Hi All and wishing you a happy Friday.
At the risk of sounding selfish, I thought I'd say something about our new way of doing all things medical at the moment.
It's been prompted by several 'brushes' with my GP surgery recently and on one occasion, an unexpected visit to A&E.
We are being persuaded that using an algorithm in the form of the NHS e-consult, is the way to go in our brave new world of conducting a lot more of our lives via the internet. This has been, to a large extent, pressed upon us by the covid pandemic but I realise it's also going to be a much bigger factor in our lives when that's finally over too.
In some ways I've really liked using the NHS e-consult app. It means that for non-urgent care i don't have to take pot luck in getting through by phone to my surgery, or be triaged, just simply state the facts and submit it with a promise of contact from the surgery within a few working days. (And in practice, a doctor has phoned me back within the day, every single time, to discuss.)
But when it comes to phone appointments with a GP, they are necessarily very limited in what they can provide in the way of diagnoses. I was finally seen in person yesterday after 3 months of only phone contact, concerning a 'rotator cuff injury' to my shoulder which on examination has turned out to be a shoulder impingement which was well on its way to becoming a frozen shoulder.
Then I also had the reverse situation, when I asked a simple question in an e-consult, concerning an existing condition which sent me off to A&E as an emergency, when it wasn't. So there's lots of work to be done I think, around the possibility of either missing vital information, or of wasting A&E time and resources unnecessarily.
So I wondered what all of you think? Have you tried e-consult? And if you did, what was the outcome of that. Did it help? Or did it hinder.
This question is clearly aimed squarely at health care in UK. If you are elsewhere, has health care where you are been affected by the pandemic, or not?
I'm turning out to be having a week of needles. I happily had a steroid injection into my shoulder yesterday and during the week I was also so pleased to receive an invitation by phone, for my first covid19 injection tomorrow morning. It's for 9.30 which is challenging for me as I'm one of those people who need a good couple of hours or more to get ready for anything! So I shall be up nice and early, to make sure I'm there well on time!
I hope the week's gone well for you all and that you'll find something to make you smile this coming weekend.
Take care everybody!