I was told by GP to call an ambulance because I had a chest ache for about 3 weeks and was having AFib at the time. I explained that it was not a pain but an ache and asked if I really did need an ambulance? She was adamant I did. Called 999 at noon - ambulance arrived 3am! Hospital trolley in corridor. Eventually discharged at noon the next day. Waiting to see cardiologist. Been told it will be a minimum 20-25 weeks.
I am so pleased that I don’t feel too bad and am able to function although get very breathless when I do too much and am not in A/F all the time. I am upset that people who are in a really bad state cannot access a cardiologist when they need one. I am not an urgent case and if I started to have real chest pain I would ask to go privately but what of the people who could not do that?
My husband on the other hand has stage 5 kidney disease and is being very well treated and monitored so cannot fault the NHS on that one except he needs a blood test before his bi-monthly hospital appointment. He cannot book one with the GP 7 weeks in advance and when he tries 4 weeks in advance he can only get one 1 week too late! Ridiculous. He has to go to a hospital to get it.
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GrannyE
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Once you are ‘in’ the system I think care is usually excellent, least that is my experience BUT getting into the system can be a nightmare and the NHS has limited resources, not enough trained staff and too many patients so I completely agree with you. There are several posts in the last few days about very long waits to see a cardiologist and when you are newly diagnosed and very scared is the time you really need to see someone quickly.
We moved to a new area and couldn’t get any support for husband’s heart conditions and were quoted a time of ‘at least 58 week’. Saw specialist privately and suddenly all the support required magically appeared.
Just a comment on blood tests - if your test is done at GP surgery it comes out of their budget whereas if at the hospital it goes out of the secondary care specialist budget.
I had the same problem until surgery changed their protocols so that if a specialist appointment is due I now automatically get a text with a link enabling me to book the blood test. That’s why signing up to the NHS app does smooth out some of the frustration of being No29 in the queue at 8.30am!
My wife decided that if we needed an ambulance we would either drive the other one to A&E or get a taxi. Nearest A&E is 11 miles away but the nearest A&E in our NHS trust is 15 miles away. There is another local hospital 9 miles away but only a minor injuries unit during day and for the last week only manned by nurse!
My husband broke his femur in a fall last September. I rent 999 on numerous occasions but was told they were not able to come. In the end my daughter and I had to get him into our car on an office chair (with wheels) and took him the 8 miles ourselves. When we got there it is another long complicated story. Apparently if you take yourself to out nearest hospital you then have to go and wait in A&E whatever is wrong with you.
Its heads they win and tails you lose really but if anything untoward was to happen at least you are in the hospital. I have rung 111 before now and had an ambulance called by them or an appointment made by them.
Luckily no need for an ambulance for a long time but was lucky enough that when I did call an ambulance they were with us within 20 mins usually. It can be a lottery as if you are in a busy city on a Friday/Saturday night you will probably find you have a long wait. In Rural areas you may have a long wait just from the distances involved. When I had to call out an ambulance in Miami on a weekday afternoon back in about 1993 I didn't wait very long but before they would do anything they checked I had a bank card to pay the 1500 dollars for the 6 minute ride. I was in the garden but they sent someone back into my son's apartment where I was on my own to get my wallet when I told them where it was!
Something similar happened to a neighbour, in his 70s, last year. He had a fall in his garage, just by the up and over door and dislocated his shoulder badly.Wasn't able to get up, even with assistance and was lay on the concrete for about 5 hours before his wife made a 4th call to them begging for an ambulance.
Thank goodness it was a dry Summer's day. If it had been Winter, he would have had hyperthermia.
His wife sat on a chair outside with him and some of us neighbours kept popping over to see if they needed anything. She was going to put a blanket over him but he said it wouldn't make any difference.
They had to operate to put it back in and he still has problems with it now.
It's hard that he has to live with the results - I wonder if he had been seen earlier his shoulder would be easier now, and it was a very painful injury.
I recently had a major op followed 8 days later by sepsis, I called 111 and was given an appt at A&E 30 mins later, my daughter took me and I was called straight into triage and then wheel chair to a room and immediate treatment.
I have no doubt if I had called an ambo and had to wait hours I probably wouldn’t have made it. Definitely seems the best way is make you’re own way if possible.
No my GP is not monitoring me at all. A/Fib again this evening with an ache in my chest and BP up so have taken another 2mg Candesartan, done some deep breathing and sniffed lavender oil.
Sounds like the hospital agreed with your original thoughts and not the ambulance dispatcher. If I had real chest pain as you put it I'm not sure a private hospital would take me.
Even people who pay for private medical care have to call 999.if it’s an emergency,
unless you pay for Private medical care you are totally reliant on the nhs for any treatments, Waiting lists to be seen for anything can take up to a year sometimes depending on the severity of the condition. Majority of us brits rely on the NHS..unless you earn good money or have private medical care thru your Job
There are, however you look at it about 2-3000 private hospitals or clinics in the UK. None of them treat the breadth,or severity that our local trust hospitals do
But you can't just rock up to a private one without previous ok from your medical insurers... And if you don't pay private you are reliant on nhs hospitals .
We have one near to me but I can't go there in an emergency as I'm not private
GP referred me back to cardiology in Feb and said to expect at least 12 months. Letter from hospital said if they hadn't contacted me by April 15th to phone a certain number This is to check on two further blockages they found 5 yrs ago after my HA..
I paid for a private consultation as I suddenly went deaf £190 for 15 minutes.. got seen with in the week.. needed an MRI paid 400 for that the following week.. results 2 weeks after then fed back into the nhs for hearing Aids as I couldn't afford private aids. For me it was peace of mind to get results as the current list on nhs was 32 weeks just to be seen without scans etc. Only because the sudden loss could have been a tumour hence the scan. I would have worried myself silly worrying.. and this was pre AFIB diagnosis
I had to pay for a private operation in Nov because to only be seen would have taken until Jan or longer. Just as well I did have it done because as it was the growths on my ovary had already attached themselves to the pelvic wall. It meant that the NHS could use my operating slot for someone else.
Last time I needed A&E my doctor asked me if I had transport so hubby took me and they'd been pre-alerted by the doctor. Unfortunately this was on NYE and it was rammed.
When I had a pain n my chest before the pandemic, my husband urged me to ring 111 and they decided to send an ambulance which arrived soon after. We were all good friends by the time they took me to the larger hospital where we waited far longer in the car park there and I finally got in the hospital- good thing I’d brought a good book, a flask of water and some nuts and raisins as it was ages before it was decided that the pain had been caused by acid reflux and I was given an Omeprazole pill and a prescription for more and soon after an endoscopy showed my damaged oesophagus ( and also that my stomach hadn’t emptied 5 hours after I’d last eaten - I think as a “side effect” of the anticoagulant I was on!). It turned out I had a hiatus hernia so that might be your problem too as it seems very common amongst us oldies!
OMG that's terrible. They are meant to prioritise chest pain whether its an ache or pain. Both are serious. I'd complain. I was taken in twice in the same week with chest pain. Ambulance was at my door in 15mins both times. I also told the caller on 111 that I didn't need an ambulance. She said you most certainly do, I don't book an ambulance unless it's necessary.
Its dreadful how the nhs has become a lottery of good and bad care. It should NOT be doen to luck!!
Ambulances here aren't bad; 10 to 20 minutes except Friday nights but A&E is horrific. When I had a really bad arrhythmia, ambulance were great but in A&E had to sit on hard chair with people vomiting round me for 5 hours before I was triaged and although I was taken in at 10pm it was 4pm next day before I saw a doctor and 7pm when I was admitted to cardio ward. No means of getting to a toilet. I'm disabled and my shoulders are too bad to use my wheelchair now. I can only walk half a dozen steps. but they wouldn't take my scooter. The wait to get an electric wheelchair is two years.
Sorry to hear of your wait I was advised by 111 to call an ambulance in December when I had shortness of breath and some chest ache. It came in 40 minutes.
Sorry to say but at 77 and 78 my sister and I now have to ‘go it alone’. GP is a non starter even e consult. Over a year ago I had UTI/Prolapse problems but this week I crushing headache each time I had to do anything online collapse two days ago with blinding headache GP Surgery only a few doors away and sister called for help No one here call tomorrow at 8am! There was a surgery starting within 30 minutes so she did an e consult only to be asked all the same intimate female type questions relevant to those problems head never referenced never received a response Due to hearing and hearing aid problems she cannot use telephone so could not call 111 for me We have given up headache coming again so wish you all better outcomes
I am so sorry. Is your headache triggered by anything you can think of like dairy or chocolate? Or high bp? Or bright light like screens? Could it be eye strain ? Do you need new glasses?
Thank you for your reply. My headache is actually triggered by technology not working. Sounds weird on paper but it has been building for a while with the move to technology since the pandemic. I have always been reluctant to use telephones and had some help to try and improve from former GP but nothing improved and now with almost everything needing to be done online/ phone/email it has jut got gradually worse especially when you are at an age where people assume you are senile and dismiss you. GP surgeries are worse and have become impersonal and once your eyesight and hearing become affected it is just a losing battle for me.
Due to broadband and phone contract renewals all coinciding in March and things not going well with that I have had to decide to do away with it all.
When someone approaches with a phone my head starts hurting I feel cornered and just want to get away the pain in my head gets worse and if I don’t get away I pass out.
As said I did manage an e consult on Wednesday asked totally inappropriate questions and heard nothing at all from GP Surgery that is literally 200 yards further along the road. Now shut for Easter so with local hospital on high alert saying only the dying are being seen too we have reached the end of the road.
Oh dear you are in a bad way. I see you can still use the internet so maybe you can book appointments on-line with the NHS app or maybe your surgery has its own website. Ours has. In theory you can book appointments on-line. I can dictate what I want to write and lo and behold it will appear on screen. You can probably get something which can read the screen out to you.
When I had my first episode of Afib/Flutter and I did not know why my heart was going crazy and feeling slightly lightheaded, I decided to phone a taxi because at that time it took hours and hours for an ambulance to show up. I remember faking a smile on my face and forcing myself to remain calm in the taxi ride so as not to upset the driver. Though once I got to emerg they hooked me up to an ecg right away and the emerg doctor was very thorough and helpful.
Sadly I think its all part of the grand plan to overtly privatize. My GP told me GP practises will be private in 5-10yrs time. I will loose some wonderful colleagues along the way but I'll be much better off financially. This after he'd stopped a critical to life medication, saying he isn't trained in it so has the right to refuse to prescribe (true!) Then told me to go and buy and told me he knew I'd be exceedingly ill without it. All I can say is he had better improve his bedside manner because I certainly won't be paying for his non service and appalling uncaring attitude!!
Everyone seems to be badly off and it appears that in a way I am lucky that it was not worse.
I remember in the old days about 50 -60 years ago the GPs used to come to the house and they knew who you were as well as your and your families medical history. It was a 24 hour service. No taking ill children to the surgery. They came to us.
Exactly! Now the family GP has fallen into extinction. I remember this too. I remember the GP visiting when I was ill with measles laid up in my bed. Such a thing would never happen now....
That's terrible! The entire medical system all over is taking a nose dive, here in the U.S. as well. If you would like a partial simple explanation on why most of this is taking place you could go to Youtube and enter Allie Beth Stuckey - How Doctors Are Paid to Keep Us Sick | Guest: Dr. Casey Means | Ep 971
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The entire medical system all over is taking a nose dive, here in the U.S. as well. If you would like a partial simple explanation on why most of this is taking place you could go to Youtube and enter Allie Beth Stuckey - How Doctors Are Paid to Keep Us Sick | Guest: Dr. Casey Means | Ep 971
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