Confused by GP comment on blood test

[xfieldok]

When we first start off we make all sorts of mistakes because it takes a while to sort out a path through the minefield.

It is important that you don't beat yourself up. Treat everything as part of your education.

Are you using the mysugr app to record your food and bg readings? After a few days it will give you an estimated hba1c. Not guaranteed to be the same as a lab test but close enough to show whether you are trending up or down. I found it to be highly motivating when I first started. There is a free version.

 

[Pinkorchid]

he other thing I would suggest to you is ask if your GP surgery uses an online system to book appointments, order repeat medication and view your records, they should offer it. Sign up immediately as you will find your test results on there a day or two after having your blood taken. You can see the results yourself, there are usually links to tell you what the test means and you don't have the bother of waiting to be told it's satisfactory when all that means is that the results have been seen by your GP and he's put no further action on your notes. It also allows you to see the letters that hospital consultants have sent your GP. This allows you to pick up on mistakes and discoveries. I have found that I have other problems that I don't remember ever being told

Not everyone get all this information online it is down to the individual GP practises as to how much in formation they let their patients see and many will not put records on line that is their choice. On mine I can make appointments see blood test results and order repeat prescriptions and thats it. My GP practise does not put more than that on their patients online access

 

[Halfhybrid]

Yes it's another official result but it's gone down in only two? weeks of your new regime so imagine when you have it redone in 12 weeks time you could be down at least 6 points, another 12 weeks it could be down to 40 and 9 months on it could be 34. By the time you have your first retest in 12 weeks you will be so comfortable with your new your new way of eating and all your new clothes because the old ones will be far too big you'll be wondering why you stressed so much. You can start looking forward to the new you now it will be a completely different happier, healthier you. You could look at this as a second chance, just imagine if you had never be told or tested, carried on your old ways and then become seriously ill, grab this chance with both hands and 'boldly go' into your new life. We will still be here supporting you whenever you need it and you will find in time you will be supporting other scared newbies and be able to help them on their journeys.
Hope hasn't left you you number is down and you are on your way to a healthier you. There might be hiccups but we will be here, sometimes with our own hiccups and the answers and support will be here for you.

Thank you. That is so encouraging. Just what I needed to hear to spur me on.

 

[Halfhybrid]

When we first start off we make all sorts of mistakes because it takes a while to sort out a path through the minefield.

It is important that you don't beat yourself up. Treat everything as part of your education.

Are you using the mysugr app to record your food and bg readings? After a few days it will give you an estimated hba1c. Not guaranteed to be the same as a lab test but close enough to show whether you are trending up or down. I found it to be highly motivating when I first started. There is a free version.

Thanks I've never heard of it. Sounds worth looking into.

 

[Norfolkmell]

Not everyone get all this information online it is down to the individual GP practises as to how much in formation they let their patients see and many will not put records on line that is their choice. On mine I can make appointments see blood test results and order repeat prescriptions and thats it. My GP practise does not put more than that on their patients online access

I could be wrong but I think you have to ask to see your records on line specifically, as I understand you have the right to request to see your records in paper form or electronic. I know I had to request to have mine available electronically I don't think they automatically let you access them. I've been able to go into my record to find out what vaccinations I had as a child and childhood illnesses. According to NHS uk you can even nominate someone else that you trust to access them.

 

[Brunneria]

It's official (again) then. I had my follow up blood test yesterday and my online account with the surgery shows that the level is 52. That's down one from the level two weeks ago, perhaps due to the new eating regime I started on hearing the news but it's still diabetes isn't it. Going through the same emotions all over again. Hope can be a false friend sometimes.

just to let you know that it is common practice to test once, then again approx a couple of weeks later, to check the first wasn’t lab error, and to confirm the diagnosis. Thereafter, HbA1cs can be 3 or 6 monthly, or even annually - all depends on how well controlled your D is, and how on the ball the surgery is.

 

[Pinkorchid]

I could be wrong but I think you have to ask to see your records on line specifically, as I understand you have the right to request to see your records in paper form or electronic. I know I had to request to have mine available electronically I don't think they automatically let you access them. I've been able to go into my record to find out what vaccinations I had as a child and childhood illnesses. According to NHS uk you can even nominate someone else that you trust to access them.

.
I have asked about it at my GP practise and was told at the present time they are not putting patient records online

 

[Mr_Pot]

.
I have asked about it at my GP practise and was told at the present time they are not putting patient records online

I don't think they have any choice but @Bluetit1802 will know.

 

[Norfolkmell]

.
I have asked about it at my GP practise and was told at the present time they are not putting patient records online

Hi Pinkorchid
I'm hoping this link works http://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/news/gp...st-medical-records-from-2020/20038203.article
From -April 2020 as part of the agreed new GP contract GP's must start putting current records online and have until April 2021 to put all of a patient's past records on line so you'll not have long to wait.

 

[xfieldok]

My surgery doesn't do it. I was told it was in case it upset people. Absolute rubbish. Awaiting 2020 with bated breath.

 

[Norfolkmell]

It's certainly going to make a lot of work getting past stuff on. My previous surgery put stuff on line just before we moved in 2011 and were advertising for part time temporary staff to just transcribe from hard copy to electronic. That was about the January and when we moved in the June they still had four temps doing it. Perhaps back then they were given incentives to get their records electronic? I'm just glad mine are already there as with no family left I couldn't answer questions from consultants about childhood illness, but I could look and as I've opted for mine to be shareable within NHS they can look up there and then.

 

[Mr_Pot]

Surely GPs have been keeping records electronically for a number of years anyway, so at least making those available can't be hard, even if much older records need data entry.

 

[Norfolkmell]

Surely GPs have been keeping records electronically for a number of years anyway, so at least making those available can't be hard, even if much older records need data entry.

I haven't seen my brown fat envelopes (several) full of illegible scribble for many years, however I do have a fat bundle of brown A4 files whenever I see my consultants one told me that mine always came on a separate trolley, I think he was joking?

 

[Mr_Pot]

I haven't seen my brown fat envelopes (several) full of illegible scribble for many years, however I do have a fat bundle of brown A4 files whenever I see my consultants one told me that mine always came on a separate trolley, I think he was joking?

The NHS still rely on paper for exchanging information it seems. I asked my DN about their database and she told me that a plan to share information electronically between different centres was abandoned due to concerns about data protection. She told me she sometimes works in a local hospital instead of the GP surgery and when she is there she can only get basic information about her patients from the GP system. As she said it hardly seems more secure for vans to be ferrying about paper records rather than doing it electronically. It is seems ridiculous considering the GP system (EMIS) and my access to it via I-patient work very well.

 

[lucylocket61]

Hi Pinkorchid
I'm hoping this link works http://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/news/gp...st-medical-records-from-2020/20038203.article
From -April 2020 as part of the agreed new GP contract GP's must start putting current records online and have until April 2021 to put all of a patient's past records on line so you'll not have long to wait.

Unfortunately not in Wales.

 

[Bluetit1802]

I was lucky with my surgery. Records were put on line right at the beginning of the scheme and that is when I signed up. All the digital information from the GP system was uploaded to Patient Access (EMIS) at the press of a button with some very old stuff from my childhood and a big gap from then to the present. Since then, more historical stuff appears every now and again in batches. I assume from that someone at the surgery is gradually going through all the paper stuff and entering it, rather than doing it all at once.

What annoys me is the way hospitals haven't caught up. The test results they do are kept secret. Last time I was an inpatient I had a raft of blood tests but no way would they give me a print out. They have not been passed on to my GP as far as I am aware. Whilst they do FAX reports, scan and x-ray results through to the GP (who puts them on my on-line records), blood test results do not appear to be passed on.

 

[ringi]

Unfortunately not in Wales.

Thanks for reminding us what it is like living in a "country" with a Labour govemenment.....

 

[Mr_Pot]

Thanks for reminding us what it is like living in a "country" with a Labour govemenment.....

On the other hand I believe there are no prescription charges.

 

[Daphne917]

My surgery doesn't do it. I was told it was in case it upset people. Absolute rubbish. Awaiting 2020 with bated breath.

Mine doesn’t either - when I asked I was told it depended on what the surgery had signed up to originally and ours hadn’t. Unfortunately with my surgery I’m not surprised.

 

[Norfolkmell]

Mine doesn’t either - when I asked I was told it depended on what the surgery had signed up to originally and ours hadn’t. Unfortunately with my surgery I’m not surprised.

Well according to the http://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/news/gp...st-medical-records-from-2020/20038203.article they don't have the choice. Also @Bluetit1802 hospital records should be made available to you following a written request. But I can't find the link now, too early in the morning!