Just feeling annoyed. Having been a cancer patient for 10 years now and taking a trial drug Olaparib I occasionally have the need for a prescription of antisickness. I haven't had this from my GP for a year but now they won't prescribe it on repeat because I haven't had it for a year...... I was told to go to the hospital that is treating me which is 45 minutes away OR I can wait two days and put up with the bouts of nausea and the GP will think about it. Thanks GP for your support!! Amazing!!
GPS Don't Really Want to Help: Just feeling... - My Ovacome
GPS Don't Really Want to Help
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Katmal-UK
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55 Replies
•
Gosh sounds like my gp!!
They can do an emergency 7 day supply ??
When my prescription is not done for bp tablets I usually get that or when I forget to order.
Xx
Hi Zena. They wont supply ANY. I have to ring back Friday to give them time to think about it. The hospital hopefully will fax them over a prescription to give me so I can get some. They are just trying to sort it out for me. Must be a cost thing with the GP, they have NEVER, in the last 10 years been helpful if I am totally honest. I once needed an emergency supply of a stronger antisickness whilst on Chemo and the GP wouldn't prescribe without a signed letter from my Consultant. He got that and hubby was told to go pick it up. Hubby went straight down to surgery (5 minutes drive away) to find the surgery just being locked up. Good job he was quick!. Some care huh?
That is disgraceful. Were you talking to gp or his Secretary. I suppose if you can ring the hospital and get them to fax through prescription to your gp asap. Surely they will do that. Really this is not good enough gp should take better interest. Your gp has a duty of care and a simple phone call to your team would save him the trouble of thinking about it
Katmal-UK• in reply to
Hi I put in a request for a repeat prescription on Monday but this wasn't prescribed so I called today and spoke with the receptionist who said to go to the hospital if I wanted some. I have to ring the hospital back at 2.00 and they will hopefully fax the GP. The receptionist said to ring her back Friday..... I said so you want me to go two days with bouts of nausea, I am a Cancer patient on oral chemo and this is all you can do to help?...... she said yes ring back Friday. I actually rang her back 10 minutes later and said were you the lady I was talking to about my prescription she said yes I am trying to send a note to the GP about your pills but the phone keeps ringing (LOL). I said how about if I come in to see the GP on an emergency appointment tomorrow morning (what a total waste of an appointment which could be used by someone who really needs it) and she said so I wont bother sending a note to the GP then? Beggers belief!
Keep on at them. My GP is the same. So unhelpful. As if we need the stress!!!!
They're supposed to be there to improve our well being, not make it worse.
Make an official complain.
Thinking of you. Xxxx
I've left a 'review' on their website. As you can imagine it wasn't complementary! I will complain though through the proper channels. I am fed up of the lack of support from my GP. I actually haven't been to the surgery in over a year so it's not like I am there all the time wasting their time with trivial things. I was going to swop practices to another local one but in fact the surgery was bought out by the one I was going to swop to so I thought (foolishly) hopefully there will be an improvement - how wrong was I lol. I don't ask a lot, I'm pretty much a get on with it type of person, maybe that's my problem, maybe I should start going down there for every little ache and pain.
That's awful. Can imagine how angry you must be . They are meant to be supporting us not working against us .
Yes if you have the energy make sure you put in a complaint.
Hope you get tablets soon and sickness improves . Love Kim x
I intend to complain Kim because I am actually fuming. Just a tiny bit of support is all I have asked for. Luckily the bouts of nausea aren't too often but still debilitating enough when they strike, especially when I am at work. xx
Hi katmal, Sorry to hear this , though this doesn't surprise me. I have also never had any help from my GP. Unfortunately i believe it because they require more training in how to support cancer patients and what prescriptions they can give. I tend to agree with suzanna, you'll need to make a complaint and mention the necessity to continue with training so that they are made aware about various trials and how can support people better with anti sickness drugs. I suspect they are worried about giving a prescription which might not agree with the drug your taking and they need to look into it. Hence, they would rather that you get it from the hospital directly. And im sure cost is also a factor as you've said.
Hope they manage to sort it out for you soon , you shouldn't have to go through this.
Thanks Lollie, the funny thing is I have been on the trial drug for nearly 4 years and had the antisickness prescribed previously but just not in the last year. How much effort would it take for them to check the records. They are quite happy to prescribe me 200 cocodamol but not this?
Really terrible of them to treat you this way. Glad to hear it got sorted in the end ... it was down to your own persistence 
I'm really lucky with my GP. I take a shopping list. I do try to put an order in here and there for things I don't take often just to keep it on repeat. I just don't collect the prescription so no cost to NHS
LA xx
In the states, anyone treating us can call in a prescription to the pharmacy we ask them to. Can the hospital call it in for you? Of can the hospital call your GP to explain how important it is to give you what you ask for--even if it means they check with your team first (OK I can see that may be too much to ask but...) the hospital cannot call your pharmacy to order the meds? I would be livid! I would complain from the hills, publications, etc. Also--if your GP has a facebook page, you can "like" it then complain on it. I've gotten some great reactions from the phone company, airlines, etc by doing that one! Good luck--may your nausea be taken care of quickly!
Hi. Yes, hopefully the hospital will fax them a prescription over this afternoon. It's just so annoying to have to fight for something given they know my history. Believe me I fully intend to complain. I have left a review on their website and e-mailed them to complain fully intend to take the complaint further.
You can telephone your team at the hospital and ask them to send details to your GP so they, in turn, can do a script for you. Did you speak to your GP or his gatekeeper aka receptionist? I used to be a medical receptionist (not GP receptionist 😬) and was always in trouble for doing what was best for the patient and not what we were told to do 🤔. Hope you get answers very soon and feel better ❤️Xx Jane
Honestly there is so much madness in healthcare. So annoying and un-needed stress. I get my repeats now straight at the chemist. I had to fight with the pharmacist for my laxido. He told the shop in a loud voice that i dont need them if i eat a high fibre diet. I feel you angst xx
My pharmacist is great and delivers all my meds and rang me up today to advise that the GP didn't prescribe the antisickness. I think I am more annoyed because I may end up using up an emergency appointment tomorrow (which someome else may need) to go get some pills I have had loads of times in the last 10 years, all it takes is a GP to look at my notes.....
Oh my golly, that's just blinking appalling! I hope to goodness the hospital get your script to them today. Sometimes our GPs seem to be very insensitive don't they!
Hang in there
🌻🌻
Hi Katmal, I had this kind of problem at my old surgery that was one of many reasons for joining a new surgery. I alway thought all surgery would be the same but they are not some are very poor.
I hope you sort this out quickly take care Cindyxx
I sympathise...my GP just wasn't accommodating, caring or helpful 😡
Disgraceful, how can a GP be so uncaring? Hope you get sorted soon 🌻
Katmal-UK• in reply to
Thanks Chris. Hospital Consultant is faxing them a letter today. At least he's prepared to help xx
You spend so much time supporting all of us on this site that I'm doubly irritated by the difficulty you are having getting these meds hen you need them at once.
The receptionist and gp are at fault here. The receptionist needs to be trained to be supportive and find solutions for vulnerable patients. She may not be able to process a repeat prescription but should be trying to help you find an immediate solution e.g. Promising to speak to the doctor and call you back.
Glad you are complaining for you and the others who don't have it in them to.
Hope it's resolved soon and that the sickness passes
Jane
Thanks Jane. I actually said 'so you are prepared for me to possibly go two days with nausea (bit of over exaggeration on my part because it doesn't happen all the time but she wasn't to know that) and she just totally ignored that comment. My Consultant is now resolving the issue (as long as my GP accepts his request to prescribe what I need) but that wont stop me complaining to the GP and whoever else will listen lol.
Like the spirit!
It's not just people like us this happens to. My elderly mother came up against the same attitude. My conversation with the doctor afterwards, led to them letting older patients who aren't mobile or on the internet to call for repeat prescriptions different but they only change when we let them know what they are doing x i
thanks for this post, Kathy. It sounds like you've touched a nerve for a lot of people. I have to say that I've been lucky on the whole with my local GP practice however I've sometimes found that I've had to "kow-tow" a little to get my own way, rather than take a more assertive approach. I know it's ridiculous when we're not well anyway but if that's what it takes...
And this isn't limited to GPs of course - it's throughout the NHS because we're dealing with people. You'd think that people would understand more, rather than slavishly following rules and guidance. You'd also think that people would be on "our side". When I finally managed to find some information from my GP which I then shared with a hospital contact, she was decidedly put out that I'd "gone behind her back". I ended up apologising to her!
I hope that your hospital has come up trumps anyway, and that you get what you need from the GP. Best of luck in your search for a new local practice. I think you need to get out of that one now!
Caroline x
Thanks Caroline. I was going to move to this practice but they bought out my existing one and I thought things would improve...... and these were recommended. However, given the responses I have received I think that finding an empathetic GP is hard to do. Maybe it's a sign of the tough times the NHS is going through. xx Kathy xx
It's such a shame that individuals employed by the NHS can be so unhelpful, more so that you are a cancer patient. I have to say that my GP appears to be outstanding when compared to reports from others. Not only did he appear to quickly realise what was probably wrong with me when I initially went to see him, I also received a phone call recently from the surgery to say he'd like to see me as it has been more than a year since I'd last attended the surgery.
My fingers are crossed that you are not feeling any nausea and / or that your GP has had a change of heart and given you the prescription.
Thanks, hopefully he will once my Consultant faxes him xx
Disgusting! Since it doesn't sound like you have a relationship to break, I would put it down as a written complaint. This is supposed to be a caring profession. Hope you don't have to wait too long xx
sounds dreadful to me too.....was going to be devi'ls advocate and say I wonder if they were wanting to make sure it wasn't something else causing it but then saw what you said about them always being bad and thought again(!)
You have been and continue to be such a support to everyone on this site and we all aspire to be like you. It seems as if you should get extra special care and somehow, I guessed you were.
Happened to get hold, almost by mistake, a copy of the NHS Charter the other day and saw you were supposed to have a RIGHT to see any doctor you want in a practice so why not pick your favourite to see urgently and seek an explanation. Don't think of others at his stage...if you get it sorted it will benefit everyone. Do keep us informed. I keep thinking of loads of ways we as a group of teal warriors could fight to improve things in the health service. Maybe this is the beginning...
But do put yourself first now......love Chris xxx
Thanks Chris, Im not seeking any special care just the same as any other cancer patient which is to be able to get the correct medication when I need it, Im not asking the GP to prescribe something they havent before just some simple antisickness for when I need it. My hospital is appalled and are faxing a letter today to my GP. Funnily my review of the surgery has been removed from the NHS review site after someone deemed it unsuitable, probably because I said my surgery didnt support cancer patients, its now being looked at by NHS moderators, seems someone took exception lol. xx
• in reply toKatmal-UK
What a performance. Ironically we cancer patients tend not to be big users of GP services so it does make it worse when you get poor service like you've had.
I have been very fortunate in my GP practice over the years. I know that they really feel under pressure. And they haven't always got things right. But they've been gracious when they didn't.
We know that government policies over quite a long time are hitting GP practices hard. They're not likely to bring out the best in people who find it hard to cope with stress. But it sounds as if your problems go back further than that. The receptionist sounds like a character in a soap. There's a real failure of management if she can behave like that.
I would ask to have an interview with the practice manager to discuss the issues and I would also investigate joining the patient panel which the practice is expected to have (can't remember what it's called).
Katmal-UK• in reply to
You're right about cancer patients not being big users of the GP service, I've never really been a big user anyway and tend to do so less now because I just don't feel supported. I hopefully have the issue resolved and will probably speak to the practice manager. xx
surprise surprise! But sad....obviously you were trying to improve things. Reckon the GP's would be benefit from a 'vomiting clinic'
To be (reluctantly) fair I have had oncologists disagree about anti sickness meds(!). Cxxx
LoL I wouldn't have minded if they hadn't prescribed them previously but they had. They know I am on a trial drug but obviously haven't looked at my request properly. xx
Just further to earlier....does the trial protocol specify an anti sickness as such or is it the one that works best for youl? X
It's the one that works best for me whilst I am taking the Olaparib. I've always had a supply to hand even when I was on Avastin trial and the Cederanib trial. When I am on standard chemo (cisplatin) I have to have cyclizine as domperidone doesn't touch the nausea.
think you should demand it then...although the one which worked brilliantly for me...and I do believe saved my life(!) as I react very badly to some anti sickness meds. ie sickness increases..... the Marsden would not prescribe. When I looked it up on Google and saw the risk of blood clots, I could see why. Luckily they found another which did work for me.
Hey ho , do hope by now you have it all sorted Love C X
It is quite hard getting past the receptionist sometimes.
I was treated like an absolute idiot when I went to pick up a prescription which was arranged by the hospital doctor and the GP that it could be picked up immediately as it was an emergency drug.
I just could not get through to her that this was arranged instead of having to wait the usual 2 days until the GP actually came out with it.
I told her that she will never treat me like that ever again .
She then said that I was being difficult!!!
I told her that all she had to do was listen to what I had to say instead of rudely interrupting me all the time.
Needless to say she never apologised even though she was in the wrong.
I can't believe how badly some people are being treated. I wonder why this is? I consider myself very lucky. I just ask the receptionist and pick up prescriptions either later in the afternoon or the next day. Maybe my GP feels a bit guilty because he didn't discover my tumour but I doubt it. He couldn't even remember he had prescribed me thyroxine when he phoned me to say he thought I might have a thyroid problem. Bless him.
I've even managed to get meds from the pharmacist without a prescription with the promise that they'd receive one by the afternoon.
Hope you're feeling a bit better now. What causes the nausea? Is it cancer related?
Any luck with tablets yet? Thinking about weekend coming up.
Still getting sorted, just had a call from a very apologetic Practice Manager!. Hopefully they will get sorted today Sometimes it appears that it helps to throw a strop lol although the frustrating thing is that you shouldn't have to! She is going to bring the example of the problem I had up at the next Drs meeting as to how they need to help patients with more complex needs. I said as long as this isn't all about me, they need to be looking at how they support all their patients with a long term medical condition. Apparently the receptionist needs more training.....
success of a kind then(!!) x
Yes, hopefully it might help others as well as myself, though I doubt they will be forgetting my name in a hurry lol
HI katmal,
I'm pleased you complained. You got results which, ultimately, helps all of us with complex needs.
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