As you were all so kind in replying to my melt down last night for which I was very grateful.
Today as instructed rang my GP surgery dead on 8am ( I had numerous alarms going off to alert me to the time )to get a telephone consultation to discuss blood results and why a referral for echocardiogram. Somehow when they answered ( dead on 8 am) I was 11th in the queue!!!! How does that work!!! Finally at 8.10am a human answered and informed me all appointments were now gone!! I despair and lobbed the phone across the room lol. Once I had calmed down I decided to ring Cardiology at my local hospital to find out the wait time for an echocardiogram was informed 33 to 55 weeks!!! which I am not prepared to wait so am arranging a private appointment which I will have to self fund £597. I guess this is the way things are going so sad really as I have worked all my life for NHS both in secondary and primary care. I think we will end up with the American system God help us. Thanks for listening.
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Florence-Nightingale
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What !!!! 33 -55 weeks wait. I think you have made the right decision in paying privately. I hope you are feeling less worried today after the positive responses from your last post.
Hi, It doesn’t take a genius to work out why our NHS is on its posterior but that’s an argument for another day. Yes I have always wondered how we end up right down the line when you phone at bang on 8am !! I hope you get the answers your looking for in a private consultation I am sure it will be worth spending your money on. What price our health indeed!! All the best 👍
I have to say that I would be hard pressed to find any fault with the treatment I have received from the staff at the NHS, and I’ve needed quite a bit the last 5 years. It does sound though as if I have been fortunate compared to some, and there are clearly cracks developing, most notably in primary care.
I’m not so sure however, in my lifetime we have ever been the envy of the world - I’m not aware of any countries changing their healthcare systems to model the NHS? It seems to be a notion that some hold in the UK but not by people in the developed world. Most systems that are considered better than the UK use a combination of tax payer funded and social/ private insurance. Maybe it’s time that the NHS ceased to be a political football and all politicians put political ideology to one side, got together, none partisan, and tried to identify a universal healthcare model run by another country that would work within the UK and could provide an excellent service at a reasonable cost, then implement and resource it appropriately and plan for anticipated longer term demand. But which politicians would have the guts to do that?
How annoying for you - I'd have thrown the phone too! How many doctors are there at your surgery? It doesn't sound right to have been 11th in the queue and then not get an appointment. Please ring the practice manager right now and ask for an explanation.
Hi Jean there are actually three surgeries with multiple GPS . It’s very difficult for me to demand anything as I was a member of staff there for a long time. It has changed beyond belief in the six years since I’ve retired I might add.
I was in my GP surgery last week. A woman came in fuming to reception saying she had been instructed to ring at 8am which she had done only for the automated message saying she was 35th in the queue. How can I be she said as I rang at 8am sharp. The answer was we have three lines and get around a queue of 200 people hanging on the phone. Best to go into reception at 8am and book at the desk may get an app that way. Is it worth a try if you can get there for when they open.
Does the surgery have an on line booking sometimes you can get one at 8am that day. Its a minefield I know only too well.
Good heavens what a farce it all is. The woman I heard would have thrown a tantrum if she did what the receptionist had told her to do and then been turned away at the desk. What has the NHS become. Its a disgrace. Sorry you are having to pay for your echo.
continue with your private consultation, but in the meantime ring your GP surgery and insist on a telephone consultation to discuss your blood results, tell them it’s effecting your mental health. I know it’s difficult especially when you’ve worked for the nhs and know how hard grassroots staff work, but sometimes we have to be our own advocates.
We do indeed need to be our own advocates as 4chickens says. Whenever my surgery contacts me about blood tests, it can be because some tests are slightly out of range and need to be repeated. It might be relative minor, but having said that, you need to find out if there is anything that is causing concern. 33-35 weeks for an echo is ridiculous. I don’t think that’s acceptable at all, I have the impression that cardiology services are woefully under-resourced at a time of unprecedented demand. I’m also a haematology patient and they don’t seem to be operating under the same conditions.
Cardiology department at my hospital along with the eye clinic are one of the busiest in the hospital. You need to take a packed lunch and a flask when going there lol
One cardiac nurse did tell me they were seeing a lot more people since covid....or perhaps the vaccinations... so I guess demand has risen considerably in the last few years. We seem to never think long term in this country - whether that is the fault of short sighted politicians or something else? Then again HS2 or cross link anyone...🤣!
I am sorry to hear that. I am not surprised you threw the phone across the room! It's unbelievable isn't it. I've just had an echocardiogram yesterday, I'll consider myself lucky that I 'only' had to wait 26 weeks for it!
I hope everything is OK. I still think to have to wait another six weeks for results having waited 26weeks for your appointment is wrong. Just my opinion x
Thanks Florence. I do agree with you but, as in your situation, unless one is prepared to pay then there’s no choice but to wait. I hope you get some answers from your appointment x
I was fuming when I heard the ‘new ideas’ the new Health Secretary had come up with. They are all things my excellent surgery does already, although clearly they may need need money to set up a lot of things are down to organisation. Does your surgery not have appointments bookable for a later date if there is no capacity on the day?
Also I would not take the wait time too seriously. I have heard several stories of quotes for long waits which have turned out to be very pessimistic. Also they do give appointments according to need so if it’s urgent you get it quicker than if a GP is just covering all the bases.
I hope the echocardiogram gives you an answer for your tiredness ❤️🩹
😱 It would interesting to know why that is : shortage of doctors, high demand, poor or no triage, not enough lower level staff eg specialist nurses or general nurses?
I thinks there may have been a change of receptionists also some nurses have retired.No one can make a face to face appointment without a telephone consultation from a GP who then decides if a face to face is necessary. I think there maybe a combination of issues. Usually they have been very good and accommodating but the head GP and owner of these surgeries lost his life to COVID so I expect things are a bit up in the air still.
This triage thing is all very well it weeds out people that dont really need to see face to face but when its cardiac related surely we should be able to have an appointment. So frustrating.
Oh dear, so sorry. I wish I could say I’m surprised, unfortunately I’m not as my husband was in a similar position. Finally going for echocardiogram on Tues next - only about 5 months after he should have.
Was that the price for the echocardiogram? Cardiology appointment is usually around £200 or does that include the appointment?
I was unable to get a GP appointment so in desperation rang 111. I got one for that afternoon. Apparently, all GP practices have to keep a handful of appountments open for 111 to book directly into. The practice have no control over this.
It's just 40 EUR to have it done privately and just a few days to get an appointment. There are many walk-in diagnostic centres.
"The color Heart TRIPLEX, otherwise known as color echocardiogram (heart triplex) is a painless scan in real time of the cardiac chambers and valves. It is based on the use of high frequency ultrasound waves for the morphological imaging of the cardiac structures (walls and valves).
It is an absolutely painless imaging examination. The 2D or 3D images and videos show the structure (valves-myocardium-pericardium), the size and the functionality of the various parts of the heart.
During the same examination, with the use of Doppler ultrasonography, the blood flow in the cardiac chambers and through the heart valves is studied, and in this way are depicted the pressures that are applied to the different heart chambers and the possible valvular diseases (stenosis or insufficiency)."
The Greek national health system (IKA) is very lacking, but there are very many diagnostic clinics and it's may be due to competition, I think.
A general blood test (red and white platelets), Cholesterol, Blood sugar, etc. is just 18 EUR to have done privately, with same day result. Chest CT scan 70 EUR, and in the USA some $1,000.
This is good, but surely it depends on what health plan you have? Some plans require a larger patient contribution, and some will not fund out-of-state procedues, or expensive procedures and medications? How much is your yearly premium, if I may ask?
We had the same issue and paid privately for the echocardiogram. Got it done within 2 weeks, and that then moved us along to the next stage of seeing the arithymia nurse on the NHS.
A few years later we hit a similar long wait for an angiogram and again paid out for that so NHS doctor could then do his diagnosis.
On the flip side, we went to A&E on Monday, got seen within 1 hour , had x rays, and got told of 2 breaks. Got appointment for fracture clinic for Wednesday, was seen there, had more x rays, and got diagnosis, and treatment plan all with 2 hours. Referals for physio were done, and they rang the next day and start Friday. So, not all of fhe NHS is broken.
Keep your chin up, and personally, for piece of mind, i think its money well spent to move the echocardiogram forward.
I do agree Devon the service you get seems to depend on area you live in. Some of my family live in the midlands and are all seen promptly both by GPS and hospital. Unfortunately I don’t.
Trying to ring our doc is just like that. And how sad that the wait for an echo is so long. On the same note I've just had an x ray with barely a wait - 3 weeks! so chuffed - and then was told the results would take 6-8 weeks which seems a lot for what must be a digital image nowadays. I know covid has made vast problems but something seems to have gone wrong apart from this. Hope you get your private appointment soon.
I regret to say that this wait time of 33-35 weeks is routine. I think - not sure - it may also be more than the government specified maximum. Might be worth checking out. Ive been known to quote the specified hours one's allowed to wait in A and E (17 hours I think) and got a result. And I agree with others here re contacting the practice manager at your GP. Do it in writing if you prefer.
Firstly can you not ask to see your test results try online consult or email your surgery.or better still get access to your online records.If they test for heart failure they check for BNP.Mine was intermediate.I had a private echo last february with my local spire .It was 426 including consultants report.Nuffield was the same.
Turned out my heart was in relatively good shape & no sign of HF.
Hi Katz I took on board your comments about seeing results on line. I did have the appropriate app but only to basic info so rang surgery and with a flick of a button have now got full access to all test results etc. So thank you for that.
have you tried emailing the surgery or even writing a letter? This phone at 8am business and then all appointments gone and if you have hit the jackpot a telephone appointment is nuts. We have the same here. Luckily have not had to use it recently but getting scans asked for by the NHS physio is a nightmare. The delays in that system are unbelievable. Am thinking of going private for that. I think you are right to go private and not delay.
Personally I think the NHS is shoving too many bits of paper around and duplicating like mad on getting you to telephone/see intermediaries before getting scans/x rays etc. Everyone is very busy in their own unnec merry go round.
I'm not quite sure what you get for your 597 pounds, but as a comparison, here is the breakdown of the account I received from my Cardiologist whom I saw this month. I live in South Africa and our exchange rate is around R20 to the British pound. My cardiologist is British, trained at Edinburgh. These are the charges: Consultation = R1025.Cardiac examination two dimensional = R1119. Cardiac examination with Doppler =R1124, ECG without effort R210. The whole visit amounts to roughly R3500.00 ( I have left off the odd cents charged) which translated into pounds is about 175!
Consultant fees and examinations here are a fraction of what they are in the UK. I have been going to see my cardiologist for 11years . His fee has barely increased at all in that time and is around 50 euros. I pay him and then my insurance reimburses the money. The appointment includes the ECG so no extra fee for that. I had an echo 2 years ago and I do not recall it being very expensive - maybe about €75. It seems that private medicine in the UK is like in America - a rip off.
I wish you well and I fear you have to pay theses days . my daughter is a junior doctor in the NHS and the stories she tells are horrific . She works regularly 14 hour shifts without breaks as they are so short staffed . Four of her cohort left at the end of their first year of practice and have gone to the US , Germany, and to work in labs as they can’t stand it . No wonder the wait lists are horrendous . Her hourly pay before tax for her contracted hours is £13 after 7 years of training . We have to subsidise her living costs in central london ‘. The NHS is simply broken and it’s not just lack of resources but the most breathtaking inefficiencies !
>>I think we will end up with the American system God help us.<<. Perhaps God should help you and set up the "American system"?? I'm on American Medicare. I waited 3 days for my Echo cardiogram, and about 2 days to schedule the chemical stress test. The Echo cost me ~$28 out of pocket.
Wow, the wait times for services there seem criminal. While you worry that you might end up with the American system, I can tell you that I belong to a medical group here in Sacramento California, typical of most such organizations, paid for by Medicare and my premium of $170 per month taken from my monthly social security check and affordable copays for services. For example, copay for an echocardiogram was $15, copay for an MRI is $200. All totally affordable with a maximum annual out of pocket expense of $6000 in case of hospitalization, etc. I can email my cardiologist, pharmacist, regular doctor, or any specialist I have seen with any question I have and get an answer back usually in one day, two at the most. Wait times for my recent echocardiogram and then treadmill stress tests were less than a week. I can go on line to make a phone, video, or in person appointment with my GP, cardiologist, optometrist, urologist, etc. and secure one sometimes for the next day or a few days out, but usually no further out than in a couple of weeks. I can call and speak with an advice nurse about anything medical 24/7 with never an agonizingly long wait time. While I have not done this, I know that if I am feeling worried about my heart rhythm, I can walk into cardiology at any time without an appointment, have a seat for not a long wait, and get an EKG to tell me what’s going on. Of course, medical services in any country could stand some significant improvement, most definitely for many folks in the USA, but I feel very fortunate with mine supplemented by Medicare here in the USA as it is because access to the highest quality health care is easy and quick and will never bankrupt me.
sounds fantastic. Unfortunately here private healthcare is so expensive even for the young and fit. People like me who are getting on in years stand very little chance of affording it.
I am so sorry to hear this. Thats a ridiculous wait time for echocardiogram!! Ive gone private twice this year, first time ever.....seems to be the only way to get treatment....so I agree 'their' plan is working sadly, the NHS is collapsing from lack of funding etc... we will end up having to take private health cover......doubt anyone would insure me!!
My GP surgery will not answer their phone before 9am. And then youre instantly in a queue....normally 20plus...& if they've run out by the time you get to the front you're told to "try again tomorrow." Like thats fine! No triage. cant figure out how you end up in a long queue when you ring on the dot but you do. My GP surgery will only take phone calls 9-12am & 2-4pm, closed Thursday afternoon and all weekend. No evening surgery at all. You can only make repeat prescription between 10-11am & 2-3pm. Goodness help anyone who works!
Ive thrown my phone many times sadly, it has the damage to prove it ......sigh🙄😬 so you have all my sympathy. Most of the NHS Consultants seem to do private now as well as NHS.
Sorry, but I am totally thrilled with the US Healthcare system. The only reason I had to wait 2 weeks for an ablation was because EP was on vacation. There are about a dozen cardiologists in the medical group, but only one EP.
Looked a bit online, and there are not a lot of EPs. Glad I've had access to a really good one.
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Update on AF diagnosis 
