Hospital appointment

[CoventryTrev]

Evening everyone.
How long are you having to wait to see the hospital diabetes doctor?
I have been T1 for a year and still haven't seen the doc. I rang them last week and told there is a very long waiting list due to the pandemic.
If it wasn't for DUK and this forum, I wouldn't have a clue about diabetes, carb counting and how to control my numbers.

 

[pawprint91]

Hi @CoventryTrev - we seem to be in a similar position - I know the NHS is stretched beyond belief, but I truly think this is terrible - do you have a DSN contact for queries/emergencies?

I found that by ringing and asking for an appointment with the diabetic nurse, I was able to vent my frustrations about the lack of appointment with a consultant, which then led to an appt with the doctor being made within a fortnight - as though I had “slipped through the system” as it were, which my phone call then flagged up. Perhaps worth trying if you can? I found that when I spoke to a more admin type person, they also gave me the line about the backlog due to the pandemic, but the nurse seemed to be able to sort something for me.

Sorry you’ve been left to struggle alone - I too have learnt more from this forum than from the majority of interactions I’ve had with HCPs.

 

[nonethewiser]

See mine yearly, during pandemic it was carried out over phone.

 

[DaveB]

Evening everyone.
How long are you having to wait to see the hospital diabetes doctor?
I have been T1 for a year and still haven't seen the doc. I rang them last week and told there is a very long waiting list due to the pandemic.
If it wasn't for DUK and this forum, I wouldn't have a clue about diabetes, carb counting and how to control my numbers.

Do look at the online BERTIE course which my consultant recommended and it is good.

 

[trophywench]

@CoventryTrev - you saw the diabetes team last November, so when did they say they next expected to see you? And, as they will have written to your GP after you saw them, since they changed the insulins you use (else you couldn't have got ongoing prescriptions from em without being told that) - what did they tell the GP Surgery would happen next? Try asking your GP surgery what they were informed you'd next be seen by the hospital team.

Or, I suppose you could try emailing one of the consultants directly - Dr Sailesh Sankar (his last name is actually hyphenated and the first part starts with an 'N' but can't remember how to spell it) or Dr Nitin Gholap are two I've seen lots of times. Whether you've been assigned to either of em of course, I don't know. I don't attend the Wisden Centre at Cov hospital any more cos I asked to transfer to the D Centre at the Hospital of St Cross, Rugby about 15 years ago and still go there - going next Weds. I go twice a year but the usual is once a year these days.

 

[eggyg]

I’ve never seen a diabetes doctor in nearly 16 years. Don’t think I count as I’m not a “proper” Type 1! 😉
Each region is different it seems. I did see a DSN at the hospital, once, that was over five years ago. I’ve managed on my own, and this forum, so I’ll just carry on as long as possible.

 

[rebrascora]

I get a 10 minute telephone appointment about every 10 months with the consultant plus an annual check at my GP practice. My consultant usually says he will speak to me again in 6 months but it is generally closer to a year. I know from my conversations with him that they are significantly overwhelmed with their workload and he knows they are letting people down and can understand why people are making complaints about the poor level of care they are getting but he is unable to do anything about it, because of the significant increase in patients but no extra staff.
I am fine managing on my own as I get all the info I need from this forum and Libre, so it doesn't bother me and I do sometimes wonder if he maintains my appointments just to give himself a bit of a mental lift because I am very positive about my diabetes management and I am doing well. I am sure we can all relate to needing the odd easy job in amongst all the challenging ones, just to make life a little easier.

@CoventryTrev Is there anything particular that you feel you need help from the doctor with. I once saw a registrar at the clinic who, whilst lovely, was about as much use to me as a chocolate fireguard. I would rather have no appointment as speak to someone who doesn't know as much as I do and doesn't grasp what I am telling them. Since then my appointments have always been with the consultant himself. I guess what I am saying is that an appointment with a doctor isn't always helpful. A good DSN will be of as much if not more practical use and can advocate for you with the consultant if there is something specific you need. That said, I am not sure who my DSN is. I do however know who are the reliable sources of info on this forum when I need advice.

 

[helli]

I am supposed to have an annual appointment at the hospital. It is typically more like every 13 or 14 months.
They call this a "pump clinic" and as attended by the endocrinologist, DSN and dietician.
The dietician says nothing apart from "hello" and "good bye"
THe DSN takes a look at my CGM graphs and agree they are fine. Or suggests I tweak my basal early evening because I am having too many hypos.
The endocrinologist takes a look and my blood tests. He tells me everything looks really good and then offers me statins. This has become a dance we have every year.
As I am the only person at my clinic with my pump, they might ask a few questions about how to use it as they are thinking about offering it to someone else. Again this is the same most appointments.

In addition to this, I am invited to a 6 monthly appointment with the GP surgery based DSN. I have only started making use of this in the last few years. I have learnt that the surgery based DSN knows very little about Type 1 and nothing about insulin pumps.
I take advantage of the blood tests to make sure everything is ok but keep the DSN review very short and over the phone.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

My annual pump clinic appointments (hospital) are approximately 12-18 months apart.

I also have a GP annual review, approximately every 12-14 months.

I have tried (several times) to get these to be approx 6 monthly, but the elastic nature of both makes that pretty tricky!

 

[Robin]

I got referred back to the hospital when I wanted the Libre (before GPs could prescribe them) I'd been seen just by my Gp nurse since the hospital discharged me a couple of years after diagnosis, and I was stable. They then kept giving me an annual telephone call, until this last time when they made it a face to face…only then it’s just been postponed from July 2023 to February 2024! Quite honestly, I don’t really need to be seen by the hospital now, but it was useful to keep a foot in the door, given how long it took my GP to manage to refer me back.
Like @everydayupsanddowns , everything was ticking along nicely, annual hospital appointment six months apart from my Annual GP appointment, but that’s now got completely out of synch.

 

[trophywench]

I always hope I'll see Judy (one of the nurses) at our surgery cos I've known her in that capacity for getting on for 20 years so she'll say Hello Jen and I say Hello Jude and can get more sense out of her generally than some of the others you can't chat with. The young uns are very formal. Comment that the skin on my tootsies is very dry between my toes, which is very iffy in case of any passing bacteria or spores. Well it is on the whole of my body, cos it's old and been too neglected so I do make some effort to moisturise as much as I can reach - but moisturising between toes, especially those which are too close together have 'hammered' or even crossed over the next one - can you tell me what I should get and apply, please? Oh sorry, I can't tell you that. So who on earth do I ask to try and find a decent local enough podiatrist to help me, cos the hospital D clinic tells me to ask my GP surgery! (Oh sorry, etc.)

 

[SimonP]

The dietician says nothing apart from "hello" and "good bye"

This is surely the ideal outcome, even better if they don't bother to turn up. I had bad experiences with dieticians when I was still young enough to think that adults knew what they were talking about when they told you something.

fwiw I have a yearly appointment, iirc my last two have been over Teams, I did have a f2f appointment during COVID. They are sometimes slightly delayed, but it's not terrible. I turn up to say hello and see what new things are out, I find the consultants much more interested/useful/realistic than the GP teams tend to be (though to be fair my GP is pretty good these days), which is perhaps because the latter see so few T1 diabetics and there's more reading from the script.