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

Couldn't make it up!!!

Daphne917

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,342
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
Had my 6 monthly diabetes review with the DN today and we discussed all of my results except for the most important one - my hba1c because they didn't ask for it to be tested when they sent my bloods away!! However she did say that they'd done a random blood test which, at 4.1, was 'quite' good. What is the point of having a review for diabetes when the most important element is missing!
 
Not only strange but annoying to say the least - just as well I do what they don't like us doing and test myself or I wouldn't have a clue what my BS is doing - so much for relying on the professionals to monitor our blood sugars!!
 
@Daphne917 That is crazy - particularly as we are always reading on here how folk are told not to home test as the hba1c is sufficient. Will you appeal?
 
Daphne917 said:
Not only strange but annoying to say the least - just as well I do what they don't like us doing and test myself or I wouldn't have a clue what my BS is doing - so much for relying on the professionals to monitor our blood sugars!!
Click to expand...

Did they not offer to do the HbA1c test today? I would have insisted on one being done @Daphne917
 
Wow! I have only joined this site recently from Australia. In that short time I have picked up on this reluctance of your NHS to encourage meter usage among Type 2 and some of the advice from some of the diabetic nurses seems unbelievable. In this last week I have seen a new poster who had been advised no need to measure we will do that each YEAR. Following advice from a member he acquired a meter and the first reading was over 24!!! If I have learnt anything from my type 2 journey is that there is only really one person interested in my Diabetes day in and day out and that is me. Surely they must realise the real cost to the health system from escalations as people following this advice are damaging their bodies unknown to themselves and and return to the system with complications that may have been avoided
 
noblehead said:
Did they not offer to do the HbA1c test today? I would have insisted on one being done @Daphne917
Click to expand...
To be honest the last two hba1c tests have been within the same range of my meter readings so have decided to wait until my next one in August. Ironically enough she seemed more concerned with my cholesterol (5.1 - hdl 1.3, ldl 3.1 and tr 0.7) and why I wasn't considering statins than the fact that they didn't do my hba1c!
 
I wonder if they just made an error, and decided on a cover up, sounding as nonchalant as possible?! One of the ways you can test this is ask for one (you paid for the appointment right? As a diabetes review?), as it was left out, and then they fluff around, give you your HBA1c test (of course!!!), and come up with some lame excuse, and then ask you if your confusion has been cleared up. . That's a dead give away of a cover up, in my humble experience! .

But of course you should have a HBA1c in your blood lipids test. It really does sound like an error, and they may be frantically trying to save face, take your money anyway, and hope you won't notice. Don't let them get away with it! (Hope I'm not sounding too bossy... I hate bossy....)
 
Is it any wonder Public "satisfaction" with the NHS is at an all time low ?

Anyone can make a mistake, and this was probably just that, but why not admit to it. It would give a far better impression than telling you that they didn't test you HbA1c deliberately
 
Daphne917 said:
Not only strange but annoying to say the least - just as well I do what they don't like us doing and test myself or I wouldn't have a clue what my BS is doing - so much for relying on the professionals to monitor our blood sugars!!
Click to expand...
Can you call your GP and ask for one as they need a record too?
 
I had something similar happen to me, but the reason they give is also unbelievable. Apparently the Lab that does the HbA1c test checks their records, and if the new test is within 3 months of a previous test, then they bin the blood sample. just like that. In my case i was 2 days early, as I was trying to get a pre-Xmas result unsullied by binging. I did get it done in time, but I had to voice my displeasure first. Apparently they (the lab) are private funded not NHS and work to the terms of their contract which stipulates the 3 month minimum period for HbA1c. I have a different problem in that i cannot get my lipid panel split. Same lab is not funded to do the HDL/LDL Tri-g test so even if i persuade my GP that it is necessary because I am doing LCHF, I will only get the total cholesterol value. NUTS.
 
Maybe we should enrol a lab to help us out. Collectively it would be cheaper. Maybe pay gp nurse to take sample then send it off. Especially cholesterol ones as I can only get total too. Pushed into statin which I haven't taken yet. Remember GPs in England get paid if your on one!
 
Don't seem to know what they are doing; but, then, I believe vets do have more training.
 
One is a mistake. The other is incompetance.
 
Yes, different countries have different rules around blood lipid testing, when state funded. (Otherwise one just pays? Or not get the info if one can't? Thank goodness I live in socialised medicine countries!) My GP in NZ was very supportive of me having monthly blood lipid tests, still is, due I guess to the severity of my diabetes on diagnosis, and that I was choosing to treat by diet and exercise - and she is that kind of gal (a very nice intelligent caring English woman I must say). All I need to say is "I experiment a lot and need the blood lipids to see the effect on my blood," and the thumbs up is given.

In Sweden - the no more than every three months rule for blood lipids is in place also. I had to make a case for getting my HBA1c tested on its own at the clinic by my diabetes nurse - again on the grounds of my experimentation. But they had to be scheduled around a time frame and not at all once a month. Not unusual to only be able to get an appointment over a month away. She was a magnificent beast though, when one managed to get an appointment - and it was great having a health professional who was totally up with the diabetes play, and entirely state funded once I had spent over a certain (high) limit on medical fees, which diabetics can clock up in no time.
 
Living in the UK I didn't pay for the appointment so that's not an issue. I think I've been fortunate so far to still have 6 monthly reviews despite being well controlled for at least 2 years however if it was an annual check I would have asked for one!
 
But the clinic/doctor is being paid, right? Just indirectly via your taxes?

Well - @Daphne917 you're a veteran! I bow to your knowledge and experience. .
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…