Rheumatology Dept’s

silverfoxxxx

Is anyone else struggling to get hold of any Rheumy’s? For over a month now the specialist helpline for my hospital either says closed due to holidays and shortages so don’t leave a message and from today closed until further notice, how does the NHS run like this? What do we actually pay for.

BettyMac

Could be worth flagging it up with your hospital’s PALS?

i know staff are doing their best and are as frustrated about this sort of thing as the rest of us but it really is not good practice to put people on hefty meds and then abandon them!

https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/nhs-services-and-treatments/what-is-pals-patient-advice-and-liaison-service/

silverfoxxxx

Thanks I’ll have a look at that, you would expect a few days of issues maybe but definitely not the best part of a month, imagine if I had staff shortages and closed the supermarket for a month, lol.

dreamdaisy

Back in the good old early days of my arthritis I saw someone at the hospital every three months, alternating between a rheumatology nurse and my consultant. My fortnightly bloods were recorded in my booklet as I attended my weekly meth injections and a human answered the helpline.

Then GPs got better at recognising the symptoms of a possible auto-immune arthritis and one of the least glamorous hospital departments became inundated with patients. In response I was taught how to do my own injections, told to organise my medication deliveries, told I would be contacted if my bloods went haywire and trusted to stand on my own two arthritic feet. As far as I am concerned my department has lost interest in me because I am as good as it gets.

I think a major 'setback' in considering rheumatology as a medical career is its lack of success in treating the disease. Rheumatologists do not cure, just control. They never discharge their patients, cannot stop the disease progression: it's not an exciting department in which to work. My hospital is a teaching one and is under tremendous strain, it must be far worse in non-teaching ones. I finally got my six-month follow-up appointment after ten months had passed, nowadays that is pretty good going. The NHS is superb in a crisis, pants at the every-day dross. DD