NHS Pathways

Has anyone else struggled with this Pathway system- it doesn’t feel very productive if you’re having to deal with ongoing issues which are linked to original referral…

That sounds incredibly frustrating. I hope you manage to get a GP appointment quickly.

Yes Bea, I’ve struggled with the pathway system. I’m waiting for spinal surgery, more specifically neck surgery. I won’t go through it all now, but the pathway, involving physiotherapists before getting near a spinal consultant was a nightmare. It took a year just to get the all important MRI scan and over a year to actually get to see the consultant. Then followed the useless steroid injection before I was allowed to go on the surgery list. I’m convinced it’s all designed to keep you off the surgery list as long as possible. Anyway I’m expecting the surgery in about a month, but it is two full years since I first approached my GP complaining of the pain that is now much worse, and that I have lived with every day for two years.

I’m so sorry you’re going through this. It’s so frustrating when you have to jump through hoops put there to delay your final treatment.

I hear you. It is nonsense. I have just spent a fortune on a spinal MRI and will see the spinal consultant on Monday to discuss the results. GP offered physio with a long wait times as they have not even appointed this person yet. I am using my savings to avoid this merry go round. I do not have enough life left to me to me willing to waste it in this way.

Be willing ...

Thank you teabagwoman madalene Luckygirl13 for making me feel am not alone in this insane position -
madalene awful to hear of your situation and pain… know how this affects you daily 😥
^luckygirl13 I understand how desperate you must feel to use your savings on going for private scans etc and wish you well for Monday’s appointment- hope it goes well 🤞

Thank you Bea. You’re right, living with daily pain, taking unpalatable pain medication that gives horrible side effects, and doesn’t control the pain because you can’t take more of it because the side effects would be worse, buying mountains of paracetamol to use alongside the prescribed medication, buying mountains of Votarol to use alongside as well, which costs a fortune, and at the end of the day your pain is never controlled properly anyway. I feel for you. This situation has angered me and frustrated me. At times I feel quite low with it all, and from your OP I’m thinking that’s how you’re feeling. I don’t know what to suggest to help you. I’m so sorry.

Have you seen an osteopath anywhere along the line? I am not sure/have reservations re chiropractors - but I do rate osteopaths (preferably ones who are also cranial osteopaths).

I gather McBowen is also a good idea (though I've not tried it myself).

Sounds like your health problems are noticeably more severe than I've had - mine were, in the main, back problems, but I've also seen them about a big toe that had "gone adrift" and about a leg that had been pulled out of its hip socket by a Turkish masseur when on holiday there one time.

It might be worth you paying one a visit and see what they have to say.....

Whoops - maybe I used wrong word of "McBowen" - think I mean McTimoney and/or Bowen Technique...

a leg that had been pulled out of it’s hip socket

Good grief! However did you walk on the journey home?

madalene

^a leg that had been pulled out of it’s hip socket ^

Good grief! However did you walk on the journey home?

Partial displacement - not whole leg pulled out.

I certainly learnt a lesson about trusting my instincts there - this was a holiday in Turkey and it was a woman doing these genuine Turkish massages. Boy - do they ever "twist and turn" you like a pretzel and I'd never have one again. I didn't know one's body could be twisted around quite like that and I should have trusted what I saw in her eyes when she looked at me to start with. I just told myself "Don't be ridiculous - how can she possibly hate you? she's only just met you". I was right though - and I'm not convinced that was an accident. Maybe she hated what I represented? - ie a woman from a country better-off than her.

So she just twisted it out of its socket just enough one couldn't spot by looking at it and it would just play up some of the time/not all of the time. That took some persuading to get my osteopath of the time to grasp it around the very top of that leg and "sorta lift it and slot it back into place" and that did the trick. I can see why a man would have reservations about doing that to a female patient - but, by then, I was desperate to not have intervals of a few weeks on/few weeks off of aching at the top of my leg and on that hip and it was sorted once and for all. I was NOT going to have a hip replacement some point in the future because a woman in a poorer country had decided to hate me on sight - for no personal reason whatsoever....

Well that’s a warning never to have a Turkish massage then!
It certainly wouldn’t help our OP with her hip problems.

And if you’d sought help from the NHS you’d have been put on one of these flipping ‘pathways’ which is a misnomer for delaying treatment in my opinion.

A friend recommended I try a back massage years ago but when I visited the spa and had to complete health questionnaire, I was told as I’d had a mild stroke and suffer with right side neuropathy, I wasn’t able to have one - instead offered a warm waterbed massage in dark room - it was a pleasant experience for the 10min session but no hands on me..

Total sympathies Bea65 I've had almost the same experience - a year ago I saw a consultant over knee pain, my xray showed that my patella was considerably worn away as it is bone on bone. The consultant said he would have to a TKR. I asked him could we postpone it for a year as I was awaiting surgery on my hand and both my feet to which he agreed. I have been back to see him recently and he's discharged me! I have asked for a second opinion which, like you, means I have to start all over again through the GP 😡

Elless it’s no wonder we’re also probably suffering with mental health issues as your physical health impacts on mental health- I don’t have the energy yet to TRY and get a GP appt-
Don’t understand why you’ve been discharged- that’s truly worrying- what is happening within the NHS?
I also postponed my THR as pain is less n R.hip and as he twisted me like a pretzel 🥨 felt pain.. so he’s agreed to see me re the hip again n 2-3 mths - but said re the spinal issue, have to see GP.. am nearly demented 😳

I think Elless was discharged because the consultant didn’t want her making his waiting list look longer. It’s the way things are now. They only want you on a waiting list if they can get to you and get you done and dusted quickly.

And Bea having to go back to the GP was the same issue I had before my hand/arm pain was finally diagnosed. The hand consultant I saw said it was nothing to do with my hand but probably my neck/spine causing the pain, but he was not allowed to refer me directly to the spinal team for an MRI, so I must ask my GP to refer me, but she said she was not allowed to refer me to the spinal team, she had to refer me to the physiotherapist. He had to assess me and take my case to the spinal team, who could accept or reject my case. It’s a roundabout and it’s designed to keep us all off waiting lists, so the NHS can pretend that the waiting lists are smaller than they are.

Yes madalene I believe you maybe correct in stating it’s all about waiting lists and statistics.. but the longer we wait for new referrals with the MRIs and scans already available, the physical symptoms are worsening and now I’m told to go back to GP - this is like being on a hamster wheel…