NHS attitude to young/middle aged males

[andy118run]

Bill said:

Moonhawk said:

No.......this isn't an episode of embarrassing bodies

The specifics aren't relevant to the thread.

To be blunt, it does look like "young/middle aged males" in the title should read "hypochondriacs". If four different GPs didn't see the need to actively treat your condition, perhaps it didn't need treating.

Agree with this one, I'm afraid. Pretty difficult to tell whether OP's grievance is justified without having a clue what he's worried about.

[ChasW]

Moonhawk said:

theshrew said:

Dr's - you need to know if your going to be ill 3 weeks in advance

To be honest - this kind of thing is more about the attitude some of the receptionists.

When you ring up in the afternoon saying you have just taken ill - the last thing you need is the receptionist telling you that, to get an appointment today, you should have rang at 8:30am. Clairvoyance must be a wonderful gift for those lucky enough to be bestowed with it.

Some also seem to think they are qualified to make a clinical decision/diagnosis over the phone. My granddaughter was refused an appointment with the doctor a few weeks back because the receptionist thought that it didn't sound serious enough and would only give her an appointment with the nurse. Her mum duly took her to see the nurse who took one look and said "nothing I can do - she needs to see a doctor"! (this is the same practice I went to BTW).

I would normally have agreed with you on the point about receptionists. However my OH has had a career change and now works as a receptionist in a very busy GP's practice. She is pretty sharp when it comes to judging people and the incidence of timewasters, liars and idiots is quite high. Typical example would be woman rings up in the morning wanting same day emergency appointment. At great trouble OH squeezes in appointment for late PM. Woman replies that it's not convenient because hairdresser is due. If offered a doctor of a different sex they often will object or worse still of different racial background. Males can be difficult too if they have forgotten to put their repeat prescription for Viagra in on time!

[drjazz]

We are living in an age where some people expect to suffer no symptoms of any description, rather than accept that there is nothing likely to be wrong. The difficult thing about practicing medicine is that any symptom can potentially be caused by any number of diseases, but in young people usually isn't. The job is more often about managing uncertainty, rather than making easy clear cut decisions.
The obsession with "free at the point of delivery" is outdated, and a huge change in the way health care is accessed, paid for and provided is needed e.g. paying for components of care up front, much more triage, less focus on lifestyle problems etc

[Richyboy]

I had the same. Unaware of gas leak outside window, went to gp with symptoms and given the its all in my head your too young to have anything wrong with you. To me it seems like they only treat obvious things.

[Oakey]

Richyboy said:

I had the same. Unaware of gas leak outside window, went to gp with symptoms and given the its all in my head your too young to have anything wrong with you. To me it seems like they only treat obvious things.

Gas leak outside the window? Is this a euphemism?

But being told you're too young so it can't be XYZ infuriates me, I've had three mates now suffer from throat cancer (a condition that's apparently rare in people under 40) in the last two years... and they were all late 20s / very early 30s!

[Moonhawk]

Bill said:

To be blunt, it does look like "young/middle aged males" in the title should read "hypochondriacs". If four different GPs didn't see the need to actively treat your condition, perhaps it didn't need treating.

OK - just to put a stop to this speculation about my 'hypochondria' - this is the condition I suspect I have been suffering from:

http://www.patient.co.uk/health/fungal-scalp-infec...

I have a round scaly patch of skin on the crown of my head that looks just like the one in the link above. Beneath the skin are small lesions which come and go and the hairs in that area are brittle and have snapped off. The area glows green/blue under a UV lamp (a classic test for fungal infection). I also have lymph nodes in my neck that have been swollen for a few months - something I didn't consider could be linked to the condition until I read the information above.

In addition - both my 9 month old granddaughter and cat have recently been diagnosed with the same condition (albeit not of the scalp), leading to the suspicion that I may actually be the source of infection. It was their diagnosis that lead to us reading more about the condition - and the realisation that it could be what I have had all along - hence prompting my latest visit to the doctor.

Although the condition is quite common and not serious (a point I made patently clear in my OP) - the NHS website does indicate that it is highly infectious and that it is important to try and prevent transmission.

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/ringworm/pages/introd...

Was I wrong to seek medical advice? Was I expecting too much for the doctor to, at the very least shine a UV light on my head to confirm the possibility of fungal infection?

Edited by Moonhawk on Monday 28th July 17:56

[Oakey]

Stop scratching your arse and then your head.

(i don't know if that's what you're doing, it was on embarrassing bodies once)