medication for chronic pain being withheld

Spoonie_Turtle

meadowgrass said:

KxMx said:

Most Hospital appointments now are via phone or video call... Might this open up a referral to the Pain Clinic being useful? 

Thanks for your message KxMx. Tbh I prefer to stay away from hospital involvement, partly due to how bad things are on a gp surgery level already. Am housebound so unable to get to a hospital or the pain clinic anyway. Unfortunately there's not been a further response when I've said in the past that I can't attend the pain clinic.

Worth investigating whether you can have virtual appointments.  I don't know if there's a GP you trust at your surgery or not to ask for a referral but it's an utter disgrace people have to be *well enough* to attend treatment otherwise are left to ... well.  Nowadays they absolutely cannot offer up any excuse!

KxMx

meadowgrass said:

KxMx said:

Most Hospital appointments now are via phone or video call... Might this open up a referral to the Pain Clinic being useful? 

Thanks for your message KxMx. Tbh I prefer to stay away from hospital involvement, partly due to how bad things are on a gp surgery level already. Am housebound so unable to get to a hospital or the pain clinic anyway. Unfortunately there's not been a further response when I've said in the past that I can't attend the pain clinic.

I fully appreciate that but since Covid there has been  a seismic shift in how most outpatient appointments are conducted.

At my local Hospital it was always attend in person... Even if you only needed 5 minutes with the consultant and no physical examination.
Now phone and video call are the absolute norm.

Since GP is so useless it may well be worth trying another professional. Consultants can prescribe and if you find them more helpful you have evidence to over rule your GP surgery. 

meadowgrass

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Worth investigating whether you can have virtual appointments.  I don't know if there's a GP you trust at your surgery or not to ask for a referral but it's an utter disgrace people have to be *well enough* to attend treatment otherwise are left to ... well.  Nowadays they absolutely cannot offer up any excuse!

Much appreciate Spoonie_Turtle, and I too had thought it seemed odd to leave someone needing the Pain Clinic's input without help because of being in too much pain to get there, especially now, as you say! I'll be putting together the email to the practice manager this weekend, so it's great that you brought this up, as I can include a request for if there are virtual Pain Clinic options (I don't have webcam).

I had thought one GP I spoke with 3 times on the phone over the last couple of years was possibly at least responsive a bit, but the staff, who could easily have been telling another lie, said this week he'd said I must buy over-the-counter and reduce meds far more. Not sure, and would need to know if he had said those things first, and not able to work with if he has.

Very difficult to be treated in any way when calls restricted to 5 minutes, and most of that is taken up with explaining what health issues are, as they don't read records! Very wary of medication being chopped and changed by them, and always stick to baseline meds that help functioning, incase again bad reactions or not enough pain relief via various experiments. Will certainly see if there are virtual options available though, and if more time than 5 minutes would be involved in that; if so, can give that some thought, so thank you for suggesting it.

meadowgrass

KxMx said:

meadowgrass said:

Thanks for your message KxMx. Tbh I prefer to stay away from hospital involvement, partly due to how bad things are on a gp surgery level already. Am housebound so unable to get to a hospital or the pain clinic anyway. Unfortunately there's not been a further response when I've said in the past that I can't attend the pain clinic.

I fully appreciate that but since Covid there has been a seismic shift in how most outpatient appointments are conducted.
Now phone and video call are the absolute norm.
Since GP is so useless it may well be worth trying another professional. Consultants can prescribe and if you find them more helpful you have evidence to over rule your GP surgery. 

Much appreciate suggestion, and will definitely give it some thought, although tbh am really overwhelmed about the gp surgery stuff, and not sure I can handle bringing in hospital and consultant also. Very good idea though, and anyone more able would do very well to follow this up fully. I tend to default to least involvement with medical people and to just keep baseline functioning meds as stable as possible, after various abuses over the years and the kind of thing this thread is covering, not from fear but just to make way through as securely as can. 

GP surgery even has x-rays they can see on my records, that show very serious arthritis in hips particularly, yet still behave as do regarding deliberate reducing of critical medication, so am not very confident overall in their level of response to anything or anyone pointing out chronic need for pain relief.

If I can secure baseline meds through talking with the practice manager at this point, that will be something. If not, Healthwatch are saying nhs complaint, with ICAS support, which is an option I'm not sure I can do, as previous nhs complaint/ICAS was very destructive and unpleasant, despite complaint upheld. Fingers crossed the email to the practice manager goes well!

KxMx

Re no webcam, do you have a smartphone, laptop or tablet? All of those are capable of doing a virtual consultation and will have cameras. Some laptops don't but not many.

Savvy_Sue

KxMx said:

Re no webcam, do you have a smartphone, laptop or tablet? All of those are capable of doing a virtual consultation and will have cameras. Some laptops don't but not many.

And if not, a basic webcam including mic is not hugely expensive and runs off a USB slot. You wouldn't want to start a broadcasting career with one but they'll do the job.

meadowgrass

Thank you very much for suggestions KxMx and Savvy_Sue ... really appreciate. I tend towards maximum privacy, so e.g. when had to replace PC last year, didn't include webcam in selection list. But running one from a USB, which is put away somewhere otherwise, could work, for sure. Will look into it.

Having problems getting complaint email sent to practice manager ... seems reception gave the wrong email address, not surprisingly, and I've just seen they deliberately gave me the wrong name ... they told me Snow was the practice manager surname, but I've just seen it's Fox. If this continues, I may need to go straight to nhs complaint/ICAS, which I'd hoped to not have to do. At least I've started recording phone calls now, which, with a previous nhs complaint, was the only thing that ensured anything was upheld.
Have just tried sending an email to the patients group/forum, after seeing that option on the surgery site, to ask for correct practice manager details, so fingers crossed ... EDIT: very fast and positive response, but also they said that this is the general practice email, not the practice manager's, so hopefully the email ends up being forwarded. As far as I understand, a response would need to be sent within 3 days.
Had wanted the complaint through before the callback from the prescriptions person (review), which is in the morning, as the appointment is with the same person who reduced pain killers last year and wrote wrong notes on system (then refused to correct them). Can send it now, and hope it goes well.

General_Grant

So HealthWatch suggest writing to the practice manager to complain about the practice manager's boss.  Good luck.

meadowgrass

General_Grant said:

So HealthWatch suggest writing to the practice manager to complain about the practice manager's boss.  Good luck.

I realise the NHS is the umbrella organisation, but writing to the practice manager, who deals with the running of that particular local surgery and staff, can address matters, the same as they have a local Patients Group for matters relevant to that particular surgery. It's also stipulated that contacting the practice manager is the first measure that must be taken regarding a complaint, by Healthwatch also. And, yes, good luck is needed!

meadowgrass

Just a little update ... sent complaint email on Sunday, but no response yet. Pre-booked prescriptions review on Monday ended up same outcome of not enough pain relief, and even included reference to that I shouldn't expect a GP, who can have 1000's of patients, to be checking records/treating correctly!
Healthwatch recontacted me today, to ask which surgery I'm referring to, as they're getting a lot of information about various GP surgeries and are having a meeting to explore what's happening and what they can do about it; not response to any further points, except to thank me for info.
Have ordered from one of the online links Spoonie_Turtle kindly posted, to supplement pain relief myself; maximum order at independentpharmacy was 2 boxes of 84, but glad to have dpd delivery option also, rather than not knowing which day delivery could be.
Under no illusions that pain relief withheld so people go to online options, which no doubt leads back to nhs purse filled, but, left with no option when it's about being able to function safely.