I don't want to ask anything but so pleased to have a positive call I wanted to share. Had been instructed to come off pred by rheumatologist. Appts have been cancelled and I knew the PMR hadn't gone but had to taper down . I was down to 1.5 , I had been tapering by 0.5 instead of 1mg which he wanted. Anyway, ended up with increasing pain and feeling very down and frustrated. Decided to ask Gp surgery for appt. Today I had a call from an advanced practitioner and she was very helpful and has given me a plan for next 2 months, increasing pred again today. She has been more helpful than the doctors I've seen. She has asked the rheumatology for a review but I think I would rather stay with her. I knew pred needed increasing but felt I couldn't do it off my own back when rheumatologist had told me to come off. Sorry for the ramble, just wanted to share
Good appt. For a change: I don't want to ask... - PMRGCAuk
Good appt. For a change
It's always a relief to find someone who seems to listen and understand. Hope the increase does the trick
Thankyou herdysheep
Obviously you are not over PMR. Yes we want to be off prednisone but we still need to function in life. Why not stay on the low dose? Sounds like you have a good GP. I recently let my rheumatologist go because my PA is more in touch with my needs. Sounds like you are in good hands.
Thankyou singaloud, yes feel like staying with gp surgery now rather than rheumy. We've had a lot of changes at our surgery recently so didn't expect much help but was pleasantly surprised.
Good to hear….hope you can work together for a better outcome.
Thankyou DL.
I totally agree. We understand what needs to be done when our symptoms come back. It took me ages for the rheumatologist to decide to up my Prednisolone when I had a mild relapse. I would have done it straight away and would have recovered much quicker. It's not rocket science after all.
Nurse practitioners are often more use - they tend to listen better for one thing and are also practically orientated so aware of your problems.
What is an advanced practitioner? We have got some strange titles at my surgery too, they are not nurses or doctors but seem quite good in general. One is a Healthcare Practitioner who is good but no bedside manner. The GP surgeries could probably dispense with the GPs and replace them with Practitioners!
ANPs, advanced nurse practitioners, are nurses who have done an MSc qualification covering a lot of the stuff doctors do, including prescribing. My daughter is an ACP, advanced care practitioner, a paramedic or other HCP with the same sort of add-on qualifications to work in the ED and she can do pretty much everything just qualified junior doctors can do but with far more background after 10 years on ambos! To some extent they could be dismissed as cheap doctors but they have just as many skills for their specific roles. There are also ACCPs - advanced critical care paramedics, who work on the rapid response units including helicopters with a lot of pre-hospital care knowledge.
My cleaning lady is helping in a local doctors’ surgery as some sort of practitioner, she does blood tests and diabetes interviews. As far as I can tell her training is pretty minimal, but she is very enthusiastic. I also talked to a “doctor’s assistant” on the phone the other day. She did not know much. Also the receptionist is now no more and is called a “medical administrative assistant” I believe.
She working as an HCA? Health care assistant? Very specific duties so the training is quite restricted - with the get out clasue "working within own competencies" ...
mysurgerywebsite.co.uk/webs...
I haven’t a clue what she is called. She came to me as my cleaning lady 1 November 2022 (my Hungarian has gone back to Hungary!) she then decided she wanted to be a phlebotomist too and started training and this week she informed me she has started taking blood for blood tests from patients and was doing stuff with diabetic patients.
I applied for a phlebotomy job - I'd done it years before while working on the labs. Wasn't even shortlisted as they couldn't understand why someone with a degree would want to do it! I enjoyed it - meeting patients. And the challenge of getting the blood out of stones ...
A phlebotomist at the hospital refused to get blood out of me a second time as my body does not like giving blood. I suppose I can always use my cleaning lady! I think she likes meeting the people too. Not that she could have met that many yet as she only started for real this week.
Just ensure, piglette, that she doesn't start cleaning the surgery and sets about you with a needle😅
I remember the same- I wanted a part time bookkeeper job to get me away from the humdrum but all I did was raise suspicions because with an economics degree I must have been a spy!
Wasn't as bad in some ways though as when there was a vascular ultrasound post going in Medical Physics, the department my husband ran. I had worked in vascular medicine previously though not doing u/s and it was something I really fancied doing. Himself said "no point even applying, you are too old - they won't get their investment training you back" (it takes 6 months before you are much use). I was only mid-40s at the time I think and I had worked in the same department as him before. I had the last laugh though: the young woman who applied and got the post admitted she was pregnant within a few weeks of starting - with twins! She had been pregnant at the interview - already had all her clearances and so on so had started work immediately. She went off on maty leave before being fully trained so had to start from scratch when she came back. She also developed the Monday morning sickness habit. He used to come home moaning - didn't get any sympathy from me! Lot to be said for taking on women of a certain age - we don't have babies 
Well, mid forties can still get pregnant (smile). I had my twins when I was 45, but that's another story.
Slightly off track: I had a lot of trouble getting my lowly job at the library as they couldn't understand why someone with a library degree would be interested in shelving books. I had to tell them to ignore the library qualification, and then I was in. Loved it. All the books that passed through my hands - many of them coming home with me for a couple of weeks - and within a year I had second job as a library assistant, so much more fun than actual "librarian" position, as I worked with the public (children and their parents) and didn't have any administrative duties. I needed that shelving job in order to get back into the workforce after so many years home with kids and no self confidence remaining. Shelved books for 7 years, until able to add a second part time library assistant job to the other one.
Owing to doctor shortage some of my friends count themselves lucky to be under the care of a nurse practitioner. One of them was having a lot of trouble with her throat and wanted to see an ENT specialist but NP put off referring her while trying various treatments, assuming she had made a correct diagnosis. Turned out my friend had cancer. She's doing okay now, because once she saw the specialist the care was excellent, but....
And then there's the Physician's Associate, at my medical centre. It's all rather confusing!
I think having interesting titles must make them feel more important or perhaps they are giving people upmarket titles instead of giving them a pay rise!
More likely the second!
thank you for sharing your positive experience which is as you say a rare thing 👏
it’s such a shame that our needs and pains aren’t properly taken account of in the drive to reduce drugs. When you’re feeling terribly well and the support is pulled it just feels plain wrong/unfair. I’m so glad somebody appeared to speak up for you and put this right. I do hope you’re enjoying better days now: we have enough to bear without being knocked off our centres. Well done you!
Thankyou Lollybygolly.
Love your name by the way. 😁
Me too, but not sure I'd want to say it after a glass (or two) of red😂
So pleased to hear you've been listened to Exhiker. Excellent news for you.
Thankyou tempusfugi.
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