MEDICAL MATTERS

[Tizer]

Last week I found that my repeat prescription that I ordered 10 days earlier on NHS Access had vanished into the ether. I was about to run out in 2 days time. The receptionist at the surgery was very helpful, understood my urgency and wrote out my full details to pass on to whoever would approve it and pass it on to Well. She said it would be ready late in the day on Wednesday, the last day of my present supply. I went as instructed to Well but they said they'd received it early in the day but it wasn't marked as urgent so they would have been doing it the following day. I had to tell them I had none of my 4 prescriptions left and they then agreed to make it up while I waited. It took ages - I can't understand how it takes so long to pick 4 boxes of tablets off the shelves, print off the labels, stick them on and drop the lot in a paper bag! In my days working at Boots we had to count the tablets out of bottles, write the labels to stick on then wrap them in high-quality paper and seal the package with red wax over a meths burner!

[Stanley]

I share your bemusement Peter!
Mick was telling me what good service Margaret has had this visit, she had a bad chest and got a telephone consultation with a doctor who gave her a prescription for ABs which was filled the next day at the local Pharmacist in Clitheroe where they are staying. In other words, the service we used to expect and got as normal. Only problem was they had to pay £50 up front for the telephone consultation......
The shape of things to come?

[Stanley]

I try to get a prescription out of the surgery, they promised me one on Friday but nothing has happened. GRRRRRRH! Ten minutes later after a fraught phone call. They have promised an urgent prescription given me an appointment for a blood test on Wednesday and asked for a week of BP readings.
Do I believe them? Sheer bloody incompetence.
Twenty minutes later.
I have what should have happened before the repeat prescription ran out, a one time retread for the prescription and an appointment on Wednesday for a blood test.
PS. They never apologised......

[Tripps]

Stanley covered this a few days ago, but the importance has just caught up with me.

There was a long interview during the night (live at 2.30 am) on Clive Bull show - LBC with a GP . Mention of the inablilty of GP's to get employment. He said the reason was that despite allocating £1.2 Billion to GP practices - they were forbidden to use any of the money to employ Doctors! He spoke of the new grades such as Physicians Assistants, and the increased role of Nurse Practitioners and suchlike.

I looked at my GP in the knowledge that last time I looked (I think) there were thirteen doctors. I find that despite the population of the catchment area (surely) increasing there are now eleven. Nine are female, one of whom is on maternity leave. Last time I gently enquired - all the lady doctors worked part time.

He also said interestingly, that about half of his surgery time was devoted to reassuring the worried well who were terrified due to stuff they had read. He said GP's eyes rolled when they heard the numbers proposed by all the parties. He almost laughed out loud when mentioning that the Tories had promised the most in their election spiel - an additional 28,000 extra GP's by the end of the next Parliament - but no one was allowed to employ them. No doubt that number includes those starting doctoring apprenticeships in the near future.

Time for a fresh start and a bit of 'thinking the unthinkable' methinks.

[Stanley]

Couldn't agree more Kev. Like giving GPs a proper budget and allowing them to spend it! It needn't necessarily be the end of the NHS free at the point of delivery simply less management.

[Tripps]

it needn't necessarily be the end of the NHS free at the point of delivery

It should do.

That is anachronistic and it's time for a radical rethink. . We say 'the envy of the world' - but there is no rush to copy it and it is far from the best health service in the world. It was thought at the start that it would save money as people would become healthier. That didn't work out too well. When there is no limit to the demand - the supply finds it hard to keep up.

PS To all intents and purposes the GP service is already 'privatised'. GP Contracts

[Stanley]

GPs have never been fully embedded in the NHS, they have always been private contractors.
I've always been struck by the fact that when Margaret and Mick migrated to Australia they never had any problem adapting to the new health care regime which is not NHS and it has always served them well.
At the moment, for whatever reason, our system is broken.

[Tizer]

I'm overdue for a hearing test and an `MOT' on my hearing aids. I now find there's a 16-week waiting period for being allocated an appointment!

[Stanley]

Mr Streeten may be correct when he says the NHS is broken. Remember "Sate in our hands"?
four months is a long time to wait for anything, let alone a medical appointment.

[Stanley]

I was bragging this morning about the system working and my repeat prescription being ready for me and waiting at Well. I spoke to soon, my meds were ready all right but when I enquired I was told it was a one-off prescription. So I went across the road to the surgery and enquired. They had no idea about my prescription but have promised to 'look into it' and text me.
I await their next move with interest....

[PanBiker]

MyGP app will tell you all the details and status of your prescriptions. Saves a lot of trailing about and wasted journeys.

[Stanley]

I know the detail and the status, my need is to get my GP to institute the repeat prescription, something he has failed to do which is what has caused the problem.

[PanBiker]

I request my repeats via the app and they are usually authorised the same day. As I use an online pharmacy the prescription is automatically sent to them and I get a receipt email from them, updates when dispatched and the meds within a couple of days. I have requested on a Monday morning and had the meds by Wednesday, no problem for repeats. You can change the pharmacy to local if you need any immediate medication such as antibiotics. Win, win situation in my book.

[Big Kev]

My online chemist sends me a reminder when I need to 'tick the boxes' to order

[Stanley]

Yes but both of those situations fall down if the problem is it's a repeat prescription that requires authorisation by the dispensing doctor and he hasn't done it.
After my nudge he did it and I got a text yesterday to say so. With a bit of luck that will be it!

[PanBiker]

Well, all I can say is that it has never failed with electronic communication, maybe the log jam is in the early stages of manual reporting, reception?

[Big Kev]

I have the same, in fact the last prescription I ordered via the NHS app was delivered the following day. Early morning request, signed off before lunch, despatched mid afternoon, arrived just after lunch the following day.

[Stanley]

I think you are right Ian in that the place the system goes wrong is in practice management.....
As with my attitude to British Gas, I think we have to educate them.....

[Tizer]

I'm caught up in the NHS labyrinth again. Last year the dermatology specialist at our local GP surgery removed a skin lesion from my head. Now I've got another one so I took a photo and sent it to the general surgery address that I used last year to send a photo to the specialist. I marked it for the attention of the the named dermatologist.

A week later I got an email from my GP acknowledging my message but asking me to phone the surgery and make an appointment to see her. I did so, she looked at the lesion, measured it and sent me away saying that I would hear from them in a few days asking me to make an appointment with the dermatologist. I asked her why couldn't I have gone straight to the dermatologist? With a sigh, she said `We've got to follow the rules'. Will we ever manage to get the NHS sorted?

[Stanley]

Someone once said "A consummation devoutly to be wished" under different circumstances. I think that's all we can do Peter.....

[Tizer]

The NHS labyrinth strikes again and the game continues. Got a phone call yesterday from the surgery, a man who referred to himself as `the medical secretary'. He said I've been referred to the hospital to have the lesion removed and I should hear from them to make an appointment. So I'll probably have to go first to be looked at and then wait for another appointment to actually have the offending bit of skin removed. He said the hospital would send me a letter but I told him that, in our experience, their letters never arrive so they will need to phone me. I asked him why could I not have it done by the dermatologist at the surgery and the reply was a vague `We've changed the system'.

[Stanley]

It emerged yesterday that the GPs have lost almost £2billion income due to the contract not taking account of Covid, inflation etc. That possibly explains why they are doing less Peter....
I see the doctors are working to rule and from what I can see they have very good reasons for taking this action. Like so many other services they have been starved of funding over the last 14 years.

[Tizer]

I received a text from the hospital today offering me an appointment on 21 August which I accepted after I'd managed to work my way through the security barriers. When I clicked Accept it then said it had sent me a 6-digit code which I had to use to complete the process. I wrote it on a pad, navigated back to the form - then found the code had already expired. It took several attempts to complete it in the 5-second time they allow.

The next problem was that the confirmation message said `Attendance not needed' but further down it was described as a `face to face' appointment. I phoned the number given in the text to find out what they mean but the lady said she couldn't help, I'd have to phone Dermatology. I tried the number but couldn't get a response and there was no answerphone offered. When I was out this morning I walked into the hospital in the hope of getting it cleared up. But, to cut this long story short, they tell me there's no way of talking to anyone about it in the hospital. I have to go through the phone system. Remember Catch 22?

[Stanley]

How frustrating Peter..... I was thinking about this last night and it occurred to me that starving contracts of funds was exactly what was done to the dentists who are also private contractors. Look what happened to NHS dentistry......
Are we going to see the same outcome with doctors?

[Tizer]

I have respect for all the NHS nurses, doctors, medics and front-line administrators (like my cousin who does part-time admin on the Stroke Ward of our local hospital) but my gripe is with the top management who don't seem to understand what needs to be done to make the NHS more efficient and effective.