keitha
Member of DD Central
2024, hopefully the year I get out of P2P
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Post by keitha on Aug 14, 2024 16:11:47 GMT
and we wonder why the NHS is falling over Except for the minor detail that this is an incompetent private business, under fixed-price (per patient) contract to the NHS. True but I know of several people in my area who now go to the hospital for minor things because an urgent appointment with GP you get to speak to one within 72 hours and a routine appointment is 3-4 weeks. OK you may wait several hours but get seen the same day.
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Post by Badly Drawn Stickman on Aug 14, 2024 16:38:43 GMT
I didn’t know the pen is £47+ online and couldn’t find any used pen on the bay 🤣 Anyway, it seems boots sells them. I assume home is safe. Stay home. Whilst not wishing to dismiss how important these pens are for certain people (I have a young family member with a sesame allergy), I doubt they are smart enough to stop working exactly on the end date and in an emergency would do the job for a while afterwards. I think there is currently an in date and an out of date collection kept here in case endless reading of ingredient lists fail to work. Every time I see the out of date one I have an almost uncontrollable urge to stab myself with it, endlessly amuses others.
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adrianc
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Post by adrianc on Aug 14, 2024 16:47:06 GMT
Except for the minor detail that this is an incompetent private business, under fixed-price (per patient) contract to the NHS. True but I know of several people in my area who now go to the hospital for minor things because an urgent appointment with GP you get to speak to one within 72 hours and a routine appointment is 3-4 weeks. OK you may wait several hours but get seen the same day. Yup. Simply not enough GPs to go round. BMA say a safe level is 25 appts/GP/day. They're averaging 37, and some see 90.
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Post by bracknellboy on Aug 14, 2024 17:28:03 GMT
<RANT> we have been asked to use the shiny MySurgery APP so I install it and I create an account Now the reason for installing it was so I can request repeat prescriptions easily So I go to the prescriptions bit and it says to go to a website for this So I go to the website and have to create another account ! get in, go to get a repeat prescription. and what I want isn't on repeat. This is an adrenaline pen with a shelf life of around a year, If I get stung by a bee or a wasp and don't have my EPIPEN I could die, even if I use it I need to get to hospital as the last time I was stung my throt started to swell. I ring the surgery "oh yes we can sort that, can you ring back tomorrow after 12 as you may need an appointment to see the pharmacist, or the pharmacist may want you to see the doctor before issuing a prescription - without this I could die !!but ill ring back tomorrow and my prescription will probably be ready early next week. well that's the best part of 2 hours wasted </RANT> and we wonder why the NHS is falling over How Long Do EpiPens Last?The summary seems to be that while most EpiPens are expiry dated for around 12 months after manufacture, they still retain 90% of their drug dosage after 30 months. An expired EpiPen may not be as potent as one that is unexpired. But, in the event of anaphylaxis, an expired EpiPen is probably better than no EpiPen at all. Furthermore, research shows that most epinephrine auto-injectors (EAIs) retain 90% of their drug content for up to 30 months after their expiration date.....The expiration date for most EpiPens is at least 12 months after its manufacturing date. However, research shows that epinephrine auto-injectors continue to meet FDA requirements for epinephrine potency up to 30 months post-expiration date.Although I'd suggest that how you store it might be a consideration. My other half's will go into bike bag, rucsac and similar and may therefore by subject to less than ideal temperature range. On another note. I'd question whether you need to use the MySurgery app. for this. I use Pharmacy2U, who took over Lloyds Direct, which took over Echo.....Anyway, the point is that they will hook up with the doctor surgery. I use them as a deliver to door service. Leave it to them to do the communication with the GP surgery. If you set up your account with them, then load up your prescriptions yourself, they will then validate those with the surgery. Of course, if the surgery is insisting on a review first then it will break at that point. But that sounds like a dumb receptionist response, given the nature of the prescription.
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Post by moonraker on Aug 14, 2024 18:03:22 GMT
Except for the minor detail that this is an incompetent private business, under fixed-price (per patient) contract to the NHS. True but I know of several people in my area who now go to the hospital for minor things because an urgent appointment with GP you get to speak to one within 72 hours and a routine appointment is 3-4 weeks. OK you may wait several hours but get seen the same day. Three weeks ago, I felt so bad that I called an ambulance, whose crew were not impressed that I'd called them, phoning in that I "was not prepared to get to the hospital on my own". (OK, I could have called a taxi, but doubted whether I could have got from the drop-off point to A & E on my own. Indeed, I had to be helped from a waiting-room to a day ward, and, after excellent treatment, the staff insisted that I be wheelchaired to a waiting taxi.) The driver said that I should/could have contacted my GP, who would have arranged for me to be treated in the day ward. Oh, sure, I thought, it was early in the GP's work-to-rule and how quickly would the GP have responded at 0800 in the morning - and would they have done what the driver thought they would do?
The day-ward staff were puzzled about what was causing my state, but for the first time in half-a-dozen tests in the past 20 months included a Vitamin D check. The level was very low and when my GP got the report she texted to suggest that I buy some D3 tablets. No problem with that, in fact I had some already. Then on Sunday the hospital rang to say they were going to send me some tablets by courier. They arrived by taxi - and turned out to be D3, readily obtainable over the counter!
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keitha
Member of DD Central
2024, hopefully the year I get out of P2P
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Post by keitha on Aug 21, 2024 9:16:23 GMT
Went to see GP this morning routine appointment following up on a specialist visit.
GP told me exactly what the Consultant had said, she then said she would refer me to a specialist ( consultant said she would do that to save time ) - I thought that was what I'd seen ! surely a consultant is a specialist but ...
GP also asked for blood tests , make an appointment at reception
Go to reception "can I make an appointment for blood tests" 30th at 12:30 , sorry I have another appointment then, what other times do you have free I have a free appointment in 5 minutes if you'd like to wait
amongst the things to be checked for Vitamin D levels
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Post by moonraker on Aug 27, 2024 13:16:30 GMT
A NHS haematologist rang to say that he wanted me to have an urgent blood test to rule out something rare and nasty. So today I contacted my GP surgery to ask for the test, only to be offered a telephone appointment in a week's time. I sent a polite, plaintive note to the practice and got a prompt, sympathetic reply back from a GP, who noted that "the situation sounds stressful and complex", adding that he'd booked a telephone appointment tomorrow morning with the head of the practice to discuss, and "to clarify the information and it has to be with an inhouse doctor to get the appropriate tests ordered locally. I work external to the practice."
So a reasonable outcome, but I wonder if the doctor is working remotely? I had to chase up the form for the blood test and spoke to an office worker, who promised to send it to me by email. It hadn't arrived the following day, so I chased again, to be told that the lady had been working from home and didn't have a printer. (Mind you, when the same department tried to email me another urgent document - after the original had not arrived in the post - its printer wasn't working.)
UPDATE: I've just had the telephone appointment with the senior GP at my surgery, who fixed up the blood test for Friday.
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keitha
Member of DD Central
2024, hopefully the year I get out of P2P
Posts: 4,424
Likes: 2,545
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Post by keitha on Sept 12, 2024 19:13:54 GMT
Nearly a month ago I did something to my knee.
When the pain was still there after 2 weeks I made an appointment to see GP only a 5 day wait.
GP says there is some instability and he can feel it grating as I move it. So he give me a form to take to hospital for x-rays.
yesterday I drove to my nearest hospital after being there 2 hours I was told I wouldn't be seen yesterday and to come back today.
today I was shopping in another local town and thought OK lets try the hospital - in and out in 10 minutes, of course 4-6 weeks to get the report sent back to my GP.
but why can the service be so bad in one and good in another.
Also interesting the one with quick service was neat and tidy as were the staff, the other staff looked scruffy and the waiting area even though it only had 5 patients in over the 2 hours was a disaster zone and the whole time I was there a group of staff were sat in one corner 2-3 left and others joined but at least 2 were sat there the whole time.
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benaj
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Post by benaj on Sept 12, 2024 20:15:01 GMT
Well, some private services aint much better than NHS. Read HCA on Trustpilot. The bureaucracy just kills the efficiency. Some departments are also being closed down.
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