Referral to Icat

Coffeecup

Hello everyone,

I am a 51 year old female with worsening OA in both knees, especially the right one. The right one has also been swollen since February. GP initially not bothered so I started seeing an chiropractor. This was quite useful but the swelling remained the same. I then took a weird step and twisted something, so had an X-ray which just showed OA. I spoke to the GP again today as the pain is getting worse, and the knee is still swollen. He said he might be able to refer me to something called Icat, which I understand to be some kind of advance nurse practitioner service, who can then decide how best to proceed.

Has anyone got any experience with this at all? I am a midwife, so when at work I’m on my feet a lot, but I like being at work. But the pain and sleepless night are draining me at the moment.

Thanks for reading this essay! 😉🌈

dreamdaisy

I have no idea what Icat is but I do have experience of swelling in my knees not going away. In my case it was being caused by an auto-immune arthritis which began in 1997 in my left knee. By the time this conclusion was reached, in 2002, my knee was 27" in circumference. I now also have OA which is easier to manage as I know what causes the swelling and it does go away.

Is there a family history of auto-immune inflammatory conditions in your family? I was born with eczema then developed asthma when I was seven so the arrival of the first arthritis was no great surpise. The diagnosis of OA was. DD

Coffeecup

Hi DD

Thank you for your reply. I too had childhood eczema. My mother has RA, but my bloods were negative a few years ago.

Sorry you’ve been suffering for so long.

The Gp send me the Oxford knee pain score form today to go with my referral. I’m quite impressed I’ve managed to get a referral tbh!

Bad day pain wise today. Plus had to take codeine last night and feel knocked out, hate the stuff.

dreamdaisy

Not many GPs know that some forms of auto-immune arthritis are sero-negative, i.e. rheumatoid factor is not present in the blood. Psoriatic is one of those - in fact my PsA was not accurately diagnosed for nine years due to my lack of psoriasis and it beginning in the wrong joint. It was, however, recognised as some form of auto-immune inflammatory arthritis so the change of label made no difference as I was already taking the meds. I empathise about the bad day, we all have them. DD

Mike1

ICAT stands for Intermediate Care Allocation Team which provides a Single Point of Access to Health & Social Care Professionals, offering direct access to a range of Intermediate Care resources provided by both the National Health Service, the County Council, as well as other specifically commissioned services within the Voluntary Sector. Not all areas have an ICAT team, Cornwall certainly doesn't.

frogmorton

Wow Mike1 you are a mine of information! I doubt we have them here in Staffordshire either🙄

I know this might sound silly Coffeecup given that you have OA diagnosed already but my husband did a twisty thing last summer and turned out to have torn a ligament. Diagnosed by MRI of course he got an MRI I am usually palmed off with Xrays!

Mike1

frogmorton "Wow Mike1 you are a mine of information! I doubt we have them here in Staffordshire either🙄"

Thanks for the praise but I just Googled it which is how I get most of my info!