Grampian Health Board has now decreed that B12 injections will now be given at the Vaccination centre in Inverurie on a Tuesday. This is 15 miles away with no direct bus. I arrived on Tuesday to be told that 1. I should have had a repeat prescription for the vials and collected them from the pharmacy to bring with me and 2. Since I was 5 days early I couldn’t be given the injection anyway. They were nice nurses, I had to try to hang on to my anger/distress because, you know, B12 deficient brain! I asked who made that decision, they said the boss. I asked if they were a clinician. They said yes and there was no point in talking to them because the day before they had to turn away a lady who was one day early. They have rules 5th are not allowed to break. I pointed out I was going to be away at a course next week and could not come back. In fact without B12 I would not be able to manage the 250 mile drive to get to he course . Still no go. I gave up, came home and did my own injection. What about all those who cannot do that.? I am trying to work out who to complain to about this. Grampian Health Board I suppose but thinking about elevating the conversation to our MSP. Any thoughts?
No more B12 injections at local surge... - Pernicious Anaemi...
No more B12 injections at local surgeries
Yes . Nurses are not allowed to give b12 a day early .Unless granted to by a G.p.
I've had this on several occasions.
Also some ask to take the b12 ampoule after collection.
I've never done this .
It now goes to the surgery as theve found to be a better system!!
A block oder
I collect the prescription b12 ampoules to be self injected
That sounds such an awful system .
It should be available locally
Driving a distance like that when due an injection unwise !
Plain dangerous .
Do write .
A definite case for a prescription to self inject .
Crazy!!!
It honestly sounds like an “ Alice in Wonderland “ situation ! It’s hard to believe that this happens in the U.K. !What has happened to our country ?
So very weird . To turn someone away who was one day too early as well . Something terribly wrong .
Glad that you could self -inject . But what if you couldn’t have ? It sounds like a situation in a Communist country . ……..
I am honestly shocked on your behalf.
Given that B12 absorption problems are skewed towards elderly people and a higher proportion of those are also likely to have mobility conditions this does seem rather discriminatory as an approach. How do vaccinations get given to elderly patients with mobility issues who can't get to the centre?
Definitely one for your SMP as well as a complaint through your NHS complaint route - there should be a patient liaison group at your local surgery but its a long time since I looked at how to raise a complaint in the NHS - the Citizen's Advice Bureau website might be a good place to start on how to complain
I live in Grampian. The idea for Vaccination centres started with Covid, then it was extended to ALL blood tests, and now it's B12 too !
My husband's work is a two minute walk from our local health centre.
This is a huge two storey building with every facility, but which nowadays is so quiet it's like the Marie Celeste.
He was ordered to have his regular blood test for Ferritin at the Inverurie Centre.
This necessitated him taking the whole morning off work instead of 15 minutes, and thats owning a car - ridiculous !!
I also have to travel to a treatment room with no direct bus route, but 3 or 4 miles, not 15, that's not ok. If you have an area healthwatch or similar you could raise it with them. There must be other people struggling to access their treatment too.
I keep seeing more and more people having their injections withdrawn entirely as well, and then arbitrary decisions like this to no do at surgeries. It really really needs PAS and other B12 campaigning groups to come together and have a really concerted & vocal 'resistance and refusal' campaign on behalf of us all. ??
Absolutely right. Individually we have no voice. Where are the organizations, the societies, the groups? What are they doing for us? It's all very well that we come on here and moan to each other about our problems. A voice is what is needed. Television shows many 'pressure groups' getting heard, but when did you hear about us?
I'm not suggesting we should be like suffragettes or 'stop oil', but where are the MPs with PA? Or even doctors? Is there no-one to speak for us?
There's no point suggesting that sufferers should make more noise. I can't even focus enough to make this comment without numerous corrections. Pernicious Anaemia used to get called 'The Forgotten Disease'. It's more like that in the eyes of the medical profession we don't exist.
I wouldn't wish this disorder on anyone, but....
Exactly. I already thought this in relation to the well-known problems with getting treated at all, but it seems it is getting much more serious now as I keep reading (on other groups/forums as well) of many people having their treatment changed to tablets or withdrawn completely, often after a "review" by a doctor they have not met.
I currently have 8-weekly jab at surgery & nurse and my 'usual' GP know I SI between. I "do not have PA", in so far as I did not have the IF positive. Not had a lot of discussion about it for quite a long time. Saw on my record a note of a 'review' to be done in November. So in the summer I'll start having to get a load of info together, in preparation.....
What about the Pernicious Anaemia Society - (are you a member) ?
I would have thought that they would want to know about this new development. This is certainly not an experiment that anyone here would welcome if rolled out in their own area. Perhaps PAS would like to take this up and point out the evident flaws to the appropriate authorities on our behalf, before there is any thought of adopting this elsewhere or making this a permanent programme.
[ Wonder how success is measured in such a trial ? Is it even considered a trial ? ]
Sounds more like "Catch 22", wedgewood :
Rewarding lateness: If Tuesday is the only available day for injections, you will always be either early/late for it at first. So everyone has to have a late one initially, because if you want an early one, you'll be turned away.
Rewarding the more healthy: If you are able to get 15 miles in an area with little or no transport, when your injection is already overdue, hats off to you. For those who aren't able to drive now, can't get someone to give them a lift there and back, can't afford a cab, what options are left open ? "Get on your bike" ?
Aiming for standardisation: Are all of the people in this region on a 12-week regime ? Any on an 8-week ? Other frequencies ? What happens to those on "EOD until no further improvements can be had" (every other day not being a Tuesday) ?
I shouldn't laugh.
Trivialising a serious condition does not make it less serious a condition. It just allows Draconian measures like this to appear outwardly as sensible management of financial resources.
Complain, complain, complain.
This change seems intended to discourage you from compliance with your treatment. Switch treatment from a local site, save a few pence locally, and add the travelling costs and delays on to your expenditure. Nothing changes!
I have recently heard of a local GP practice that has instituted a rule that anyone needing 24 hour blood pressure monitoring has to bring two fresh AA batteries for the machine. My local hospital is clearly different, in that when my sister had her 24 monitoring, the clinic had a box outside containing used AA and AAA batteries, with a note to 'help yourself' as they change them before the recorder goes out with the patient. The ones I picked up, I checked with a voltmeter. They'll be fine for my little portable radio. [Yes, I'm that old.]
I won't drone on about Warfarin clinics, other than to say that changes were made to reduce the cost of ambulance transport. Move them out of the hospital, then we don't have to pick up the patients or the bills. It probably helped some patients but some elements of the service were degraded. Enough said.
thank you so much everyone I will use some of your words to help me write the initial complaint and consult PAS where I
Am a member
This is so short sighted. Money saving in one area merely to increase costs elsewhere. I suppose this is the result of fragmentation of the NHS.
There really needs to be a national campaign to highlight how b12 deficiency is misunderstood and undertreated. Adverts and posters explaining the known links between deficiency, malabsorption and dementia would be a good start. That is something that affects almost every family in one way or another.
Individuals politely trying to challenge doctors and plead for minimal levels of treatment is not going to change anything.
In 1997 the incoming Labour Government abolished GP Fundholding and replaced it with Primary Care Trusts that provided the best treatment systems in all areas.
July 2010 a new health white paper describing significant changes to the NHS under the Con and Li Dem. coalition government was launched. PCTs were to be abolished with new GP-led clinical commissioning groups, taking on the responsibilities. It is these Clinical Commissioning Groups that are giving us the multiple problems as they concentrate on lowest cost instead of the highest patient treatment levels.
A much clearer explanation than fragmentation! I have been aware of all these changes but it would be interesting to know in detail just how it works (or doesn’t) in practice. I can’t see much logic in the way the nhs is currently run.
The Governments objective is to encourage us to use private health companies - the tories have always hated the NHS. Dentistry, opticians, physiotherapy, hearing tests & many medicines are no longer available from the NHS.
Hi Frogit ,This affects me too. To say I'm incandescent with rage is an understatement !!!
See my reply to Gambit re my husbands experience.
I complained to Grampian Health Board about B12 injections being stopped during covid - complete waste of time !
I was passed from pillar to post and eventually I received the most RUDE letter from the chief executive, basically saying my complaint was closed.
I have been meaning to try to complain about this man to the Ombudsman, but with elderly parent issues to cope with, I haven't had the time or energy.
I think the person to complain to would be Conservative MP, Alex Burnett.
Thatever your political persuasion, this man really cares about people !
If you read the local press, he is always fighting on behalf of local constituents, especially on health matters.
I once had an issue I raised on, is it Patient Opinion? ( the TripAdvisor for health complaints ) and he was the only person outwith health staff to reply almost immediately, and to take it up on my behalf.
You probably know he is a Burnett of Leys, ( who used to own Crathes Castle ) and he is a true gentleman in every sense.
He is the one I'll be writing to !
I'm also wondering if this is the time to confess to my GP that I self inject ?
In exchange for me not taking up a nurses time, I would like them to provide sufficient B12 for my weekly injection, rather than me having to order from Germany - ha ha !
Best wishes x
Thank you I will also write to him. Would it not just be wonderful if they gave us the prescription and let us get on with it?
The banality of evil. The point being that large organisations easily forget what their function is (to care for patients) and narcissistically come to believe that their petty rules and the hierarchy of rule makers are what matters. The nett result is that wrong doing and evil become justified and normalised such as in this case health care is denied for entirely arbitrary reasons and this is maintained by persecuting anyone who prioritises health care over the rules.
I don’t know how we can stop this: it occurs in much of the treatment of both hypothyroidism and b12 deficiency and I suspect occurs widely throughout the NHS.
Why bother with even trying to go there when you can give your own injections?
I know what you mean. Its just that I have always had a first class relationship with my GP thats helped me recover quicker and eased his task. Now there is no trust either way - we have no relationship
That is sad but you need to do what you need to do to stay healthy. I get all my injections from my husband. It takes a lot less time than going to my doctor and I can have them as often as I want.
I think you should complain as loudly as possible, just because you might be inconvenienced by having to self inject, or get the car out to travel 15 miles, think of those who can’t…those stupid administrators need to know their choices are harming people, and no doubt other GP offers have gone with them!
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