I am fuming

Having spent most of my working life in the NHS, I find it very sad that the early promise of care 'From the cradle to the grave' has not continued to be fulfilled.
This is not the fault of the staff on the front line who have to cope with acute staff shortages and incompetent management on a daily basis.
The NHS never was perfect but at least we were able to maintain a reasonable level of care, most of the time.

Sorry to butt in, Travelsafar, but just wondering if you have tried heat pads? I have been having physio lately (had to pay privately as NHS waiting list round here is massive) for an aching back and an aching leg. The physio exercises do help a bit but when my daughter recommended heat pads (the sort that stick to your skin and last about 8 hours) I tried them and found they made a big improvement to the extent that I have been able to stop taking pain killers. They can be bought at chemists and are also available on Amazon. Worth a try.

i've seen heat pads in savers recently.
you put them in the microwave, if that's the same thing.

Our surgery has now proudly announced that they can dispense medicines from the surgery because they have new staff. I dispensed medicine from there for twenty years. I don’t understand what has happened to GP surgeries since the pandemic. A friend of mine that has gone back into nursing works at a walk in centre and she says they just can’t cope.

After a major shoulder operation I only had a physio phone call and some exercises on my phone admittedly due to lockdown. When it came to issuing a statin I saw a paramedic, a nurse and a chat with the pharmacist surely one of them would have been enough. Very much pot luck

I think it depends on the area too. I had a routine blood test that showed up some anomalies. Since then, I have three telephone appointments, a proper appointment with my GP and a consultant proper appointment.

I have an MRI and ECG appointment booked too for this month. I really did not expect any of this before the year end.

Primrose53

Baggs

Sometimes a photocopied exercise sheet is enough. It was for me when my broken wrist/mashed hand cast came off.

It was actually good to know exactly what I should be doing immediately after the cast removal rather than having to wait, possibly days, for a physio appointment.

So they could get anybody to give you that …. A receptionist, auxiliary (can’t remember what they call them now) and save a shed load of money by not paying a physiotherapist. 😉

"Prescription-only medicines, such as antibiotics, must be prescribed by a qualified health professional. This may be a GP, hospital doctor, dentist, nurse, pharmacist, optometrist, physiotherapist, podiatrist, paramedic or therapeutic radiographer." From NHS website

So no, they can't just get anyone.

Primrose you need someone qualified to know which exercise sheet to give the patient.

foxie48

Primrose53

Baggs

Sometimes a photocopied exercise sheet is enough. It was for me when my broken wrist/mashed hand cast came off.

It was actually good to know exactly what I should be doing immediately after the cast removal rather than having to wait, possibly days, for a physio appointment.

So they could get anybody to give you that …. A receptionist, auxiliary (can’t remember what they call them now) and save a shed load of money by not paying a physiotherapist. 😉

"Prescription-only medicines, such as antibiotics, must be prescribed by a qualified health professional. This may be a GP, hospital doctor, dentist, nurse, pharmacist, optometrist, physiotherapist, podiatrist, paramedic or therapeutic radiographer." From NHS website

So no, they can't just get anyone.

My comment was a bit tongue in cheek. 🤣

What a sad state of affairs when students are studying for several years at Uni to become physiotherapists then end up handing out photocopied leaflets.

Not so long ago if you saw an NHS physio you were examined, treated with massage, TENS machine or manipulation ….those days are long gone.

Primrose53

foxie48

Primrose53

Baggs

Sometimes a photocopied exercise sheet is enough. It was for me when my broken wrist/mashed hand cast came off.

It was actually good to know exactly what I should be doing immediately after the cast removal rather than having to wait, possibly days, for a physio appointment.

So they could get anybody to give you that …. A receptionist, auxiliary (can’t remember what they call them now) and save a shed load of money by not paying a physiotherapist. 😉

"Prescription-only medicines, such as antibiotics, must be prescribed by a qualified health professional. This may be a GP, hospital doctor, dentist, nurse, pharmacist, optometrist, physiotherapist, podiatrist, paramedic or therapeutic radiographer." From NHS website

So no, they can't just get anyone.

My comment was a bit tongue in cheek. 🤣

What a sad state of affairs when students are studying for several years at Uni to become physiotherapists then end up handing out photocopied leaflets.

Not so long ago if you saw an NHS physio you were examined, treated with massage, TENS machine or manipulation ….those days are long gone.

I’m sorry Primrose but you are using personal experience as a proxy for the truth, and it isn’t. I know somebody well who is having daily physiotherapy at the moment, and I can promise you that the Physiotherapy Department in my small local hospital has a full schedule of patients receiving hands on physio. I’ve actually seen it for myself.

Well my experience is from our small, local hospital and you can ask anybody in the area and they will tell you the same. The room has even had the few treatment beds removed. My husband has severe back problems and they were so useless with him that he told the GP he was not going back again and the GP actually told him that he hears that all the time.

But our own local experience doesn’t indicate that there is a national problem with Physiotherapy, or that it is good everywhere - it is just our own experience and doesn’t qualify us to speak on the national picture.

cornergran

We can also self refer to a physio. All general appointment requests are triaged by a GP, it is my understanding anything mechanical is automatically passed to a physio. This could be anything from sudden onset foot pain to long standing osteoarthritis joint issues. I’d be much happier if the GP saw the patient first.

Been there, done that!

I was able to self-refer to a physio within a few days. I strongly felt it wouldn't be helpful, but played along anyway.

The physio couldn't prescribe painkillers, but what she could do (and did) was override the GP appointment system and made me a semi-urgent appointment with a GP without any further triaging. I saw a GP just a couple of days after my physio appointment and have now had an appropriate secondary referral, which is what I wanted in the first place.

The advantage was that it's all happened quite quickly -much more quickly than if I'd gone through the usual channel of filling in an eConsult form, waiting around for a telephone appointment and then a face-to-face appointment.

PS. It was an NHS physio, so I haven't jumped any queues.

In my area, where blood tests are concerned, no news is good news.

I had a letter from the hospital, with labels for the samples, telling me to get blood tests done at the surgery. That was over a month ago and I have heard nothing since.

I was also called in, out of the blue, to see a physiotherapist, who did a full audit of my life's health experience and this year's events in particular, and to the extent that his non-doctoral level could permit agreed with others that my recent problems were probably not vascular, and, as the result of a recent training day he had attended, he suggested my symptoms might possibly have a spinal or neurological cause. However, he didn't seem to have any ability to refer me on to a doctor even in his own speciality but referred me to an organisation called 'Connect Health'

'Connect Health' is a private company contracted to the NHS who seem to specialise in physiotherapy/ musculoskeletal problems. The physio said I could b referred through my GP or self refer, so I did.

I had a long conversation (on the phone, of course) with a physiso(?) there and have been told to book a double face-to-face appointment with them.

I am not quite sure where this is leading because I am physically quite fit, with no restrictions on my movements of any kind and entirely self caring, so I do not see what assistance physiotherapy can give me.

Casdon

But our own local experience doesn’t indicate that there is a national problem with Physiotherapy, or that it is good everywhere - it is just our own experience and doesn’t qualify us to speak on the national picture.

Several other people on here have said the same as me and they are not happy with NHS physiotherapy. I am assuming they come from different parts of the country. Casdon

Re cocodamol - you can buy it OTC depending on the percentage of codeine it contains. I was in terrible pain in my hip and legs at one point, and the cocodamol I was taking didn’t relieve it to the point where I could sleep. I saw a locum GP (it was my lucky day!), who said there wasn’t enough codeine in the cocodamol to control my pain, and prescribed me codeine separately, which helped enormously.

I was lucky with the physio. Got an appointment next day as he was new. My exercises were downloaded to an app on my iPad so much easier to follow also they were animated. After a chat with physio we changed my exercises to water based as I had access to a swimming pool at the gym.

Elusivebutterfly

Primrose - NHS admin staff can take NVQs at levels 2 and 3 but this is generally available for hospital staff more than GP staff. Also the work is generally done in your own time, you are not given time out of work and it does not lead to promotion, so there is little incentive.

I'm a retired NHS Medical Secretary and many, many, years ago I not only studied and passed exams in Medical Terminology and Medical Shorthand to enable me to do my job, but I was also a member of AMSPAR, (Association of Medical Secretaries, Practice Managers & Receptionists). In over 20 years of working in this field, until retirement, I never once came across a receptionist who was also a member as there's is a low paid/part-time job which has no upward trajectory (unless you become a senior receptionist which is only 1, poss 2 per surgery).

their's *
NOT there's
Predictive texting. Huh !

Just sit in AE for 13 hours like I did then you’ll see impact lack of GP appointments are having on the NHS. 😡

Snap JdotJ! 😁

I can understand your frustration but please take a minute to put yourself in the receptionist's shoes.

I worked as a surgery receptionist and the abuse we all got on a daily basis was off the chart. When patients couldn't get what they wanted/or thought what they needed, they could get very nasty. The majority of patients were lovely but the few that were not made your working day unpleasant having adopted the phrase "those who shout loudest".

We would all like to have appointments when convenient to us but sometimes (at least in the surgery I worked at) it was just an overwhelming demand of patients wanting appointments.

I might add this was over 10 years ago and well before Covid.

It was the only job I left after 6 months without having another job to go to as I couldn't take the abuse anymore.

I have had some bad pain in my hip. I can't see a GP of course so saw what may have been a nurse who said it is bursitis and referred me for a steroid injection.
Luckily the lady who was going to do the injection found my bursa and pressed on it but it didn't hurt. She changed the diagnosis to my glute muscle and advised me to arrange private physiotherapy which I am doing at £54 a time!

You are lucky to see one mine has sent an email on what I’m too do. I went to hospital and told dr didn’t think arthritis pills were working anymore being on them for 7yrs and he said yes we will look into it for you. Got home to find he’s stopped them altogether and recommended physio to help with the pain. Trying to get to talk to a human is a joke in the NHS.