WISH ME LUCK FOR TUESDAY.

hileena111

I posted {Jan. I think} about my first appointment post op {TKR}
It was a registrar, not the usual consultant I see.
He noticed my ankles were very swollen and have been for over a year and said I should go on diuretics. He would put it in his letter to my GP. I said she wont give them to me because it has been suggested before and she said she didn't believe in them.
I got the copy letter and he had mentioned it to her and when I saw her she said NO. Support tights, the firmest I could get, sent me for a heart trace {was OK} blood test {OK}. I really struggled to get into these support stockings.

I had another appointment yesterday with the consultant. He said "How are you getting on with the diuretics?" I'm not getting them. Why? She wouldn't give them to me, doesn't believe in them. He picked up his Dictaphone and started dictating a letter to her and in it he said "I've been told you wouldn't prescribe diuretics for my patient because you don't believe in them"??? I would like to know when I could get in touch with you to find out why you don't believe in them? He was really angry. He said to me that support tights wont help, all it will do is push the fluid from one bit of your body to the other.

Before I saw him I got a letter from the GP saying she would like an appointment with me to discuss decreasing my morphine now that the operation was over. I was put on the morphine long before I had the operation it was to do with the pain I had in my fractured greater trochanter bone NOT the TKR. They did put it up when I was in hospital but its back to what it originally was.
I told the consultant about this and he said you are not to decrease them yet. I'm sending you for an MRI so until you have the MRI, get the results back and then see me you do nothing and tell her that.
So I see her on Tuesday and have to tell her this. I don't know if he will have managed to get in touch with her by then. I doubt that she ill get the usual letter.

I need pocket duties please anyone that is free.

Love
Hileena

stickywicket

Crikey! Feuding docs? That's the last thing we need. Yours are both extremely bossy, aren't they? Poor you, stuck in the middle. Whatever happens on Tuesday you're stuck with both of them. I don't envy you, Hileena. Good luck!

hileena111

Hi Sticky
Mr A is lovely {Consultant} He believes in finding out what is wrong and why.

It's the GP that is awful. She's the one that when Mr A said in a letter to her he would like me to be referred to a Pain Clinic. She said to me.......I'm not referring you. Why? They can't do anything that I cant do and they are a waste of time. I eventually got referred but only because she suddenly realised I wasn't moving She would say its a waste of time nothing will work. I said I've had other things over the years that haven't worked so this might be another one. I've never been to a pain clinic so I would like to try it.
Like I say when she realised ,although she had her hand on the door {goodbye} I was still sitting in the chair so she better do something or she would have a lot of patients piling up
She referred me.
There have been lots of other things like that.

Love
Hileena

stickywicket

There are different (and all valid) medical opinions about all sorts of things but I don't think I could cope with having a GP I disliked. Why not see a different one or change practices?

hileena111

Hi Sticky
I've been thinking for ages about changes practices.
Anytime I change doctors they {in the same practice} they always say you should come back and see your Dr she knows all about your history.
As for the practice I would love to change but am a bit scared. We have 2 in our area. One is a one man band and the other is a bigger one but I know no one that goes there so don't have any references. I know nothing about that one so I suppose I'll just have to take the bull by the horns and change

Hileena

daffy2

You must feel as if you're between the devil and the deep blue sea Hileena. Having said that I'm not sure that 'better the devil you know' applies in this case!
Two sites that might help with finding out about alternative surgeries
www.gp-patient.co.uk and www.cqc.org.uk In both cases I would advise checking the date of the survey from which the results are taken if possible(a lot can happen in a year, both good and bad), and also do a bit reading between the lines. When I looked up my surgery some of the satisfaction percentages were low compared with national figures for things like appointments, which probably reflects the difficulties with getting one in a sensible time frame, but figures for satisfaction with nurses and GPs(when patients did get to see them!) was on a par or higher.
Also if you look on the surgery's own website you should be able to find results of any surveys it has carried out and also if it has a patient participation group and if so how active it is. My surgery does have one, supposedly, but it doesn't seem to have had any meetings for a couple of years which might explain why a couple of issues I've raised with staff have come as a surprise....
All the best for your GP appointment.

hileena111

Hi Daffy
Thanks for your help. I will follow up those links. I'm actually on our PPG.....for how much longer I don't know

One of the things I do know is we got from the CQC an "outstanding" comment when they did the survey. Over a year ago I think. It was a flu day they caught me. I had a table with loads of information about arthritis care {nothing about flu } I am a volunteer for my branch of Arthritis Care so do these stands in various places.
Not sure what other people said that day but I know I was hassled with all the people around the stand and possibly didn't let them know exactly how I felt.
Love
Hileena

stickywicket

If your current practice is classed as outstanding I can understand your reluctance to leave and, frankly, the GP you dislike probably can't be that bad. It might be a simple clash of personalities.

In my former practice there was, in the end, about 6-7 docs but just one that I wouldn't see as he was very old-fashioned, horrified that at the time I was doing riding for the disabled and basically wanted me to stay at home doing exercises and swallowing painkillers all day. I just ensured I never saw him again. The others were all great although they were all different and had different takes on things. I've never been pushed to stick with one doc. Can they do that? I don't think so.

Why not just explain, as I did, that you and that particular GP just can't see eye to eye and ask to see anyone other than her?

hileena111

Hi Sticky,
Explain to who? My named doctor or one of the others?
I don't think it is just a clash of personalities.
You know how the consultant sends a letter to your GP after he sees you? The fact that she kept things back from what was said in the letter.......don't think that's just a clash of personalities!!!!!!

The consultant asking her to refer me to a pain clinic..........She didn't mention that to me. If I hadn't been copied into all correspondence I wouldn't have known. I eventually asked her about it and that was when she said no.

Two different consultants two different times {about a year apart}asked her to prescribe Diuretics for me..........once again {neither of these times} did she mention it to me. ??? I brought the subject up and she said NO both times.

There have been a few other things like that that I haven't been told. Don't really trust her now. What would you think?

If she had told me about the diuretics and said she didn't want me to go on them because ####### and gave me a reason that would have been different.

Hileena

stickywicket

I'm really pushed for time so sorry but I have to be brief. Once I decided I didn't want to see Dr C again, whenever I rang in to book an appointment, if they offered one with him I just asked if I could have someone else, even if it meant a longer wait, as I just found it difficult to gel with him.

I was never told I ought to see any particular doc - even the one I was registered with - but, if I had been told that, I'd have asked to see the practice manager to find out why and I'd have told her why I'd prefer not to see that doc.

dibdab

Hope tomorrow goes well for you. I personally opt never to see my named doctor at the practise which has 3, and whenever possible opt for my preferred lady doctor, or the other doctor who is a m ale, simply because the one I dislike puts everything down to my RA and suggests I take more pain killers!!!! There is almost always a longish wait to see my preferred GP, but it's worth it for me to feel happy and listened to. I really do think it's important to feel confident and comfortable with a primary care giver, and if the named doctor has colleagues who may be more sympathetic/empathetic maybe it's worth requesting a change of named doctor and explaining why (maybe to the practise manager).

Debx

hileena111

Hi
Thanks for your replies. I do know the{Practice Manager} reasonably well. He's on the PPG. I do know he's going in for an op soon not sure when. I'll see how things go tomorrow and then possibly get in touch with him and ask for a change.
My named doc. is only part time and sometimes when I've needed to see her she hasn't been working so I've had to see someone else. They do usually see me and are empathetic but at the end of the appointment they usually say your Dr should really deal with this {or something similar}
Love
Hileena

Apologies I have edited out the names in this thread as it contravenes our guidelines.

Best Wishes
Sharon