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Phone appointment without Hba1c etc

D

dancer

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,390
Location
West Dunbartonshire
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
I received an appointment letter on Friday for a telephone appointment with my consultant today. I was surprised at the appointment being so quick, giving no chance for the usual weight, BP and Hba1c checks beforehand.
When he phoned, my consultant said it was just a check to see if there were any problems. Very nice, but surely the usual checks should have been done! My last appointment was 6 months ago, so I'm better off than some, but . . .
 
Sounds a bit odd to me. Did he say when your next appointment would be, and did you ask about when you would be getting your hba1c done?
 
Next appointment will be my annual review in 6 months. I didn't really ask any questions as I kept waiting for him to say why he was calling. I couldn't believe he was only calling to see if I had any problems. Silly really.
 
dancer said:
I couldn't believe he was only calling to see if I had any problems. Silly really.
Click to expand...
My cardiologist has done this to ask how I was getting on after a cardio version procedure last year.

I thought it was great that he took time out from his busy schedule to ask me personally, instead of getting one of his junior cardo doctors to phone.
 
Yes it was nice, but before Covid I always had 6 monthly appointments with all the usual checks plus annual retinopathy screening. Now it looks like I will only have an annual review. My last retinal screening was over 2 years ago. Apparently this is due to GPs not wanting patients in the health centres, so we have to wait for hospital appointments. I read on the forum that the screening was to be in hospital now, due to there being two tests using the usual camera and a different machine. This is not the case in my hospital. My husband had his screening this week and it was just the usual photographs.
Two nurses with diabetes have agreed with me that we are not being looked after properly and that will continue for the foreseeable future.
Nice consultant, bad system.
 
I had an annual phone call too - waste of time but protocol now I suspect.

Persuaded my GP to run some blood tests because I hadn't had hba1c for 18 months.
 
Interesting what you said about retinopathy screening @dancer At my last 2 appointments I was just given the OCT scan, there were no photographs despite me asking for them, the nurse said "oh we don't do them routinely anymore, only if the consultant asks for them". Previously I had the photographs and OCT scan.
 
Specsavers do the OCT scan for £10 - well worth it imo - I got it done last week with my yearly check-up there - really worth it for peace of mind - my last check up at hospital was over a year ago and don't know when my next one will be with NHS ...
 
Agree a cosy chat on the phone without some hard metrics is only gong to pick up the direst problems.
Face to face stuff needs to be the norm and that includes the routine blood work being organised BEFORE the consultation. Not sure how you do a foot check over the phone either.
Perhaps there are more seriously ill diabetic patients on the wards etc. than there were last year?
 
I had an OCT scan at Specsavers but I didn't get the peace of mind part. It seems I have an Epiretinal Membrane (ERM) in my right eye. It is not a problem at the moment but the only treatment is to keep my fingers crossed.
 
dancer said:
Next appointment will be my annual review in 6 months. I didn't really ask any questions as I kept waiting for him to say why he was calling. I couldn't believe he was only calling to see if I had any problems.
Click to expand...
Maybe worth starting a list of questions to ask at the next consult. It's easy to get side tracked and not get to ask the questions you want answers to ... Q1 how can you ensure the latest blood results are available so you can get the most out of future consults
 
I had a video call hospital appointment, but already have an appointment for retinal photographs elsewhere. It was a young doctor and two medical students. They seemed to have difficulty understanding / hearing what I said, as indicated by the fact thst they congratulated me on my survival and asked if I had had a telegram from the Queen ! (I am 68.) I was told they would send a test form for me to get an Hba1C done, but none has arrived. This was a useless 'tick box' exercise as far as I am concerned, plus stressful owing to the usual connectivity problems in our house.
 
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