Well, after all this time I finally got to see my usual GP – referred because of the surgeon’s concerns about potentially high blood pressure. I’m asked to get my GP to monitor my BP and then, if necessary, treat it. The hospital had been reporting 140/90 (after several checks on different occasions) but the GP gets 165/90 and when I go to see the practice nurse for a 2nd check 3 days later it is recorded as 195/115. Well, that latter figure seems ridiculous – I have had elevated BP for a while but never that high and why would it be way over what anyone else had recorded?
The other reason for seeing her was to get some bloods done for kidney function. She couldn’t take them. I presented my hand, having found from experience that getting a vein in the inside of my elbow is at least difficult whereas it’s easy from the back of my hand, only to be told “Oh, I can’t take it from there”. WHAT! There follows an unhelpful conversation during which she wants me to go to Bradford Royal Infirmary for the blood to be taken and I want to go to Leeds. The prospect of me wanting to go to a place of my choosing seemed a complete wobbler. I live in Leeds, I spend more time in Leeds than Bradford, I know my ways around Leeds hospitals. Her – “We always send patients to BRI” Me – “I thought it was a National Health Service”.
To cut a long story short, I eventually went to St Lukes in Bradford because I found out that I could walk in and get seen fairly quickly if I went late afternoon. But yet another administrative failure – I could not find any reference to phlebotomy or blood tests on their website! So I rang and two very helpful ladies told me where and when to go amongst the various options available . The practice nurse had told me to go to BRI, much better options were available.
I’ve also got an appointment for the sleep apnoea clinic, to collect a blood oxygen monitor.
2 responses to “A visit to the GP”