Help with abscess - NHS refusing to drain it

[LostaraYil]

My adult ds has an abscess on the sole of his foot. The pain is extreme and it is clearly infected. He has been to A&E, the first time he was sent away and told he's fine. He saw a GP and got given antibiotics and naproxen. These have not helped. Second time in A&E he was given codeine and told to go back to the GP. The GP prescribed cocodamol. The pain is still awful, and really it needs draining. Has anyone successfully got the NHS to deal with an abscess and if you did, how? He's been in contact with a private surgeon and has a consultation booked for Monday, but really he needs something sooner and on the NHS! In Wales btw.

Read the thread She's taken him to the GP several times

Is he diabetic ???
These people are incompetent. Take back to A and E. I’m a vascular surgeon and operate on foot abscesses frequently. They are limb threatening as the pus tracks deep into the tendon sheaths and causes tissue death.

Straight back please and demand to see the person in charge if they try to send you home.
antibiotics do not treat abscesses - they need surgical drainage.

Can you post a picture OP?

I've had experience of this crap system recently, although not with an abscess. GP clueless and tell you to go to A&E if it gets worse, you go to A&E and they tell you it's not their responsibility and won't do anything so go back to the GP. Repeat the cycle several times, meanwhile symptoms get worse. I now worry about anyone getting ill and have ringfenced money for private consultations, at least up to stage of diagnosis for any future illnesses. I don't think people realise how hopeless it is until you are in the situation of really needing help and no one stepping up to provide it.

For your case, I think the suggestion of minor injuries is a good one. Also, ring around all private places. Worth driving an hour or two to a private hospital outside your area if you can be seen today.

We're going to try the GP again, the message from A&E was basically that it's not their problem. I wish I had gone with him instead of DH but I suspect it wouldn't have made a difference. I have a lot of good ideas from here of what to say to the GP and if they don't call back by 8 we will just go to the surgery.

There is a minor injuries in the next town, the website specifically says they don't deal with boils though, isn't that basically the same?

Definitely heed @olympicsrock recent posts,they’ve helped quite a few people on here previously.

PALS is in Wales, my DD has used it. Although probably quicker now to go to minor injuries or your private appointment on Monday.
Maybe worth contacting them so this doesn't happen to someone else going forward

Second this @olympicsrock has given excellent advice in the past and agree with what they are saying here

Did you not read the OP? He’s seen the GP twice. They only prescribed pain relief.

Please follow what @olympicsrock advises, this wonderful poster has helped quite a few people in dire medical situations on here x

No advice but sympathy. I had a breast abscess from mastitis and it was total agony. It had to be drained (which was also agony despite the local anaesthetic)

I'm an NHS podiatrist and deal with this kind of thing all the time. Some trusts like ours don't see children and others only accept referrals for people who are high risk like diabetics. Depends on the area. Waiting lists are long. It's easy to get stuck in this between space. Have you tried minor injuries? They can give out antibiotics too.

A related question for medics - Does increasing antibiotic resistance mean that we need to adjust our expectations of how quickly antibiotics will work? Expect more days before improvement noticed? Or is it more that specific antibiotics just won't work any more, while others will still be rapidly effective?

@Cakedoesntjudge what is HS?

No.
This is not a GP thing... we dont have the facilities.
We also dont do emergencies... the clue is in the name,,,

Keep up with the salt water soaking, I'd be doing it 3x a day minimum and a hot compress in between.

I don’t think a gp can deal with that OP, mine wouldn’t. If it needs draining it needs A&E. I would go back and wait, if it’s as bad as you say it is I wouldn’t have left! In the meantime try all the suggestions to see if you can draw it out on its own. Or head over to sporners corner they will have plenty of advice!

Hidradenitis supprativa

Or head over to sporners corner they will have plenty of advice

No no no ! Stay away from them, they'll have you in there with a needle passed through a lighter flame digging about .Eek

Seriously though , the sole of the foot is the toughest skin on the body and if pus is trapped it can track inwards, it;ll pick the weakest skin. There's layers of tendons and ligaments and muscles for pus to get trapped in.

You have been given professional advice by a surgeon please take it . My husband is a surgeon too and would say the same .

So the hospital didn’t refuse a review by a doctor, your DS chose to leave. 🙄

They didn’t send him home - he left because he didn’t want to wait.

Did YOU not read the OPs posts? He’s been taking antibiotics for 3 days according to one of her posts.

Not a medic but a patient here.
Many drugs come in a number of forms. Tablets/capsules take longer to act than intravenous (IV) delivery. That doesn't mean that IV is a panacea - cannulas become dislodged etc - but with sepsis time matters and IV, delivered on time is important.
When I was last an in-patient, the Sister hit the roof because my last prescribed IV was replaced by capsules because it was 'less of a faff'.