Just needed to be heard for a little while

codemonkey

Ok, I need some advice from you all. I'm not happy with the way my medical condition has been handled - they've ignored NICE guidelines, refused a referal to a specialist and I think they're just fobbing me off now. I cant seem to make myself be assertive in there. So what can I do?

I don't want to make a complaint or anything, I just think I probably need to see a neurologist or something and they refused a referral.

jobbingmusician

PALS? If it's a mental health thing, does your local Mind have any advocates?

(I find it a lot easier to complain in writing than to speak assertively in the surgery )

This looks helpful, as well - http://www.gmc-uk.org/concerns/making_a_complaint/who_to_complain_to_en.asp

I think my first action would be to write to the senior partner at the practice, explaining what you have told us here - but give them a timescale (max a week?) for reply, then escalate.

tea_lover

Options..... not necessarily in any order:
1) contact PALS
2) write a letter of complaint to practice/dept
3) write letter of complaint to CE of hospital/practice manager
4) contact your MP
5) switch to a different doctor/different hospital
6) take DH or someone else you trust to your next appt with you. Sometimes it helps to have someone else in there
7) write down what you want to say before your next appointment, refer to it if you feel you're being fobbed off again

seven-day-weekend

codemonkey, just to say I have seen your post and I'm not ignoring it, just need to have a think about it.

oystercatcher

codemonkey wrote: »

Ok, I need some advice from you all. I'm not happy with the way my medical condition has been handled - they've ignored NICE guidelines, refused a referal to a specialist and I think they're just fobbing me off now. I cant seem to make myself be assertive in there. So what can I do?

I don't want to make a complaint or anything, I just think I probably need to see a neurologist or something and they refused a referral.

I think the first thing to do would be to go back and talk to the Dr you feel you can communicate best with. Explain exactly what you are worried about and ask them WHY they haven't referred you.
It could be that there are things they haven't mentioned that show them you don't have a major problem but unless they tell you you won't know.

I have had similar worries with my health problems. At one time I convinced myself that I had Multiple Sclerosis as some of my symptoms are the same. Luckily the consultant explained that if I had that then there would have been certain other signs which weren't there on my brain scans etc etc.
Similarly with another neurologist I worried about another fatal disease but he reassured me as I mentioned it.

At least if you talk to someone again it will either raise alarm bells and get you referred if you need it or they can explain exactly why they are doing what they are.

Sometimes after Dr Google tells me I have something terrible then I resign myself that it will only get worse and worse and then the Drs will find it .....and of course it doesn't get worse....

Codemonkey, please don't take this as me saying there's nothing wrong, just that I know what it is like to worry and all you can do is ask them. It is unusual for Drs to miss a referral but these things can and do happen. You need to be persistent and get answers so you understand what is happening.

Pyxis

TeaLover and JM have given some stonking advice there.

Don't know if you've already done it, but could you start by seeing another GP at the practice? And yes, write everything down in a chronological order before you go, perhaps even with a copy to hand to the GP. They never write everything you say down, and sometimes twist it, unintentionally, so giving them a copy means they have your actual words.
Make sure you tell the other GP upfront that you're there for a second opinion, not to criticise, but that you're not happy.

whitewing

I had a mental health advocate help me change my key worker at one point. It was a useful service.

whitewing

Pyxis wrote: »

TeaLover and JM have given some stonking advice there.

Don't know if you've already done it, but could you start by seeing another GP at the practice? And yes, write everything down in a chronological order before you go, perhaps even with a copy to hand to the GP. They never write everything you say down, and sometimes twist it, unintentionally, so giving them a copy means they have your actual words.
Make sure you tell the other GP upfront that you're there for a second opinion, not to criticise, but that you're not happy.

Also give them a chance to change their minds and then think i was their own idea. I read online once that vitamin K was recommended as you give birth (with the condition that I had). On the american sites, it seemed like you would bleed to death without it. I enquired and they said no, but then a few days later they had checked with another hospital and decided to give it to me after all. I am upfront and say that I google it; it is their decision, of course but I thought I'd ask. They generally will explain why or why not.

codemonkey

Thanks for the advice.

I'm not convinced there is something further wrong but the treatments they are giving me are not working and they just seem to fob me off all the time.

According to the literature I've read, they should at least have sent me for an MRI because I'm under 40. They haven't done that. I asked for a referral to a specialist and they said no. I asked for some help managing the weight gain and they told me that "fat people often blame their medication for weight gain".

I'm writing it all down. I think I'll make an appointment, take DH with me and present them with this document. If nothing else it will save them digging around in my notes. They don't seem to read them before seeing patients.

whitewing

You could pop in and see the practice manager and see if they have any tips for presenting your concerns to the doctors. They may have some good experience that would help.