I am absolutely fed up.

Because the majority of the population pay health insurance petra including pensioners. Whenever I’ve see that proposed in the UK there’s been real pushback.

Jaxjacky

Because the majority of the population pay health insurance petra including pensioners. Whenever I’ve see that proposed in the UK there’s been real pushback.

I know that.
It was all explained on the German program and in the link I put up.
I believe the biggest stumbling block to private health care in this country is our distrust of all out constitutions.
For the life of me I can’t think why, any suggestions 🤷‍♀️

Basgetti

Just a thought with this warm weather. Are you able to get to a pool? Might be nice to pootle about, supported by the water?

That would be lovely. I don’t swim though and the nearest ‘lido’ is too far away as I don’t drive any more.

JenniferEccles

May I ask those of you who are unfortunate enough to have injured your Achilles tendon, how you did it?
It sounds a particularly nasty injury with a long recovery time.

I know it’s something that tennis players are prone to.

Trying to improve my fitness using a step machine and entirely forgetting I am 75 and not 45. My son has taken the infernal machine to the tip.

youtube.com/shorts/4Hekt93uPH8?si=nK96UxhQ6-dSJ8Yp
It gets good comments, and 35k likes, so you may want to give it a go.

That’s a shame, Flippinheck. I’m a terrible swimmer but just bobbing about in an heated pool can do wonders for pain.

I was advised to use swimming as a way of gently exercising my achilles without putting weight on it. I'm not a great swimmer but I think just sitting and pumping the foot up and down would work as well. The physio at the surgery got me doing controlled walking on a treadmill, there's a fine balance between using the achilles enough to get it mobile and not over stressing it. Ice packs are useful to reduce pain and swelling but IME there's no magical cure. I had a total of five months in plaster which gave me huge issues with my back and put me on crutches but I still had to do all the rehab work afterwards as the tendon hadn't been used for all that time. I know they rarely do sew it back together these days but unfortunately there was no way mine was going to repair itself without surgery. "Flippenheck" I'm 77 and the original rupture was when I was 35, I was 60 when the repair partly broke down. It's a really annoying tendon to injure because it takes such a huge load and can easily be re-injured. There are things I can't do ie stand on tip toe and I try to ensure I wear supportive shoes if I'm walking on uneven ground or doing exercise and the bad news is that I still get painful times but as I said in an earlier post heel lifts, which are easily available do make a huge difference in relieving pain.

There was a very interesting article in the Mail on Sunday written by a GP. Her concern is about the increasing number of referrals she has sent on behalf of her patients being returned because the request has been denied. It lends some credence to the OP and makes me wonder if the reduction in waiting times has been achieved by fair means or foul.

It seems to be those who shout loudest get seen first. I have friends who have waited 2 years for operations on knees and hips. Another woman I know who managed to walk and dance OK pestered the GP and Consultant and she got her hip op done in just 4 months on the NHS!

tell your GP you’d like it documented in your records that your injury and lack of support from theNHS is impacting on both your physical and mental health.

Also consider even an initial assessment with a physio or podiatrist. I suffered from Achilles tendinitis a few years ago and got shockwave therapy from physio. It was the only thing that helped. I have a friend who couldn’t afford a consultation with private doctor. She applied for and got a credit card with six months interest free payments and used it. She paid the bill over six months. Just another option to help you return to full mobility as the wait for NHS treatment could be very long.