Broken NHS

They keep saying that “The NHS is broken”… But I find more than anything else, it’s The NHS People inside it, that seem to be more “broken” than the system.

They don’t use the system. They keep you out of the system. They forget about you — either inside the system, or to even put you into it. They treat you badly, judge, patronise, belittle, debase, & ghost  you. They refuse to listen… especially if you're a person who is Chronically Ill, Disabled, Neurodiverse/Different/Have "Challenging Behaviour"/has a history of substance (mis)use, or a Teenager/Child.

I’m really truly getting More Than REALLY SICK of GPs being the “Dragons at the Door” of the NHS — because like their counterparts of N& E… They CONSTANTLY get it WRONG when it comes to being Different, Disabled, Chronically ILL (key word there), or have “deficiencies” like Learning Disabilities and being Autistic.

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Just realised that after going ALL the way to a far-off Speciality Hospital for Pain Clinic, after they dutifully set up a new Pain Meds Regime to help get things going better…

The GP has been REFUSING to properly abide by what they said...

And, horrifically, this is NOT The first time we’ve had to fight a GP over what a damned CONSULTANT has said should be done [?!]— THAT shouldn’t be even ALLOWED. They know a DAMNED sight More than any GP about Their Specialty, after all.

The worst one, though... That was about five years ago. A GP [of the same practice] doing that — going behind our backs AND that of the Consultant — decided to not just Second-Guess what the consultant had wanted and BLOCKED the requests for regular District Nurse Support & prescriptions needed to do so, but went so far as to talk to a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT Consultant or… Person… at that Department, and go by THEIR recommendations instead.

• When we went back to the actual Consultant and told him what was happening at an appointment… Well. It’s a good thing that GP wasn’t in the same room right then. We asked outright, “is it normal for a GP to intervene with Catheters?” … “No, not at all…. Why?” … “Because —” and we told him everything... “OK, thanks for telling me. I’ll write them a letter.”

After that, there were NO Problems with it whatsoever. Unfortunately, by then, we had been through MONTHS of traumatic, degrading, blanking and ghosting through everything we said — argued! — and only got demeaned by inhumane, bullying and belittling Power-Tripping Snugness.

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It’s taken FIVE months to even get a phone call about it from them. Five Months Of Life & NOT Living … WASTED.

It’s all been about leaving messages at Reception for the GPs to actually DO what the Letter SAYS…. But None of that gets done either.

They were happy to give more Tramadol… But the GP doesn’t want to — 

          — With the Tramadol, the GP just comes back with “oh that’s for when you REALLY Need Them” … “Yes. Yes, I DO Need them, the FULL Dose EVERY DAY for Now , because I LIKE DOING STUFF that involves not dying of pain in bed. The FULL dose is to HELP me get to the point where the yoga and whatever ‘should’ start helping.”

        — GP then comes back with “oh but they’re really addictive, we don’t want you to get addicted to them” …. “Addicted? Haven’t been addicted to anything in my life[!] (unless you count Hyper-fixation on cool stuff like music, games, bands, etc….?!)… I Just want to be able to manage doing things for myself and stop being bedbound."

          — GP, via the receptionist, says "No Extra Tramadol For You."

         — Asked about another Pain Killer on the list from the Pain Consultant — Nefopam. Their Answer This Time? "Sorry — No Nefopam for you, the local health board doesn’t 'DO That'... ".

                       DAF’K?! What about an alternative then?“Oh, the GP is sending them a letter to recommend something else”…. Again I cannot reiterate this enough — WHAT. DAF’K — Is This Bollx??

So...... The Upshot after FIVE Months waiting on the answer to the question is on this? NOTHING. No answer has yet been given by GP as to whether there is something else they give instead.

The ONLY thing they allowed was to start on the BASE dose of Duloxetine, that’s supposed to be monitored and raised as necessary. Nope to monitoring, nothing said about raising it or not.

Other than that, a request to see a Rheumatologist, like it said on the letter. There has STILL been NO answer to the constant question left with Receptionists — have they actually made the referral yet? … Tumbleweeds.

Oh, and to even GET this phone call?? THAT took a (phone-scanned) a Reprinted & Annotated Copy of The Letter from the Hospital Consultant of the Pain Clinic (because now they can’t even FIND theirs, apparently), directly sent to them by us, enclosed along with an EXTENSIVE letter of information and requests and reasoning.

It REALLY shouldn’t be THIS HARD, or THIS way.

They should just DO THEIR JOB [of giving you HEALTHCARE] and NOT try to judge you, assume you, look Down on you, leave you WASTING AWAY and DEBASING You, because you’re Disabled, ILL and Need Their HELP.

And Most of ALL — STOP Second-Guessing what the Consultant says Outright — without even Getting Back To THEM First about it all — and just...