Problems with New GP Surgery

[Rita16]

Hello - first time poster here! I'm at the end of my tether with the new GP surgery where i registered after moving vicinity. Although i have explained several times, to their GPs and receptionists, that as a long-standing type 1 diabetic my diabetes & associated factors (kidneys etc) are fully managed by a hospital specialist and hospital team, the surgery doesn't stop asking me in for reviews where they want to alter the medication and doses given to me by the specialist. In 6 months they have rang me over a dozen times!! I have formally complained, my specialist has written to them to "back off", yet they keep on pestering me. Does this happen to other type 1s?

 

[Jaylee]

Hello - first time poster here! I'm at the end of my tether with the new GP surgery where i registered after moving vicinity. Although i have explained several times, to their GPs and receptionists, that as a long-standing type 1 diabetic my diabetes & associated factors (kidneys etc) are fully managed by a hospital specialist and hospital team, the surgery doesn't stop asking me in for reviews where they want to alter the medication and doses given to me by the specialist. In 6 months they have rang me over a dozen times!! I have formally complained, my specialist has written to them to "back off", yet they keep on pestering me. Does this happen to other type 1s?

Hi @Rita16 ,

Welcome to the forum.

My GP surgery does like a medication review & wellness check up around my birthday.
“Are you still using insulin?” Yep. “OK thanks..”
But I don’t like reminders of my mortality during “that month” so I defer it to later.
But they never mess with my dosage.

I also see my consultant once a year at the hospital, too.
Even they leave me to it on that front..

I basically run through the standard diabetes check twice a year in 2 locations & sent on my way..

 

[Rita16]

Hi @Jaylee, my previous surgery used to be like that, i'd have a once-a-yr foot and weight check and a once-a-yr phone call to check if all was ok with my medication. So i'm quite shocked at this new surgery never leaving me alone. I've not gone a single month without receiving a phone call from them to re-check on some aspect of my treatment.

 

[Jaylee]

Hi @Jaylee, my previous surgery used to be like that, i'd have a once-a-yr foot and weight check and a once-a-yr phone call to check if all was ok with my medication. So i'm quite shocked at this new surgery never leaving me alone. I've not gone a single month without receiving a phone call from them to re-check on some aspect of my treatment.

I can’t see them wanting to do an HbA1c every month.
Do you have a surgery DSN with access to your Libreview account? (Or the equivalent of another sensor.)

 

[Rita16]

All the reviews that different GPs - not nurses - have requested of me have been in relation to 1 blood test that i had on registering (last Oct) and 1 urine test in Feb. I spoke to 4 doctors, face-to-face and over the phone, in the month of Oct alone. I've started keeping a log of all the times they have contacted me, as i feel it's getting ridiculous. 4 calls in the month of Mar and 1 in Apr, all wanting to review my diabetes, kidney, cholesterol etc care and medication.

 

[Jaylee]

All the reviews that different GPs - not nurses - have requested of me have been in relation to 1 blood test that i had on registering (last Oct) and 1 urine test in Feb. I spoke to 4 doctors, face-to-face and over the phone, in the month of Oct alone. I've started keeping a log of all the times they have contacted me, as i feel it's getting ridiculous. 4 calls in the month of Mar and 1 in Apr, all wanting to review my diabetes, kidney, cholesterol etc care and medication.

OK?

Just trying to chop sense into this mystery.
You had one induction check up on registering with a new GP (standard diabetes stuff.)

It kind of sounds like they have found out you are diabetic from the tests? (Which would have been flagged up?)
Which would also be understandable with the HbA1c recommended target of a T1.
But then.. You say they keep messing with your meds.


I happend to find out my GP has me on record as diagnosed in 1995? But the truth of the matter is I was diagnosed 2 decades earlier…
I changed surgery 15 or 20 years ago when we moved. & never seem to see the same GP on the rare occasions I need to see one?

I was pestered over a white cell count a while back & to drop in for more blood tests.
The result was the white count was fine but low red BCs?.?
They thought it may have been an “infection” but I had busted 3 ribs & it was suspected I could have damaged my spleen around the same time..

Could they have wrong details on your condition & associated meds?

 

[Billy Ruffian]

If you're in England:

NHS England » Feedback and complaints about NHS services

You have the right to make a complaint about any aspect of NHS care, treatment or service, and this is written into the NHS Constitution on GOV.UK. The NHS encourages feedback because it’s used to improve services. If you wish to share your views and experiences, positive or negative, simply...

www.england.nhs.uk

 

[Rita16]

Interesting point about whether the surgery have my records correct - i hadn't thought of checking that, so thank you. It occurred to me many times that they seem to be treating me like a newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic who they have to keep an eye on.

 

[Rita16]

And i have some concerns about their admin staff: all very nice people, but i had to correct my prescription set-up 3 times and challenge 2 appts that appeared on my NHS record, which it turns out were not for me!

 

[Jaylee]

Interesting point about whether the surgery have my records correct - i hadn't thought of checking that, so thank you. It occurred to me many times that they seem to be treating me like a newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic who they have to keep an eye on.

10 years back I went into the chemist to pick up my prescription.

The pharmacist asked to see me in the side room.
The surgery had asked him to ask me if I understood how my meds work.??
I told him at that point I had 4 decades worth of experience under my belt. “What do you wanna know…”

Actually, he pulled me in the side room for a BP check at the surgeries request last year, too..
I’d literally had one done at the check up a couple of weeks prior?

And i have some concerns about their admin staff: all very nice people, but i had to correct my prescription set-up 3 times and challenge 2 appts that appeared on my NHS record, which it turns out were not for me!

Could there be a name mix up with another patent? (Possibly a non D?)

 

[Rita16]

I am beginning to see that strange GP practices towards diabetics is not that unusual, which is somewhat comforting if still frustrating. Thank you all, i will keep fighting the good fight!

 

[Grandadfatboy]

I understand your predicament, but at the end of the day as a registered patient they need to make sure they are doing their "Due Diligence". My advice would be to go to one of the appointments and see what they have to offer over what the hospital is doing. If you don't like what changes they are suggesting, then politely refuse them and explain why you will continue with the protocol in place from the consultant at the hospital.

 

[Hopeful34]

I've got similar issues with my surgery @Rita16 They won't 'accept' blood pressure readings from my hospital diabetes appt, foot checks done by NHS podiatrist 2 weeks previously, and want me to have hba1c blood tests when I've had one for the hospital less than 2 weeks ago (I refused) etc, etc. It's all down to the surgery wanting money for diabetes nurse appts, blood tests etc.

I feel 'hounded' by the surgery every 3 months!!

 

[Rita16]

The cynic in me has wondered whether it's something to do with funding too. The NHS isn't helping itself by trying to duplicate workloads. I can understand this happening in areas where there is private competition, e.g. with flu jabs, these being offered by pharmacies too now; but a surgery "competing" with a hospital makes no sense to me.

 

[Jaylee]

I get the feeling it’s some sort of “league table” thing?

I also feel more patronised the older I get..

 

[Outlier]

To put it politely, I have often observed a chasm in communication as well as in treatment protocol between GP surgeries and hospitals. To an extent we have to play the game while amassing information from all good sources and then make our own decisions. We need input from surgeries and hospitals in the future as we never know what we might need one day, so it's best to let them think they are each "winning" while making our own informed decisions, because only we have our own interests at heart and the hell with other organisations' budgets and in-fighting. It's a long way from the ideal world, but so is every other aspect of life.

 

[Rita16]

If only there were "opt-out" preferences we could mark with each service (like there are in some other parts of the NHS, e.g. choosing whether to be checked for different cancers)!