good afternoon,
Is it possible to change rheumatologist, last year I saw a bloke who was really good and now been given a new one, woman, who I don’t like and i find her really annoying.
Saw her on 27th Nov , where she promised to write me a letter supporting my PIP claim, absolutely nothing, emailed the secretary 4 TIMES and still nothing .
I would prefer the bloke 🤷♀️ he seems really helpful
Any help on how to change
I once asked not to see a certain nurse who had made me cry. Worth just asking I guess.
Aww, sorry about that , not nice of her 😓
if you don’t change hospital, if like my team, you see unless advised one of the rheumatologist specialists but if they feel I need to see the main chap they says on the letter. The only other route is PALS at the hospital to start the ball rolling.
You can ask 😊 I asked not to be seen by one consultant again because he didn’t listen and his letter had inaccuracies in it. There’s no harm in asking though they may want to know why. 🤞🏻
I did this a few years ago. I just emailed the rheumatology secretaries and asked if I could be moved to Dr xxxx’s list of patients. They replied very quickly to say ‘no problem’ and I received an appointment shortly afterwards.
I would try asking, you’ve got nothing to lose. The worst that can happen is for them to say ‘sorry it’s not possible’.
I asked to change Conslutans three years ago....I stopped seeing the one i had lost respect for.Three years on have not seen any Rheumatologist....
When i ring....I am told i had to go back on to waiting list 3 YEARS !!!!!!!!!!....
OMG 😳😳
I really sympathise with your current situation. I live in the North East of England, at the moment we only have 1 rheumatologist covering all areas, personally I have not seen him in over a year. If you have a choice to change then go for it. The first rheumatologist I ever saw was not a very sympathetic man, even though the majority of his patients were sitting before him in a lot of pain. So yeh if you are not happy and can change do so. Good luck
Hi ,not sure which part of North East England you are situated in. I live in a village outside Sunderland and am a rheumatology patient at Freeman hospital Newcastle which has at least 10 rheumatologists, Sunderland Royal Hospital , where I was previously a patient has 5 rheumatologists, South Tees Hospital has 8 rheumatologists. Most of the other hospitals in the area also have rheumatology departments but I don’t how many doctors in dept. The only area I can think of which might only have one is Cumbria, which must be difficult for patients.
I think we have about 4 , maybe 5 in my area
Hi Rupert
I live just outside Durham. Mr Bridges is the only rheumatologist covering Durham and Bishop Auckland, like I said in my post it is now over a year since I last saw him. He give me this information himself he said he was covering 5 clinics, not sure which clinics these are. Hence why I was a bit reluctant to change biologics on my last visit, I would be mortified if they didn't work, so opted to stay on Benepali even though I feel it is not working as well as it used to. I'm having a heart monitor fitted tomorrow at Sunderland, I might just make a few inquiries, knowing my luck I will be out of the loop and forgotten about
Maybe the services have improved at Darlington Memorial since you were last there but at university hospital of North Durham, which used to be called Dryburn, I think they have 5 rheumatologists, and that would probably be easier for you to get to than having to come up to Sunderland for clinics. Not being reviewed by your rheumatologist for over 12 months doesn’t sound acceptable really especially as you don’t feel your symptoms are well controlled at present.
Maybe your GP could look into your options.
ps Darlington was also on the list
this is interesting I had a great team when I lived in York just moved 300 miles away under new hospital new dr and without even reading my notes as they hadn’t arrived he stopped all my medication my fault I guess I said I didn’t think that they were working anymore so thinking he would offer me something else he stopped my sulfz. I’m in total agony got to wait until march to see him again
I also learnt the hard way , I has enbrel which worked brilliantly and mentioned that I would like a steroid injection , so they presumed that enbrel wasn’t working and just stopped it 🤷♀️ so now I keep my gob shut 😂😂or think before I speak
Oh no guess I will just wait and see his next move I just got one from my drs they don’t normally work for long I’m hoping this one lasts longer than my last one
I have also learned the hard way. I said I would rather have joint pain than abdominal pain, which was being caused by the methotrexate. I was just trying to explain to her how bad the pain was.
She said fine, no drugs, see you in a year.
I did the same I feel as though Ive been put on some kind of hit list the change in the nurses was obvious. I wasn't given a follow up appointment even though I was in pain and because I have stomach problems am very limited to pain relief. I now just keep my mouth shut i live in terror of my injections being stopped
I once asked to change rheumatologists and it was straightforward.
I didn't think my consultant was competent so I contacted PALS at the hospital requesting a change and they put me in touch with the rheumatology service manager who arranged it.
I contacted PALS yesterday and they replied by 9 this morning and I now have 2 letters in “My Care portal “ app , one for my supporting PIP letter and my X-ray results 🤔🤔🤔 massive well done to PALS
I wish I could get results on our hospital app!
It’s really good, I get all my letters and appointments on there , it’s somewhere to store everything and look back
Ours shows appointment letters but not much else. If my GP orders blood tests they show up on the app, but any tests ordered by the hospital - even basic blood tests - don't.
I think there's a step the requesting doctor has to go through to make them appear on the app and ours just don't bother. My rheumatology department seems to really hate patients having information generally.
As everyone has said, yes, you can change.
Choice is one of the core components of the NHS personalised care model. Choice inducing legal rights to choice, shared decision making, personalised care and support, social prescribing, supported self-management and personal health budgets.
We need to hold the NHS and all that work it in to account so don't let them say you don't have choice!
I spoke to my rhemy nurse, who's lovely. She suggested another consultant and told me to ask my GP to email the rheumatology consultants secretary (just a couple of lines) to ask to change from x to x. I received a letter with the new consultant and new date which was a little later.For me I had put it off for many reasons. Maybe I was being too picky. The NHS is stretched and I'm lucky to have a consultant. I could be mistaken and the consultant was having a hard time.
As soon as I arranged to change. I felt so much better! I had backed myself and I'm now very hopeful that I will be listened to and treated better.
Obviously by others comments you can change. My experience is very different as I have no idea which consultant I’m under & see a different one every time. Also don’t know any of the nurses. It used to be very different when I saw the same ones & had good relationships with both nurses. Now it’s who ever is available 🤷🏻♀️
I havnt seen my rheumo doctor in a long while apart from a phone consultation which was a total waste of time as I could not understand a word of what she said therefore I'm left in limbo ,if I could change i would but jeez oh they are not seeing anyone it's a joke tbh .
Yes, I didn’t see a Rhuemy nurse for 6 years and actually had a face to face middle of last year , was well shocked and that was a utter waste of time because the computer was broke 🤷♀️ so she nothing about me
Waste of both of our time
Either call the Rheumy department secretary and asked to speak to the appointments clerk, or speak to your GP, & ask to be referred to a different rheumy consultant.
But do understand you might have a long wait as all consultant rheumatologists these days have waiting lists a mile long.
Good Luck!
I had no idea treatment was so bad .. . I thought that once one gets diagnosed they give us the proper treatment … I was so naive !
I’ve seen a rheumatologist only once in September 2022 via NHS - i didn’t like him! I had my diagnosis (seronegative RA) in Mexico in April 2022- since my blood work doesn’t show any thing he said I don’t have RA, dismissed all of my symptoms and told me to take a paracetamol if in pain ☹️
It turns out besides RA I have Sjögren’s syndrome ( I had a biopsy in Mexico during Xmas break) but my GP won’t refer me to a different rheumatologist.
Is there a general problem with Rheumatology departments ????? I know from reading posts on this forum that some areas are served well . But in other places there are many many unhappy R A sufferers .
I am also under cardiology and follow the posts on that and the AF site. There are far fewer sad , afraid posts here.
Private rheumatologist 
Appointment with rheumatologist
Review with rheumatologist 
Rheumatologist in Edinburgh or Glasgow that listens?
