travolta
Member of DD Central
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Post by travolta on Sept 30, 2024 21:03:44 GMT
Keep out of the hands of the doctors.
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Post by moonraker on Oct 2, 2024 8:32:05 GMT
Medical staff have grown accustomed to having their views challenged by Dr Google, but on the British Heart Forum someone reports having asked ChatGPT to analyse his Cardiac MRI results after a doctor had told him that there was no obvious damage. ChatGPT noted some "borderline low" and "subtle" results and suggested a further scan - which doesn't seem much removed from what a human had told him.
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Post by moonraker on Oct 3, 2024 7:21:08 GMT
I can't believe it: last November at a private hospital I paid £420 for an ECG plus £110 for "reporting". A few months ago, an NHS nurse told me that the cost to the NHS would have been around £100. A Polish friend has just told me she'd paid £20 for one back home. I Googled, and that was quite a low price, but the average was well under £100.
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Post by bracknellboy on Oct 3, 2024 10:51:42 GMT
I can't believe it: last November at a private hospital I paid £420 for an ECG plus £110 for "reporting". A few months ago, an NHS nurse told me that the cost to the NHS would have been around £100. A Polish friend has just told me she'd paid £20 for one back home. I Googled, and that was quite a low price, but the average was well under £100. that is a pretty ridiculous rate just for an ECG. Assuming there was nothing particularly special about it. I'm even dubious about the supposed NHS cost. Albeit there is a considerable "total cost" difference between having someone come in for a single specific diagnostic event vs multiple instances on a captive audience. If the number is right, earlier this year I cost the NHS an awful lot of money on that alone........
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benaj
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Post by benaj on Oct 3, 2024 12:27:33 GMT
In that case, apart from life saving covid vaccine, my last consultation was 2019, must be saving nhs lots of money😅
A NHS healthcheck every 5 years only takes 20mins, it doesn’t take ECG. Just blood testing and blood pressure.
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Post by moonraker on Oct 5, 2024 12:41:23 GMT
I can't believe it: last November at a private hospital I paid £420 for an ECG plus £110 for "reporting". A few months ago, an NHS nurse told me that the cost to the NHS would have been around £100. A Polish friend has just told me she'd paid £20 for one back home. I Googled, and that was quite a low price, but the average was well under £100. Yesterday I had some urgent blood tests at the local NHS hospital (lovely staff, excellent service), and two results confirmed my suspicions of an increasing problem. "Will you bring these to the attention of your Haematology department (currently monitoring me)," I asked. The nurse replied that they would be available on my hospital record for them to see, leading me to suspect that it would be up to me to mention them at my next telephone appointment on December 4, if it's not postponed again.
My relationship with the department is uneasy, and I've been thinking of getting a second opinion about the results from a private haematologist, at a probable cost of £220. I mentioned this to my Polish friend, who suggested an on-line consultation with a respected haematologist and family friend in Poland (who'd worked in England for some years, so presumably has good English). "It'll be expensive," she warned, "£60".
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Post by crabbyoldgit on Oct 13, 2024 9:24:14 GMT
Me and the wife have just about had it with the NHS. So she has been waiting for the results of a review of her MRI for a possible brain tumor for 8 weeks at a meeting held every 4 days weeks. The GP surgery advice is just leave it and wait until the results appear. Bugger that, our experience of the chaos of NHS systems results in me phoning the the consultant radiologist office to find out what's going on which is nothing, they have no record of a review ever being requested. So 10 weeks ago we passed over the forms for me to be able to talk about my wife's condition and the form to gain a medical exemption certificate to replace her prepayment certificate for prescriptions at the GP front desk, for them to get a gp signature and forward to the issuing authority.Went on line 4 weeks ago searched NHS medical certificate , followed down link to establish if it had been issued ,even though we had not received a paper copy. Site say she has a valid prescription exemption, so I cancel the direct debit. That is why Friday we receive a nasty threatening letter saying we have have had drugs without paying because we have cancelled the prepayment direct debit. So more phone calls it seems the prescription exemption valid message was referring to the prepayment exemption not a medical exemption and there was no record of an application by the GP for one to be issued. Down to the gp no I can't talk about my wife there is no record of her permission for me to do so and no record of the application for a medical exemption certificate.
We go to a consultant meeting it's agreed all future MRI scans will be done at our local hospital 20 miles away and meetings with the consultant will be online using doctor doctor. That's why we now have a meeting and MRI 70 miles away!!.
So where are we now, well my wife is talking about stopping all treatment and drugs because her life was so much better with just her symptoms without the endless stress of dealing with the NHS total incompetence .
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Post by Ace on Oct 13, 2024 9:50:31 GMT
Me and the wife have just about had it with the NHS. So she has been waiting for the results of a review of her MRI for a possible brain tumor for 8 weeks at a meeting held every 4 days weeks. The GP surgery advice is just leave it and wait until the results appear. Bugger that, our experience of the chaos of NHS systems results in me phoning the the consultant radiologist office to find out what's going on which is nothing, they have no record of a review ever being requested. So 10 weeks ago we passed over the forms for me to be able to talk about my wife's condition and the form to gain a medical exemption certificate to replace her prepayment certificate for prescriptions at the GP front desk, for them to get a gp signature and forward to the issuing authority.Went on line 4 weeks ago searched NHS medical certificate , followed down link to establish if it had been issued ,even though we had not received a paper copy. Site say she has a valid prescription exemption, so I cancel the direct debit. That is why Friday we receive a nasty threatening letter saying we have have had drugs without paying because we have cancelled the prepayment direct debit. So more phone calls it seems the prescription exemption valid message was referring to the prepayment exemption not a medical exemption and there was no record of an application by the GP for one to be issued. Down to the gp no I can't talk about my wife there is no record of her permission for me to do so and no record of the application for a medical exemption certificate. We go to a consultant meeting it's agreed all future MRI scans will be done at our local hospital 20 miles away and meetings with the consultant will be online using doctor doctor. That's why we now have a meeting and MRI 70 miles away!!. So where are we now, well my wife is talking about stopping all treatment and drugs because her life was so much better with just her symptoms without the endless stress of dealing with the NHS total incompetence . My deepest sympathies to you both. My partner has received a great deal of excellent NHS care recently, but the Admin is often calamitous. Just one example: She's waiting for an urgent MRI scan; she received a letter yesterday for an appointment in Jan 2099. We were shocked at first that it wasn't until January, then we noticed the year! Obviously some sort of mistake, but there was no phone number on the letter to get it sorted. I wonder how many people wouldn't notice the year and would just turn up in Jan. When we finally found the right person to get it sorted we were told this is a standard letter that gets sent if multiple department's try to book an appointment at the same time. One wins and any others get this nonsense letter, sometimes as many as 4 people. It's hard to believe that something like this wouldn't get fixed urgently, or at least have some workaround implemented until it is.
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Post by moonraker on Oct 13, 2024 10:11:15 GMT
I sympathise too. Recently I asked that the time of an appointment be moved and got three different letters in duplicate via two different websites (which may because I'm registered on both). Nearly all communications are electronic but on two occasions I've had to chase a form for blood tests that is sent through the post but didn't arrive.
From time to time I reflect back to my time with a small government department where a fifth of the staff (including two bosses) were freewheelers. But not many mistakes were made (though I admit to several in my career) and they didn't amount to much. But over the years I've experienced failings within the NHS with far more serious potential implications, not least having an eye condition wrongly "diagnosed" by a senior consultant who didn't bother to inspect it. Perhaps I ranted above about the time earlier this year when an an Admin "gatekeeper" wouldn't allow me to talk to a nurse, never mind a doctor, about a condition that had worsened since the initial assessment - and I was shown to be justified by action taken several months later, but not before a visit to A & E that must have cost the taxpayer several hundred pounds . And after that assessment I've had just two rushed telephone consultations with a doctor, and three trips to A & E which might not have been necessary had I had a real discussion with someone.
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keitha
Member of DD Central
2024, hopefully the year I get out of P2P
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Post by keitha on Oct 13, 2024 20:05:22 GMT
crabbyoldgit, I feel for you I really do, The system is getting worse. moonraker, I get the feeling from my surgery that the "trained care navigators" previously known as receptionists behave as if every appointment will cost them personally. Many patient at my surgery are being given appointments 10-14 days away, if the issue gets worse they end up going to A&E for urgent treatment which often must cost more than seeing the patient earlier. my last appointment I turned up and after an hour asked the receptionist if I'd been forgotten, turns out the system takes appointments from 8:30 but this Doctor doesn't start till 9:30
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adrianc
Member of DD Central
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Post by adrianc on Oct 14, 2024 7:22:06 GMT
I get the feeling from my surgery that the "trained care navigators" previously known as receptionists behave as if every appointment will cost them personally. They're the people getting it in the ear from both ends. From the people with real, serious, urgent problems who can't get a telephone appointment for two weeks. From the people who demand a double-length appointment for trivialities every other day. Not an easy course to chart. But, ultimately, remember that almost every GP surgery is a privately-owned and -managed business contracted to the NHS...
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benaj
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Post by benaj on Oct 14, 2024 7:39:39 GMT
I have been told the NHS clinic is changing appointment system soon.
It sounds like booking an appointment cannot be done with just one call.
Why don’t they just design a system to speak to a “clinician” directly for triage instead ?
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Post by bracknellboy on Oct 14, 2024 7:52:27 GMT
Me and the wife have just about had it with the NHS. So she has been waiting for the results of a review of her MRI for a possible brain tumor for 8 weeks at a meeting held every 4 days weeks. The GP surgery advice is just leave it and wait until the results appear. Bugger that, our experience of the chaos of NHS systems results in me phoning the the consultant radiologist office to find out what's going on which is nothing, they have no record of a review ever being requested. So 10 weeks ago we passed over the forms for me to be able to talk about my wife's condition and the form to gain a medical exemption certificate to replace her prepayment certificate for prescriptions at the GP front desk, for them to get a gp signature and forward to the issuing authority.Went on line 4 weeks ago searched NHS medical certificate , followed down link to establish if it had been issued ,even though we had not received a paper copy. Site say she has a valid prescription exemption, so I cancel the direct debit. That is why Friday we receive a nasty threatening letter saying we have have had drugs without paying because we have cancelled the prepayment direct debit. So more phone calls it seems the prescription exemption valid message was referring to the prepayment exemption not a medical exemption and there was no record of an application by the GP for one to be issued. Down to the gp no I can't talk about my wife there is no record of her permission for me to do so and no record of the application for a medical exemption certificate. We go to a consultant meeting it's agreed all future MRI scans will be done at our local hospital 20 miles away and meetings with the consultant will be online using doctor doctor. That's why we now have a meeting and MRI 70 miles away!!. So where are we now, well my wife is talking about stopping all treatment and drugs because her life was so much better with just her symptoms without the endless stress of dealing with the NHS total incompetence . really sorry to hear about both your wife's problems and your experiences of the NHS. Which sadly seem all too common. As a result of a significant medical event near the start of this year, I had a cardiologist appointment about 3 months ago. I was having some (significant) follow on issues, but had chosen to wait for that appointment to relay them. but that appointment had been cancelled, and then remade but shifted by about 10 weeks, And then on the morning or the day before I got a vmail from the consultant saying it had been remade in error and it wasn't required, but since it was short notice I could come in but no need to. Needless to say there was only one place I was going. The consultant was great, and although she had given me the all clear, once I told her what was happening she referred me on. "His list is quite short so you will have an appointment in 6 weeks: that's why I'm referring you to him". Except of course 8 weeks later no appointment and no date for an appointment. After quite a bit of forensics and some phone calls I got an email off (to the consultant's secretary which I found on their private health care listing) and left a vmail somewhere. 10:30 the next morning I had an appointment for what was then a couple of weeks time. Except I've then had 5 or 6 electronic reschedule notices; several seemed to be no actual change, at most tweaking the duration. Then one changing it to a telephone appointment (despite the fact I was expecting a fresh ECG):followed by a telephone call confirming it would be remote, despite my protestations. 24 hours later it was changed again, back to Face to Face. Still never had a letter. Its scheduled for Friday. I have printed off the last appointment letter and will take it with me. If I get a reschedule/cancellation/remade to telephone appointment I will ignore that and arrive with my letter. You definitely have to be proactive and chase everything. Don't take no for an answer.
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Post by moonraker on Oct 14, 2024 8:40:04 GMT
I reckon that my three visits, two by ambulance, to A & E would have cost at least £4,000 in the private sector, what with bloods and ECGs. I've just had a letter about a cardiology appointment warning that were I to miss it,then it would cost the NHS £160. Dunno how long the appointment will last, but that might be the price of a 40-minute private consultation. But it's not as if the doctor's time would be wasted - they could catch up with some paperwork including letters to patients. (But I am strongly critical of people who don't turn up, if only because their slot could have gone to another patient.)
I've always been appreciative of the efforts of NHS staff (and conscious of the pressures on them) and try to express this verbally and in writing, but I'm afraid I reacted badly to Admin blocking me from talking to anyone. She told me to go to my GP for blood tests, where the receptionist was very sympathetic, but understandably asked "what sort of blood tests".
With reference to telephone appointments, earlier this year my surgery switched to a system (apparently being introduced by many/most surgeries) where one fills in an on-line form (but only during surgery hours), rather than ring up. At first I was sceptical, but it does work rather well and saves repeated attempts to get through on the phone after 8am.
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IFISAcava
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Post by IFISAcava on Oct 14, 2024 11:54:57 GMT
I reckon that my three visits, two by ambulance, to A & E would have cost at least £4,000 in the private sector, what with bloods and ECGs. I've just had a letter about a cardiology appointment warning that were I to miss it,then it would cost the NHS £160. Dunno how long the appointment will last, but that might be the price of a 40-minute private consultation. But it's not as if the doctor's time would be wasted - they could catch up with some paperwork including letters to patients. (But I am strongly critical of people who don't turn up, if only because their slot could have gone to another patient.)
I've always been appreciative of the efforts of NHS staff (and conscious of the pressures on them) and try to express this verbally and in writing, but I'm afraid I reacted badly to Admin blocking me from talking to anyone. She told me to go to my GP for blood tests, where the receptionist was very sympathetic, but understandably asked "what sort of blood tests".
With reference to telephone appointments, earlier this year my surgery switched to a system (apparently being introduced by many/most surgeries) where one fills in an on-line form (but only during surgery hours), rather than ring up. At first I was sceptical, but it does work rather well and saves repeated attempts to get through on the phone after 8am.
you won't get a 40 mins private consultation for £160 in London - that's a 15-20 mins follow up price.
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