• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

GP ... forgot I am diabetic..

Debzz_

Debzz_

Well-Known Member
Messages
230
Location
Forest of Dean
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Diabetes ha ha
Visiting my gp last week for being unwell .. explained what was wrong so he started printing off a prescription. I asked if the proposed meds would be ok with my diabetic medication to which he gave me a blank stare . I don’t expect him to remember but I do expect him or any other GP to look at my flipping notes !
 
His screen would have flashed u a warning if the medication clashed with any you are on. Are you sure the blank look wasn't a case of do you think I'm stupid or something along those lines.
 
I have experienced the same on multiple occasions both when ill and when requesting holiday jabs/malaria tablets.
Fortunately, I do not need to visit my surgery very often because I am rarely ill so they do not know me.
Unfortunately, the GPs and nurses are so busy they do not have time to review my notes prior to seeing me on the rare occasions when I do need to go.
 
CarbsRok said:
His screen would have flashed u a warning if the medication clashed with any you are on. Are you sure the blank look wasn't a case of do you think I'm stupid or something along those lines.
Click to expand...
There is no need for such a petulant reply ... his reply to my question and his reaction confirmed he had not checked my notes therefore he wasn’t aware I am diabetic and the fact that I am quite recently diagnosed is quite shocking in that he didn’t even enquire about it . Not to mention it was this GP who I visited 4 times in one week for him to diagnose me .
 
helensaramay said:
I have experienced the same on multiple occasions both when ill and when requesting holiday jabs/malaria tablets.
Fortunately, I do not need to visit my surgery very often because I am rarely ill so they do not know me.
Unfortunately, the GPs and nurses are so busy they do not have time to review my notes prior to seeing me on the rare occasions when I do need to go.
Click to expand...
Being busy is not a valid excuse and I would think most of our notes are computerised now so are linked to your appointment. Notes are even linked to hospitals in my area
 
Debzz_ said:
Being busy is not a valid excuse and I would think most of our notes are computerised now so are linked to your appointment. Notes are even linked to hospitals in my area
Click to expand...
My notes are certainly in front of the GP when I see him but this does not mean he or she has time to look at the part which says "diabetes". I suspect as I am relatively slim and most of my doctors appointments are sports related, it is not something they think about checking. Likewise, if I am travelling to Uganda or Venezuela or such, the nurse would not immediately think to look at the part of my notes which says "diabetes".
To me, it is just another part of diabetes which I take responsibility to look after for myself by reminding them when necessary.
I guess I am lucky that I am able to do so ... and remember to do so.
 
Debzz_ said:
Being busy is not a valid excuse and I would think most of our notes are computerised now so are linked to your appointment. Notes are even linked to hospitals in my area
Click to expand...

I think that this is the difference between a newly diagnosed person and someone who's been 'in the system' a long time. To us newly diagnosed it's still shocking/upsetting that we can't depend on our HCP's to deliver the level of care that we thought that we'd get when we got ill. i.e. we have unrealistic expectations.
 
Since the T2D diagnosis I have made a point to remind various doctors, during appointments, that I have diabetes. It is of course already in their records (all of the doctors work for the same huge hospital system here in America so have access to the same records).

The reaction has ranged from what appears to be total unconcern (for instance when I was in A&E for a kidney stone episode; and when I had a routine colonoscopy) to seriously "taking it on board" because it actually mattered in context.

Those who reacted with concern: The eye doctor who then checked for retinopathy, the kidney specialist who wanted to see whether I had a diabetic-specific kidney stone called a "uric acid stone," my dentist whom I've been seeing for more than 10 years but stressed that tooth/gum care was especially important for diabetics, the dermatologist who mentioned a possible effect of steroids on BG, and so forth.

Whether they would have "remembered" or "checked" for diabetes without my reminding them, I have no idea.
 
Last edited:
Debzz_ said:
I don’t expect him to remember but I do expect him or any other GP to look at my flipping notes !
Click to expand...

I can understand the frustration and it would seem obvious that he reads your notes before you see him. On the other hand, if he's only supposed to spend ten minutes with each patient and he spends five minutes reading your notes, you're down to just 5 minutes.

As I said I understand the frustration but maybe not so straight forward. No doubt our wonderful government (not) will double the number of GPs and give us all 20 minutes per appointment with them.
 
You are not alone in this one. It happened to me also. I rang my GP and requested a course of antibiotics for a pilonidal ulcer. I had made arrangements some years earlier that at the very first signs of these infections my GP had agreed to provide me with antibiotics without seeing me. They were very painful, made me very sick and if not caught early enough with antibiotics required surgery to remove them. On this particular occasion the receptionist said that the doctor had refused medication and requested my presence that very afternoon. I duly presented myself and the doctor sat there said he was not prepared to issue my prescription as he wanted me to go to hospital for tests. I asked him what the tests would be for and he said that the history of ulcers I had in some of my more sensitive regions could be a sign of something else. He went on to suggest that I could even be diabetic. I make a point of never swearing to doctors as they have always tried to assist me in my condition. In this particular case however I made an exception and replied 'Well doctor, you see those medical notes you have in front of you. Why don't you try f****** reading them'
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I cannot believe that your GP did not have a quick at your notes before you went in, if you were really ill he could have put you at risk. When i go to the GP i try to see the same doctor as he is aware of my problems and in the 20 years i have seen him there has only been once i went about my diabetes and he phoned the hospital and told them that and they said i was to go to a ward, by the time i got there they had given my bed away and was sent to A & E. I had high keytones and was vomiting and only got seen quicker as a old DNS saw me and went to get a doctor and i was put in high dependancy. When i told my GP he sent them a letter about my treatment and i got a letter in the post saying sorry. I have had problems with doctors at my local hospital when i was last in, they had me down as a diabetic even though i had a SPK transplant. they said you are a diabetic, i even showed then the scar i have so they phoned my transplant team who told them i was not a diabetic. They still did my blood every hour and gave me a diabetic menu, then they would come and ask me what i thought they should be doing and then they would phone the transplant team to ask them. They took bloods every morning before i took my tablets but one of the blood test is a special one, on the first time they put it in the wrong bottle and the second time they lost it. So the next day i traveled to Newcastle to get my bloods done. So watch out as i know doctors are under pressure and like all of us make mistakes but always tell them that you are a diabetic just to remind them.
 
I went to see a locum who prescribed some medication. She obviously hadn't read my notes, and I assume she was asking questions prompted on the screen. She asked "are you trying to get pregnant?"

I'm 54 and I had a hysterectomy 10 years ago, so it would be a medical miracle if I did somehow manage to produce a baby!

Friends said I should take it as a complement that I don't look my age! I think she didn't even look at me.
 
Your notes, the ones the GP has to read and inwardly digest in the few seconds between patients, where does he/she glean the relevant bit that say "diabetic", "had a hysterectomy" etc etc.

If it's causing a problem then obviously the notes are failing to do their job. I've seen my notes the paper ones and the online ones, I have no idea how a GP is meant to get anything from them as far as medical history is concerned.

Here's a GP practice statistic that might surprise you 80% of a GP's time is spent with 20% of his patients (somehow agreeing with Pareto's principle, aka 80/20 rule), so you'd expect the GP who has about 1,000 (GP surgery stats are available online) would know 200 quite well and the other 800 are almost strangers. Next time you see your notes see how long it takes to spot the relevant bits that are obviously quite rightly important to you.
 
Debzz_ said:
There is no need for such a petulant reply ... his reply to my question and his reaction confirmed he had not checked my notes therefore he wasn’t aware I am diabetic and the fact that I am quite recently diagnosed is quite shocking in that he didn’t even enquire about it . Not to mention it was this GP who I visited 4 times in one week for him to diagnose me .
Click to expand...
Why is the reply petulant??????
All GP surgeries have an inbuilt programme that alerts the GP to any contraindications to the medication you are on.
You went for one condition the normal rules for a consult are one problem one apt. They have ten mins before they need to see the next patient.
If it's any consolation in 53 years no Dr has ever asked my how I am managing with my diabetes.
You have mentioned you are newly diagnosed so suspect you feel the need to hit out at everyone, it's not nice for people on the receiving end of your ill humour esp for people who are trying obviously without success to reassure you :(
 
Debzz_ said:
Not to mention it was this GP who I visited 4 times in one week for him to diagnose me .
Click to expand...

You're just one in a thousand, you don't get special treatment because you saw him four times in week, on the other hand, 4 times in one week, you've already had your fair share of his time. LOL Don't take it too seriously, I just think we need to understand how doctors work before we say anything about how they should read your notes in the time they have. It's not going to happen.
 
Debzz_ said:
Being busy is not a valid excuse and I would think most of our notes are computerised now so are linked to your appointment. Notes are even linked to hospitals in my area
Click to expand...

It does make us think more about Gp's in general and the confidence in some of them nowadays. They are busy, yes and the population increasing in age, yes, but really, it beggars belief sometimes :wideyed: Just to add about Gp's, on a yearly visit to the surgery DSN,( to cut a long story short) she said:-
I see you are type 2,
No I'm not, I think you have the wrong patient on your screen
Oh no is it you, after checking my name and DOB...............
My new Gp had changed my diagnosis to Late onset Type 2 :wideyed: I am type 1 and this is my 28th year. The DSN went on to say my new GP was well informed on diabetes and it's only children and adolescents who get type 1:banghead::bigtears:(I was 31 when diagnosed) my jaw dropped to the floor and then I told her she was wrong because there was no 'late onset type 2' worrying, yes. Apparently I have another new GP now as Dr P has left and my hospital told me to take no notice of what he said !
 
Back
Top