NHS make my blood boil!

I imagine an awful lot of the reason patients aren't entrusted with their own notes in the NHS/British notion that people aren't allowed to see what's in them, without asking for copies or to see them - both of which carry a charge of up to £50.

Having lived in both France & Spain as well as the UK - I can argue that all 3 systems have their own benefits and their own faults...personally I believe the NHS has a lot to live up to.

Saying that - I have Restless Leg Syndrome - no doubt caused by diabetes, however the neurologist by endo referred me to, spent a mrer 5 minutes at best saying that and discharged me back to the care of the endo - who had already told me he doesn't understand RLS well enough to feel comfortable prescribing meds for it...so I have to go through the whole malarky again...

On the other side of the coin, the in-patient tretment I've received, together with after care form both my wonderful endo and wonderful gastroenterologist could not, IMHO, be faulted...I have never waited more than an hour in A & E - probably because when I go there I am very very sick, I don't use it as an out-of-hours GP like some I know - but I've always, apart from a few nurses on night duty, received wonderful care..and this in a hospital which the press love to regularly drag through the mud...

Firstly I totally agree with Sid Bonkers ( TT )
I have retired to the Philippines, where the health service is private. ( That's not private as in the UK, simply means you pay. ) However the point is if my doctor needs a blood test, X-ray, CT scan or what ever, I pay, go for the test, wait for the results, then take them to her. So I can see and if I wish copy, exactly what is going on. I have always had an interest in medicine, and unlike my GP in England, she will discuss the results with me. An appointment can last 20-30 minutes, and she doesn't charge me anymore anyway. The price was about 3-50, anyway.
I feel I have a say in my health.

I agree with everything said. I get so frustrated with my GP, and could stand there and scream when I am not told the truth.
I found out that I have diabetic kidney disease a few months back, which came as a bit of a shocl

I agree with every word, our NHS these days is not National, not very healthy, and doesn't provide much of a service!
At my last appointment with the specialist, I was told that my kidney function had deteriorated from what it was last year. As nobody had told me about my kidneys being affected by my diabetes, it came as a bit of a shock. Apparently, in June 2010, my blood test showed that my kidneys were not working as efficently as they had in the past years. Not one word of this was I told, either by the diabetic nurses at the hospital clinic (the consultant had gone, and they were waiting for another diabetic consultant to be appointed), my GP didn't advise me of this condition either.
When seeing the diabetic specialist a few days ago, he said that my kidney function had deteriorated again since my last test in 2011, and took me off metformin, as that particular drug was not to be taken if there was a loss of kidney function.
Apparently, my kidneys are only working at approximately 60% and, if they continue to deteriorate at the same rate, it could mean me going on dialysis if about 4 years time - not something I am looking forward to, I can assure you.
Nobody has told me if I need to avoid certain foods and I think that there may be some foods, and beverages, that could make the problem worse, but I could be wrong.
Is there anyone on here who has been diagnosed with diabetic kidney diseas, and might have some advice for me. I would be very gratefull for any information, no matter what it is, I just need to know.
By the way, I live in the Rhondda Valleys in South Wales, and my GP works four and a half days a week! Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, all day, Thursday close at 1.00pm, then all day Friday. That is partly why I made the comment at the begining of this writing.
Thanks for reading,
Wilma Gardiner.

Yes the NHS does keep records, but WHERE? our GP has immediatee access to his/her computer, but T1 husband has multiple conditions requiring hospital visits. On a number of occasions, the records have not been available and we've been led to believe they are in an archive near Heathrow Airport, which is around 40 miles from here.. In addition, our hospital has a central appointments office, which is a common topic of discussions on the bus and a carpark for visitors and patients which has about 400 spaces. this is a huge district hospital!Nevertheless, I don't think that making patients responsible for the records would work. Some would get more lost than Heathrow Airport!
We don't have a "be responsible for yourself" culture here at the moment.
Hana

my mum would need a rather large suitcase to carry her volumes of notes around!!!!!!!!
im all for patients being chipped like dogs..but again the info has got to be right to srart off with.....x

hanadr said:

Yes the NHS does keep records, but WHERE? our GP has immediatee access to his/her computer, but T1 husband has multiple conditions requiring hospital visits. On a number of occasions, the records have not been available and we've been led to believe they are in an archive near Heathrow Airport, which is around 40 miles from here..

Click to expand...

Hana after any hospital consultation your or your clinic notes and any doctor/consultant/registrar recommendations are typed up and sent to your GP, due to under staffing problems in many hospital departments now it may take several weeks for the clinic notes to be typed up and sent out but even then your gp can request any information he/she likes from the consultant responsible for your care.

It may be that your GP sends their patient notes into storage at Heathrow or anywhere else for that matter but that is not the fault of the hospital.

Some NHS hospitals appear to be up to speed. My father had an consultant's appointment last Monday, an endoscopy on Thursday, following which he received a basic computer print out of the immediately available observations. On Saturday he received a copy of the consultants letter to his GP.
It is 40 years since I worked in the medical records department of a big London teaching hospital (used to work there in the holidays), even then the older records were farmed out for storage. They can be big and bulky. And yes they got lost. Finding miss filed notes and xrays was a nightmare. (fascinating archives though with records going back just over a 100 years) Now it looks as if a lot of hospitals and medical practices make us of specialist firms like this one. (found mention of them in a PDF of Royal Berks board minutes)
http://www.archivems.co.uk/MedicalandCl ... torage.asp
They say that standard retrieval is next day, urgent cases in 4 hours but also scan on demand where they can pull a file and send the info electronically

I was told yesterday by my Diabetic nurse that the NHS are stopping the prescriptions for all blood monitoring test strips except for one type? As from February they will issue Type 1 Diabetics with a new blood monitor and the only test strips you can get on prescription will be for that machine. I personally like to have a number of blood monitoring machines around, one in car, at work, in sport bag, upstairs and downstairs - but this is going to make them all redundant unless i'm willing to buy the strips myself!!! I can understand the issuing of test strips is a strain on the NHS but they want us to test more times like every time you go to drive etc. then restrict our options to do this! It makes me very angry! A Type 1 diabetic for 30 years in Stoke!

My hospital notes weigh more than the yellow pages!

Spraggyleek,
Have you seen this? http://www.pharmatechdirect.com/genstrip.html
a alternative (cheaper) strip.

Whenever I have a blood test at my local surgery I always get given a copy of the results for my own perusal. My mum uses a different surgery and they do the same. I have never had to ask for this, they are either sent through the post or given to me if I am in the surgery.

I wouldnt want to be responsible for looking after all my medical notes though, mine wouldn't be too bulky but the hubby's would require a filing cabinet of its own to keep it in! And then there are the kids too. I would much rather they are kept elsewhere!