Times article on the withholding of T3 despite ... - Thyroid UK
Times article on the withholding of T3 despite price cut:
Someone with a Twitter account could reply and direct patients to this forum, perhaps?
There are people saying they thought Levo was the only option, and they had never heard of T3.
And there was one person saying they couldn't get copies of their results.
One of the people replying to Healthwatch might be hyperthyroid (I'm guessing what she means by referring to being "uncontrolled") and needs help of some kind, I'm just not sure what.
I'd very much encourage participation and involvement - but I have drawn my personal line at facebook and Twitter, not being willing to sign up to either.
Done ✅
From The Times...
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Clinicians should work with their patients to decide on the best course of treatment, with the provision of the most clinically appropriate care for the individual always the primary consideration.
“Prescribing is informed by a variety of factors — such as national or local prescribing guidelines taking into account best practice — but ultimately, the decision is made by the prescriber themselves, using their own clinical judgment.”
There are several problems with this.
a) Doctors think any results within the reference range are "normal" and therefore are "fine", and so any patient complaining that they don't feel fine with a TSH result within the reference range is obviously in need of an anti-depressant, not better thyroid treatment.
b) Most thyroid patients are women. Women have been disbelieved about their symptoms (apart from depression and/or anxiety) for the last 2000 years. The Times, the Thyroid Trust, and Healthwatch aren't going to change that attitude in the next 100 years or more.
c) When men develop health conditions most commonly associated with women they usually get dismissed too.
d) Doctors are not honest with female patients. They would never admit that T3 or NDT existed for as long as they can get away with it.
e) From the quote above... "Clinicians should work with their patients..." In my experience, they don't do that very often. They just tell patients what they will be prescribed with little or no discussion. Any difference of opinion is likely to get the patient scowled at, shouted at, browbeaten, and dismissed.
f) As far as the original pricing problem is concerned, this arose because the NHS allowed it. If the NHS had been better negotiators this situation would not have arisen. I have always assumed that the NHS makes manufacturers put the work in to get contracts. The NHS doesn't appear to say to manufacturers "That's too expensive, I'm going to look for another supplier."
Totally agree humanbean It seems to me that the crux of the matter lies within these few words "using their own clinical judgment.”
People can debate, spew out fine words, legislate and turn somersaults but nothing will change so long as the prescribing of T3 lies within the power of endos whose understanding of the hormone is limited, and consequently their clinical judgement flawed or skewed.
We see evidence of this daily on this forum...
it should be prescribed reading for all medics!
In addition to that, until the ( veiled) clout and influence of government and economic pressure is removed from " clinical judgement" we are unlikely to see evaluation which is wholly clinically based.
We see evidence of that too....for example "it is too expensive"
And...
unless the decision makers pull their collective heads out of the sand and start to take cognisance of the science that clearly undermines their current "best practice" ...
Well....pigs might fly.
It beggars belief that what should be a straightforward treatment has become mired in so many man made complexities.
Ah! But it takes true grit to admit mistakes were made...
and strength for those upholding flawed practices to face falling from grace.
Meanwhile patients suffer if, " First do no harm" is relegated from " the primary consideration" as seems to be happening
And...I don't entirely blame the practitioners so much as those who decide what is " best practice".
A GP once said to me, "I'm not allowed to do that"...
Did that allow for " using your own clinical ( or professional ) judgement"?
That quote from the DHSC spokesperson in humanbean 's reply makes it all sound so helpful, and professionally autonomous doesn't it.... funny how that bears so little relation to what most people find in practice .
And as for this bit :
" Clinicians should .... with the provision of the most clinically appropriate care for the individual always the primary consideration...."
.... when was the last time we saw anybody come on here and say ;
"Hello , my GP has told me that he is aware that there is another treatment available called 'combination therapy' that could possibly be authorised on referral to NHS endo since i'm still not getting better on levo "
...... nope ?
.... anybody ?
... ever ?
I would guess that a majority of thyroid patients are unaware that there is any treatment other than Levo.
because (quite conveniently) all these 'autonomous clinicians'( GP's) are 'using their clinical judgement' to ... erm ... "forget" to mention it's existence ... and "forget" to mention it is already available (albeit in very limited circumstances) on the NHS .
Aesop collaborating with The Brothers Grimm maybe!!
Makes me smile that they’re using a picture of the Greek T3 not available in this country and which still costs a fraction of what the NHS pays over here!
Thanks for sharing the free article. It's really vindicating to read.
This post ended up in the wrong thread. Sorry folks. It should have ended up here :
healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...
I just read this BBC link about Operose Health :
bbc.co.uk/news/health-61759641
Friday 29 April - The GP director is 'always here'
Today a patient came in and complained that he was never able to see his named GP, who was also the GP director. As I began to explain that this doctor doesn't come into the practice, that I had never seen him and that other staff had told me that he comes in rarely, I was swept away from the front desk.
One of the other receptionists told me never to tell patients that this doctor isn't at the practice or available to patients. I went to tell the practice manager of my "mistake". I was told that this doctor was "always here" - available by phone, despite not being physically present in the practice.
Jacqui Wakefield working undercover in a GP surgery in London
I only found out by accident that my named GP, who was one of the partners in the practice, no longer worked there. I checked the medical register and discovered that she has given up her medical license too. I mentioned the doctor to one of the receptionists, and all I can say is that the receptionist looked a bit "shifty", as if there was some scandal behind her departure. My current named doctor is a doctor I have never seen or heard of before. He's not even listed on their website as a member of staff of any kind.
It's clear from the link I just gave that Operose lies through its teeth at every stage.
Can anyone show me a list of the Operose surgeries?
This post and the ones following ended up in the wrong thread because my brain isn't functioning well today. Sorry folks. It should have ended up here :
healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...
This popped upoperosehealth.co.uk/our-ser...
The link you gave is to opthalmology clinics rather than general practice.
This link lists 21 surgeries :
operosehealth.co.uk/our-ser...
I wonder how the BBC got a figure of 70 surgeries with 600,000 patients.
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