I am absolutely gutted that having waited two months for a telephone appointment with a Cardiologist at Barts today, that my phone died when he called me. I immediately phoned back on my wife's phone and spoke to the clinic secretary asking if he could call back on her phone but unfortunately having waited until 6pm, no further call was forthcoming! I am really worried that I will now be put to the back of the queue and have to wait many more months before I get another appointment. So my question is, if I pay to see the same consultant privately, which I can see he has appointments next week in Harley Street, does that mean that any prescription or further tests he recommends will all have to be done privately, or will it be possible to get these on the NHS?
My history is that I am 66 and have been on high blood pressure medication for 20 years having had a heart attack in my 30s. All was fine until August when I started to feel breathless and noticed that my legs and ankles were very swollen. My GP did further blood tests and arranged for an ECG which showed AF. He prescribed furosemide 20mg which I have been taking for 2 months. The swelling is partially better but legs still swell somewhat during the day and ease at night.
My GP referred me to Barts and I had a telephone call arranged with an AF consultant today which I was hoping would answer the questions I have as to whether my medication needs to be changed and if any other procedures need to be done. Interestingly I have not been offered an appointment for an Electrocardiogram.
My medication is as follows:
Amlodipine 10mg
Asprin 75 mg
Atorvastatin 40 mg
Bisoprolol 10 mg
Doxazosin 4 mg
Furosemide 20mg
Lisinopril 20 mg
My blood pressure currently is 129/84 and the AF shows up whenever I take blood pressure readings.
Any advice gratefully received. Thanks
Written by
jumm
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Hi , we paid privately for my husband to see a consultant and it was the best thing we could have done. It was for different reasons than you but the treatment my husband needed which turned out to be angiogram, angioplasty and stents was done on the NHS. We only had to wait about 10 days to see the consultant but we then had to wait 3 months for treatment on the NHS. It was worth it.
I have had a mobile drop out because it did an auto update. As a result I turned off automatic updates. I check for updates every day or so. The sheer number of them is staggering (Android phone). Yesterday morning there were 11 updates and this morning 6. Three of today's had only been updated two days ago. Having worked in IT for decades it seems to me like a load of cowboys work on the apps rather than professionals.
I had an video appointment last year. It was very poor quality and it dropped out. Hearing nothing I rang back but got nowhere as the consultant was in a different hospital to their main department. However he rang me two days later and seemed to have more time. Give it a few days and see what happens. Make sure your phone remains charged if appropriate.
Thank you everyone for getting back to me. I have a blackberry and for the first time ever, although I could see the call coming in, it would not let me answer it - as if it was a blocked number which of course it wasn't! Clearly some glitch in the technology which was so frustrating to happen when the call was so important. Anyway a quick update today. I managed to get through to the clinic secretary at Barts and one of the Consultant's registrars phoned me back earlier today and apologised for not calling back last night.
They are arranging for me to have an echo and hopefully my situation will be managed by medication, although the doctor did mention that she was surprised my BP was not lower considering the high dosage of the medication I am currently taking!
Hi 👋 f I was you I would phone up the hospital is it Bart’s Ask for the Secetary of the doctor who is on your letter and explain what happened explain that you need some help with your condition and she will make animal her appointment hopefully very soon
I have done this with the royal Brompton and the Secetary has been more than sympathetic and very helpful and sorted it for me
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