Finally got a referral but not urgent
Posted , 6 users are following.
Afternoon all,
I chased up my referral for MRI yesterdsy and I was told they hadn't received one, had no record of me and I needed to contact my gp again.
I contacted my surgery who told me they had faxed it on Wednesday the 29th, so where every it has been lost has no put me back a week which is very frustrating.
I then called the hospital again who advised me to call back today.
I called this afternoon and I have been referred but not as urgent and was told I have to wait up until the 16th on June for an appointment letter. I questioned this and was told to go and see my gp again.
This is getting a joke now from first going to my gp, if you read my first posted I explained how they have treated me other the last 4 weeks.
I had to go to a walk in in the end who said I had a prolapsed disc and sciatica and to tell me gp I need a scan. He obviously didn't believe me and only had referred me to a physio until they received the recommendation off the walk in centre.
He made my physio an urgent appointment but not the scan, I don't understand this, I can't wait months, I have got worse not better and I'm self employed and been of 2 and a half weeks unpaid.
I have stopped the codeine today as was advised on here because I'm on naproxen and paracetamol, so I'm going to see how that goes and hopefully won't make me feel more pain.
Please if anybody has any advice on what I can do I would really appreciate it, I feel like I'm banging my head against a brick wall with this surgery.
Should I arrange to see the doctor and get or try and get him to make it urgent or should I complain, or may be do that if they refuse to change it?
Last resort for me will be stopping all the medication and going to the a n e at the main Birmingham hospital I have been reffered too. I know this isn't the best idea but I feel I'm being messed around and left with no answers, help or idea of how long I will have to be off work not earning.
Thanks for reading.
Chris
0 likes, 31 replies
joyceb christophe24300
Posted
christophe24300 joyceb
Posted
I will go down that route but last time they had no appointments for 3 days so I read somewhere if you mention you are in a lot of pain and actually wasn't sure if I could get to the surgery and can I have a home visit, they managed to find a space, funny that.
Hopefully I will not have to go through a complaints procedure.
Sorry for the bad spelling and grammar, I need to proof read my posts.
keith94082 christophe24300
Posted
so u do what u thinkis right. I have great gps. The reconised my syptomes.
christophe24300 keith94082
Posted
My leg does feel numb. Kinda dull dead felling but not anywhere else, i have had trouble going to the toilet but that's because of the codeine I've been on but like you say to get things done sometimes you have to bend the truth.
Thanks for your reply
keith94082 christophe24300
Posted
I had urgent surgery transfered in the night on the op table 5 in the morning. I was told my long term was not great a I had complete compression of the nerves for my bottom half it's the other things like having my bladder removed I have had 2 big hernia ops the last on March the 12th. I have a scar from my public bone right up to my diaphragm. I would have had none of this 6 major operation. I sued and won. But I miss my old life so much. I did not get dressed today. Still let's hope u get sorted.
christophe24300 keith94082
Posted
I going to be relentless in getting somewhere now.
Thank You
drinxs christophe24300
Posted
I am going through similar frustrations ( I too am self employed) but at different level and in my honest opinion you have be be very direct and tough, and threaten to raise a compaint.( such as if you condition gets worse and affects your future in terms of work and mobility then you will be keeping a log of dates and times of seeking medical help and it not being activated upon).
I was orginally told back in November that I would have to wait 15-18 months just to see a consultant. I paid privately £180 and then went back on NHS list and got my MRI scan in the following 6 weeks.
I am currently awaiting surgery but getting 2nd opinion from another NHS trust, I have had to push and push the whole time and it is unfortunately the only way to make any progress. Can you change GP?
christophe24300 drinxs
Posted
So do you think I need to go down the complaints route first or only if the gp will not changed my MRI to urgent? If so would I need to quote what you said to the gp or receptionist?
I tried to change to a gp that has great reviews but when I spoke to the blunt receptionist she told me I was out of the catchment even though its the same distance and postcode as the one I go to now.
My house falls on the border of to council's, if I join a surgery I used to go to it won't fall under Birmingham where I have been reffered too, so I don't know what to do.
Thanks for your advice.
christophe24300
Posted
I think she is bias though as has been in the NHS for 15 years.
Says I cannot accuse or be rude, to get an appoinment with the gp again and explain my situation as being self employed and off work warranting it urgent and question why the physio referral was made urgent and not the scan.
anglosaxon1 christophe24300
Posted
If you are self employed you may need to bite the bullet. I know it will be a few hundred quid, but being off work longer than you need to is a cost too.
I was paying into private (£9 a month) and once I got the go ahead it was done and dusted in 3 days. I ended up having a Microdisectomy.
If you do shop, around as you can save quite a bit in fees. My nurse told me I would have had to wait 8 months for a scan on the NHS; way too long.
christophe24300 anglosaxon1
Posted
I am considering Keith's advice and going to a n e.
angie42070 christophe24300
Posted
I've been fighting my corner for 5 years. I was diagnosed with a disc bulge after a car accident where I broke 2 ribs. I now have two disc bulges, spondolythesis and stenosis.
Ive had sciatica, numbness and pins and needles down my left leg for more than 3 years. I finally made it onto the waiting list for surgery and now 3 months on I'm still waiting as I'm classed as routine. I'm off work and taking Oramorph.
Pilates and yoga can help enormously and they can teach you positions that can help.
I can understand what your Mum is saying, I too work in the NHS (11 years) as a Nurse, and in my working life see as many waiting even urgent cases, as there is for scans and treatment in orthopaedics. There are only two options - wait or pay private. Unless you develop cauda equina, there will nothing you can do.
Hope you can get a GP appointment to talk this through.
christophe24300 angie42070
Posted
I've just lost all faith in my gp and as its been nearly 6 weeks since I had the first signs and I have got worse every week, I think I will have to go to a n e.
How come you are only classed as routine?
I hope you get your operation soon.
angie42070 christophe24300
Posted
6 weeks is really not that long, and please could you try an urgent appt with a GP before going to A&E. I know staff in A&E's that are so over stretched and understaffed, that they really only want genuine emergencies in their department. My GP sent me to A&E because he thought I might have cauda equina, I wouldn't have gone there otherwise. Your GP may send you or ring the MRI department to ask for an earlier scan.
christophe24300 angie42070
Posted
I did this the following day and he didn't referr me, only when the surgery got the notes through from the walk in centre he did, 4 days later.
The bottom of my left leg now feels like I'm dragging a dead log around and my ankle is in a lot of pain, this has come on within a week, so I'm just worried after reading other peoples experiences on here.
angie42070 christophe24300
Posted
As a mental health nurse I see people referred in for CBT for chronic pain. Not everyone gets surgery, and sometimes their condition is past being able to be helped. Trying to get on with life and not focus in the pain can help. I was exercising up till January despite my diagnosis being 4 years ago. Building core muscles can prevent further damage and sometimes bs k pain can be made worst due to Muscle spasms.
Good luck seeing the GP tomorrow. I've been really lucky that my GP is my advocate and listens to what I say. Hope you can build this with a GP at your surgery.
angie42070
Posted
christophe24300 angie42070
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I will not be building that rapport, I have seen both main doctors there, both not listened, or took me serious, not even touched my back or leg, just want to give you pain meds and get you out.
angie42070 christophe24300
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You could try cycling or swimming. I'm fine swimming as it takes the pressure of my spine.
If you look at NICE guide lines for spinal issues, they have standards procedural steps to be taken that GP's follow. Gp's will see hundreds of people with lower back pain and only around 2% will have a mechanical reason. They can't scan everyone and usually it is some weeks and months before an MRI or CT scan is done. The fact that you have an MRI this early on is brilliant, but there will be loads of other people waiting for an MRI too, hence why paying private moves you faster.
christophe24300 angie42070
Posted
I suppose my last resort will have to be to pay for an MRI but then what after that, I can't afford anymore private treatment.
Do the doctors and NHS take a private scan or still need to do their own?
It's just being off work, I don't want to go on the sick and wait weeks to get any money then called in to an office where someone will assume you are fit for work because you limped in there.
I can't hack being at work in that pain or at work on these medications. Like I said earlier I went out for a few hours and was in a lot of pain, just wanting to get back and lie down, that's the only time I feel relief.