which has only made things even worse.

The GP receptionists in Manchester refused to register us even as temporary patients, saying "WE DON'T DO TEMPORARY PATIENTS 'ERE UNLESS YOU GOT A PERMANENT ADDRESS 'ERE"... trying to reason or use logic with them proved futile. I explained we're here for a couple of weeks and asked "Any resident in England can see a GP whilst on holiday or visiting friends in a different area.. this is everyone's right on the NHS." They looked at me incredulously... as if I'd just spoken new words to them.

I went on: "Why would a temporary patient have a permanent address here? That makes no sense."... but it fell on deaf ears.. they just looked completely confused.

In the end, after an age of trying to negotiate with these stubborn receptionists, they finally allowed us to register as temporary patients (filling out the forms) only to then announce to us that they had no appointments available EVER. (seriously!)

And another heated discussion ensued... they then insisted on knowing what the emergency was, so I explained it to them. They glazed over & had no clue what I was talking about but the buzz words "lead poisoning" seemed to have a small effect. They insisted we go to A & E instead of the GP.

So, I went to A & E (knowing this would also be a wild goose chase), and when I got there, the receptionist turned us away & told us unless we have a broken leg or arm, this isn't a job for A & E. We were told to head back to the GP for a blood test!

After more heated discussions, I managed to persuade the GP to see us that day. He saw us but then it turned out to be futile as at our appointment, he simply insisted we go to A & E "because you need to get this tested & if positive, get the therapy for it straight away, without delay"....then what was the point in the appointment with him?!!

It seemed more like a fob-off as he seemed impatient to get rid of us. I explained how useless A & E had been to us, but he insisted we try again.

So, back we went.. this is now the better half of 7 hours in total we've spent trying to get this simple 1 minute blood test.

... and back at A & E, I got past stage 1 hurdle: The receptionist.. only to reach stage 2 hurdle: The Nurse.. who insisted there's no such thing as a lead blood test.. I had to politely correct her on that, but she was adamant it did not exist, at least "not at A & E" and that we have to go back to the GP (which by now was closed).

I managed to beg her to please double check to see if there's a blood test there for it on their system as it's quite simple. She said she'd check & let me know- but insisted we wait in the waiting room while she checks.

This seemingly 2 minute wait turned into 30 minutes, which then turned into hours. Each time I asked her if she had checked yet, she had some excuse why she hadn't. I explained that if they truly don't and can't do the blood test then it's pointless us waiting there wasting ours & their time, so could she just please let me know.

... an age later, I checked with her again to find out what's going on, and she gruffly said quickly "press the buzzer and go in there & they'll do an ECG on you!!".... then she vanished.

ECG?! For testing lead level in the blood? Curious but I'm no doctor.. so ok.

I searched for this elusive buzzer she spoke of.. I found one, but the door remained locked. Complete chaos!

Eventually someone else walked through, so I followed them. I asked a nurse if we were in the right place, but he looked at us, muffled something under his breath & walked off. (not kidding!)

He then came back so I asked him again.. he looked at his paperwork, looked back at us, then once again walked off leaving us standing there clueless.

I then waited at a reception desk in there for an age, in the hope someone would turn up- a woman sat down at reception & looked at me with a slightly vacant face "HUH? " she said to me. I replied "sorry, we were told to come in here for an ECG. Are we in the right place?" - she said "I DUNNO". Then she disappeared.

I tried a 3rd person, who also had no clue- but I insisted "Look, our names are....(so & so) we were told to come through here but I don't know if I'm in the right place. Could you check please?" .. to that she begrudglingly got off her chair, looked on a piece of paper & said with attitude "YES YOU'LL BE NEXT. DON'T WAIT IN HERE GO BACK TO THE WAITING ROOM OK?!!"...

Of course my question then was, "That's fine.. just to check, why were we told to come in here, was it for something else?"

She completely ignored me.

I asked "Approximately how long is the wait--" but before I could even finish my sentence, she disappeared.

We went back to the waiting room..

What seemed like 2 hours later, we had no idea if we'd been forgotten.. our names were called.. we walked up to the lady calling us, and smiled at her with raised eyebrows, making it obvious it was us- and she completely blanked us! Then shouted back into the waiting room our names... again ! Then she looked at my shocked expression & said "ARE YOU SO & SO???", I said "yes", slightly intimidated. She said angrily at me "THEN SAY SO!!! I'M NOT PSYCHIC!!!!"

She then took us into another room & said she was going to give us general blood tests (completely unrelated to lead poisoning!!).. I politely mentioned we were only there for the lead blood test as there's nothing wrong with us, she got extremely angry, made some quite personal insults at me & kicked us out... (with attitude) "IF YOU'RE GONNA BE LIKE THAT LUV THEN YOU CAN JUST LEAVE!" i asked her "like what? I'm just wondering if this has anything to do with the lead blood test, or if not, how much longer until we get the lead blood test as we've been trying to get it for around 8 hours so far today".. she replied (with attitude) "I'LL TELL YOU WHAT!!! I'LL TELL THE DOC YOU DON'T NEED THIS TEST & YOU CAN JUST WAIT FOR THE DOC TO DISCHARGE YOU!".. I asked her how long to see "the doc", and she seemed to enjoy saying "I DON'T KNOW BUT I'M NOT GONNA BE GIVING YOU NOTHIN LUV SO GET OUT" with a smile.

It seemed like she wasn't planning to tell the doctor at all. I have no idea what caused her attitude.

Rather shaken up, we waited outside to catch some air. I then saw her leaving the hospital, she laughed at me & caught a bus. I was so shaken up by the day's ordeal we decided to go home & I'm looking up lead test kits to buy online.

This is the state of our NHS, people, and it has been for decades..

This was all in Manchester. Admittedly, we're from the south and we've noticed people in Manchester lack friendliness & can often be against southerners in general as they seem to think our accents denote us as spoilt millionaires (which we're not!), but anyway it was appalling.

I have no idea what we are going to do now.. go back to the GP tomorrow & explain what happened? It'll just be another wild goose chase all over again.

patient.info/doctor/lead-poisoning-pro

*For mild lead poisoning (

And yy aggression is listed as a potential symptom so perhaps you should crack on, OP

It's hilarious that even the private provider has now let you down. So is it the nhs or just everyone else on the planet apart from you who's in the wrong?

Latest update:

"GPs and other NHS professionals do blood tests based on clinical need, not just because you fancy one. "

I don't actually fancy one, the GP said we need one. I would fancy getting on with my life! :)

I just tried calling a GP surgery in London & was given even more conflicting information. They advised us to go to a walk in clinic to get it done urgently. I called the walk in clinic, who told us to go to the GP ! I called the GP back, who told us to come back to London & get the ball rolling asap- apparently it takes weeks for the results.

They said the GP in Manchester should never have suggested it would be a simple A & E trip.

So here we are so far..

1. Receptionist refuses to register temp patients from outside area, which is against NHS practise rules
2. Receptionist advises us to goto A&E
3. A&E advise us to go to GP.
4. GP advises us it's urgent, to go to A&E again
5. A&E advise us to go to GP again
6. GP surgery closes their phone service & is uncontactable
7. Private hospital doesn't know if they do the blood test & never calls back
8. Call another GP who says we should go to a walk in centre today for the test, and gives us the walk-in's details
9. Walk in centre says they don't do blood tests & to call the GP back

10. Call GP back, they say to call them tomorrow morning to book an emergency appointment 11. I ask if it's really an emergency, or can I ignore it as people online seem to imply we don't really need it? They say it's an emergency.

This is the state of our health care in the UK.

"for a one off minor exposure, chances of needing any treatment is extremely small. But I hope your rant made you feel better sweetie"

We were stripping deep layers of lead paint every day for over a month. why do you think that's a one off minor exposure? If the chances of needing treatment are so small, why did the GP tell us it's urgent?

I'll feel better once we have the test results or a GP tells us we don't need it.

OP, you sound like a complete pain in the arse. Normal people, on thinking they might have poisoned themselves, would have presented themselves at their LOCAL surgery, asked to be registered, acknowledged the fact that they should have got their act together and registered when they first moved there and politely requested an emergency appointment.
Not buggered off up north and been rude and demanding to every NHS service they encountered.
Surely if you're that worried, you'd be best off going back home and starting the ball rolling eurgh your local service.

Back in my youth, I had a summer vac job in a chemical lab working on lead additives for fuel. The standard test for lead poisoning was a urine test, which we had to take once month. I never heard any mention of a blood test.

Here you go op

www.medichecks.com/lead-tests/lead-blood

They have walk in clinics in London so you can just order and go straight in rather than waiting for a kit.

"..The standard test for lead poisoning was a urine test.."

Thanks, that's helpful. I'll see if I can find one.

"OP, you sound like a complete pain in the arse. Normal people, on thinking they might have poisoned themselves, would have presented themselves at their LOCAL surgery...Not buggered off up north and been rude and demanding to every NHS service they encountered..."

I don't think we've been rude to anyone . We're several hundred miles from home at the moment, that's why we registered as temporary patients . With regard to our local surgery back home, we haven't moved in yet and that's why we haven't registered there yet. We've been busy refurbishing & during this time some friends invited us to Manchester. We took a break from it all. We didn't really consider the lead poisoning aspect until we started experiencing symptoms in Manchester.

Having spoken to GPs about it, they told us it's more serious (and silent) than we realised, hence the current predicament. It wasn't really a case of "buggering" up north or being rude or demanding to anyone. NHS surgeries aren't supposed to turn people away who are on holiday or away from home. Perhaps my op came across in the wrong light but we've been polite to everyone so far. Most of the people in manchester have been quite rude to us though, and our friends are also shocked at how people are treating us. We get lots of negative comments here about our southern accents; even before the whole NHS saga started.

The wild goose chase continues...

Well you could just get over it since there is absolutely nothing wrong with you

It seems no one in the UK knows what's going on.

More like they do, and it's nothing, so no further action is appropriate

Thanks TheClacksAreDown, we tried medichecks once before for a fatigue blood test for myself. They sent us to a "partner clinic" to have the blood sample taken in our area, but they turned us away saying "We're NHS, we don't do private blood tests here" (!). In the end after some heated arguments between the NHS staff & medichecks, the blood sample was finally taken. The results came back as severe B12 & iron deficiency, to which our GP was quite sheepish as he had refused to do the blood test. He said he'd never seen one that low (it seemed to be his way of apologising). By that point I could barely stand up! I bought B12 & folate from boots, and felt better within a few weeks. That was many years ago. I think that GP is retired now, thank goodness.

It looks like we might have to make a special trip back to London to get this test done in a walk in clinic. How ridiculous. I hope it actually gets done this time, and not more run arounds.

If you're so well informed and so clever how on earth did you not realise that there was lead in old paint and you needed PPE for a job like that?
There's this thing called Google and if more people used their loaves there would be less drain on A&E.

"Well you could just get over it since there is absolutely nothing wrong with you "

How do you know that? Do you have experience in stripping lead paints?

"It seems no one in the UK knows what's going on... More like they do, and it's nothing, so no further action is appropriate hmm"

If that's true then why did they tell us we need an urgent blood test?

I'm trying to think of a reply but I really can't think of anything! If you to wait so long for the results of the lead poisoning blood test what are you going to do in the meantime. And are you really expecting to have been exposed to such a high amount?!

Jesus what an epistle just to slag off the tax and N.I funded NHS

It's not a chinese takeaway, you can't just order what you think you need

How do you know that? Do you have experience in stripping lead paints?

Ok, to be fair, I don't know that. But let's be realistic.

Good luck with your test and hope you don't die because you touched some paint. I haven't got enough time to read through your voluminous posts, but I can't understand why you cannot go to a walk-in clinic for the test. I have been treated at one despite not living in the area. Or if you genuinely think you will die, return home and get the test at your GP.

Surely by now you'd be presenting symptoms?
Not sure whether to laugh or cry though OP at your posts!

Jesus what an epistle just to slag off the tax and N.I funded NHS
I didn't deliberately have this experience, I'd love to have a good one. I'm not convinced it's just about funding though as it's been like this for decades & whilst money might decrease waiting times, it doesn't cost money to treat people with respect or give correct info.

It's not a chinese takeaway, you can't just order what you think you need
The GP told us we need it. We're not assuming .

Good luck with your test and hope you don't die because you touched some paint
Thanks. We didn't just touch some lead paint, we stripped deep layers of it with heat guns & sanders, potentially vapourizing the lead into the air & breathing it in & creating lead dust, every day for just over a month. Stupid thing to do- we know that now.. we didn't even realise it was lead paint but we can't rewind time. It's getting seen on the NHS which is proving futile. We're just constantly given the run-around.

Latest update:
The private "spire hospital" in Manchester finally called me back & said it's £82 but they won't do the blood test without a GP referal (so what's the point in us paying extra for it then?!).

It looks like we might have to cut our break short & head back to the south to actually be seen by someone willing to see us. We're both feeling increasingly unwell.

Someone we know was working on the paint stripping with us but he's moved country now. I'll try to see how he is.

1. Receptionist refuses to register temp patients from outside area, which is against NHS practise rules

Again, not true.

If you are not registered with a doctor but need to see one, you can receive emergency treatment from any GP surgery.
If you need treatment for more than one day you will need to register with that GP surgery as a temporary or permanent patient.

www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/how-do-i-register-as-a-temporary-resident-with-a-gp.aspx

The treatment you were asking for was neither an emergency, nor going to last more than one day.

I think I need to understand your timeline a bit better...
Sometime ago you stripped paint in you new (?) home.
At some point afterwards you realised it was lead paint - how long afterwards, days? weeks?
Then you delayed doing anything about it for a while (how long?).
Then you went away to Manchester for an extended visit.
At some stage during your visit you decided you needed a blood test immediately as you could die of poisoning? Why the sudden urgency after all the delays? I can understand why the A&E staff couldn't understand why you needed emergency treatment.

And now you're cutting your holiday (is it a holiday to Manchester?) short to get a blood test and another guy who was there has moved country already....bizarre!

Hate discrimination, and you're a fine example of this!

Quite incredible. A service trying to do the best for everyone gets this level of abuse. I believe that lead poisoning is cumulative, develops slowly. A heart attack,stroke bleeding, broken bones= emergency. This list of essential blood tests denied your family is amazing, do you have medical training that you know so much better than doctors? A and E the clue is in the name