NHS incompetence:
Back in early June 2020, via an email to my GP, I requested a consultation with a NHS Dietition, re. a renal diet, after weeks of the Operation Shielding food parcels had left me with exacerbated creatinine levels.
At first I had my time wasted in a phone call from a weight watchers coach, who had no knowledge of the renal diet.
I contacted my GP again, by email.
I was sent a letter in early June 2020, re. an appointment for 21st July 2020, at 9am.
9 am came and went.
9.15 am I get a phone call from a woman, a general practise dietician, she tells me, who has no knowledge of the renal diet. She's only just read the GP letter and needs to refer my case to a colleague.
I'm assured that I'll be contacted later on this morning, and so I wait by the phone, till 1pm, because they are using my landline, claiming that my mobile number simply takes them to my voice mail, though no message is ever left to verify this, and though I phoned my mobile from my landline and all was well.
By 1pm, after 4 hrs by the phone, no return call ever comes. No text msg to say that no call will be forthcoming today.
What a shambles!
I'm disgusted by the NHS.
Thank God for 'Dr Google'!
Since May I've been able to do my own online research, re. the renal diet, and, thanks to delayed access to online food shopping, have been able to make dietary changes, in the interim.
If I was relying on the NHS, I'd probably be dead by now, or at least have irreversibly damaged kidneys.
I was called after 1.15pm.
It was a call worth waiting for. Thankfully the dietician was excellent: knowledgeable, professional, well-versed re. my blood test results, etc.
She was very helpful!
My faith in the NHS has been restored.
I sent an email, thanking my GP for arranging the consultation.
But the dietician did say something very revealing.She said that GPs don't tell patients, early on, about their elevated creatinine level until it reaches beyond 140, because early intervention often has 2 negative outcomes:
1. patients develop 'diet fatigue' and resort to old habits
2. patients develop additional health probs through excessive adherence to renal diets, eg. cutting out protein all together.
My response is that this is an unacceptable level of (racially biased?) low expectations about patients' ability to respond constructively.
My response is that it should be a criminal offence to withhold medical information from patients, especially when, in the light of such information, patients make effective responses.
eg. I went from 128 to 97 re. my creatinine levels, within a year, once I knew about the renal diet.
The healthy level in to be under 90.
Since the covid 19 lockdown, and the further internet-based info that I discovered, about the renal diet, I've made even further dietary changes and have had none of the chest pains that I was still experiencing in Jan 2020, when I had my last blood test.
I seriously think there should be a major investigation / public inquiry into this situation.
I don't believe that I'm the only one who has had this experience.
The CKD forum that I follow on FB, make it clear that many people have had similar experiences.
I think of poor mum, especially, dying before her 69th birthday.
I think of all those black and asian people with kidney issues.
How long had the GPs just sat back and watched the creatinine levels increasing, over 90, and not informing the patients.
With me, it was over 10yrs!
Thank God I've been able to reduce my creatinine levels, and can feel the health benefits from doing so:
No more chest pains during and after my 3 mile runs,
No more swollen ankles
No more heavy leg sensation, even when the ankles aren't swollen
No more tangy breath
No more excessive response to insect bites.
No more stinky sweat - I still sweat, but it is less pungent
No more excessive night time urination
Many on the FB forums can never lower their creatinine levels, no matter how strict their diets.
Too much damage has been done, over too many years, all because the GPs withheld crucial medical information.
