NHS Health Check Drives

[pffft2017]

Had hypothyroidism for 20 years and pre-diabetes for about 12 years which I've managed to keep under control, touch wood. Now my GP surgery has insisted I attend a 60 Day Care Plan or some rubbish probably driven by Government bonuses as they've never batted an eyelid about test results until now and the doctors throw a fit when they get my thyroid results as I'm on T3 they can't understand why FT4 is zero and the TSH is within range.

Am I entitled to refuse to attend? The last time I refused an appointment they threatened to stop my medication.

I just know it's going to be a waste of time, I know my height, weight and what my BP 120/80 is which I'm well chuffed about. It's a scandal, all those people desperate to see a medic and they're wasting nurses' time when a leaflet would do the trick. 4 slots they've allocated! Madness.

[Sparklingsunshine]

As far as I know you dont have to attend. I've never bothered with any of the over 40 health checks myself. I know its usually required that you get your annual thyroid bloods done and if you dont they are within their rights to withold prescriptions. I dont know about diabetes, but unless your on meds then I'm not sure what they can do if you dont attend.

Is your T3 from NHS or you source it yourself? If you buy your own then there's nothing they can do. These stupid targets they get annoy the hell out of me. You cant see a medic when you need one and for the most part their attitude is dont bother us unless its terminal.

But as soon as they get a hint of extra cash for screenings, scrapings and what not then they cant wait to see you. As far as I'm aware all medical procedures require your consent and trying to coerce people just so they get paid isnt on. I think they rely on people assuming its compulsory.

[pffft2017 in reply to Sparklingsunshine]

Good for you. Yes I agreed to the annual thyroid blood test and asthma review, but it doesn't explain the other 4 slots, I'm not going to waste an hour trying to speak to the surgery but the frosty receptionist did say one was for the Diabetes Clinic but when I protested I was pre-diabetic, she changed the name of the clinic.

Yes I'm one of the lucky ones who gets an NHS prescription for liothyronine. They tried to get me to see an endocrinologist once when the NHS were trying to phase out T3, not bloomin' likely I thought! If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[Sparklingsunshine in reply to pffft2017]

If you've had a thyroid blood test in the last few months then you dont need another. Annual thyroid bloods are only meant to be yearly.

Just say you dont want to waste precious NHS resources 😁. I have asthma and I've been on inhalers for decades, haven't had a review for donkeys years though. Sounds like a lot of unecessary tick boxing to me.

[Sparklingsunshine]

Just explain you've got covid, going on a very long holiday, a sprained ankle which stubbornly refuses to heal, a family crisis or you've emigrated 😁. Eventually they get bored of harassing you and move on.

[Obsdian]

I get a yearly thing saying I am eligible for a health check and given a link to book. Nothing has happened so far, never booked one.

[Sparklingsunshine in reply to Obsdian]

And its not concern about your health, but a nice little earner for the surgery. I've opted out of receiving text messages from my surgery and its noticeably reduced the amount of such communications I get. They can write to me, but that involves admin, so they dont 😁

[HandS]

This year I repeatedly had txts asking me to book for ‘health check’, including cholesterol tst., etc. I studiously ignored them and they have stopped.

You may find that the invitation is from a ‘health company’ running various screenings, paid for by NHS, uslng surgeries, but nothing to do with your Practice. There are many hangers on milking NHS funds.

[arTistapple]

They don’t do anything useful with the information anyway. It’s just a way of picking up their bonuses. My blood tests showed stuff for two decades and more. I found stuff was noted on the file but I was never informed. Just handle it politely. They just think we are all duffers and the government targets can be fulfilled and our MPs think they are doing a fine job.

An almost entire waste of NHS resources.