What to do next

[bigstu]

Been a while since i last posted on here hope you are all pain free ,wish i could say the same.Up to quite recently ive been well til the last week or so my hands/fingers have become so painful and swollen.I woke in the night in agony with two particular fingers and im now cant even move them due to them being swollen so much,so i phoned the Ra helpline at our local hospital and left a message.Received a call back to be advised to see my gp,but unable to get appointment for 4 weeks and no emergency places today.Rang back to hospital and said they will hopefully get back to me in 2 days.so im left with no choice than to go to A&E but i am unable to drive so do i call an ambulance and get slated cos im wasting an ambulance that could go to an emergency.What a state the  NHS are  in 

[Matilda7]

Try telling the GP that you are considering calling an ambulance and see if they will find there's been a cancellation  and they can see you after all...

[Matilda7]

Have you tried ringing the NRAS  helpline: 0800 298 7650? They will be able to give you good advice. Hope you're feeling better soon!

[smithfield]

Try the NHS helpline 111 they were extremely helpful for me at the weekend. They arranged for an out of hours doctor who called me and prescribed some pain relief.

Or the helpline has clinicians on site they can call on.

Hope you get some relief 

[Crusee]

Sorry to hear you are in such pain I have been in the same situation some time ago.

In my area if you need to see a doctor  out of hours then there is a different number to ring and they will take your details and a doctor will ring you back very soon.

On the two occasions I have had to use this service a doctor has come out to my home to visit me,once at 1.30 am.Do you have a similar set up in your area?

If they don't come out to visit you they may tell you to see your own GP,this may be a trigger to get you an emergency appointment a bit  quicker if you tell them that the out of hours team had advised this.I am pretty sure that in my area these calls to the out of hours surgery are recorded inthe patients notes so the surgery should be aware of it.

Hope you get to see someone soon.

Crusee

[earthwitch]

I would call NHS 111 - if you do need to go to emergency then they will arrange that.