That's awful
Although I'd suggest that you need a half decent GP more than anything else: I have one that fights for my corner quite a few times, especially when secondary care types don't understand drug interactions and thus don't seem to care if I don't get access to the pill in hospital.
(mmmm curry doesn't really understand this sig lark, Thu 4 Mar 2010, 16:11, 1 reply)

As far as that goes I'm pretty screwed
I'm currently at university and registered with the uni clinic as it's the easiest one to access (on the basis that if something goes wrong I can get myself there without too much stress.) I'm still registered with the specialists, who have written lovely notes to put in my records, but in a student clinic they obviously don't have time to study each case at detail.

When I first got to uni I fought pretty constantly to have my records sent over, and made sure that certain things (like the fact that I'm allergic to pretty much every topical medication under the sun) were on my info. This week I found out that they don't bother checking medications for certain ingredients and "If you're allergic you can always phone us."

...I think the problem's more a communication thing here. Although my mum was refused medication on the grounds that "Michael Jackson died from an overdose, right?" So maybe people are just idiots.
(Sivvus trolley collision in the fruit aisle led to a jam, Thu 4 Mar 2010, 20:58, closed)

Switching between PCTs is a pain in the arse like that
I'm sure no pdoc above Banbury actually knows of any treatment for bipolar disorder other than "t'lithium" and "t'Zyprexa".

My personal pet hate in that area: being told "well, don't you know a lot about this?" when I explain what I take and why, including the history. I then have to give them the bombshell that *my* *last* *GP* told me.

Find one person in your uni docs. Only book appointments with that one doctor. Best to find one that isn't part time, so it's easier to get the appointment. Make them remember you, and if you're a lovely soul, they'll also like you.

Doctor's records take up to 3 months to transfer between surgeries as they'll all still done on paper, as you most likely already know, so keep prescription boxes to prove what you've been on - again, I'm sure you already do this. You're entitled to all your referral letters to specialists and copies of the letters the specialists send back to your GP too.

Hopefully, if you find the right GP, almost all of this is unnecessary - most of them know how much the PCT screws them about and know a few tricks to get round them.
(mmmm curry doesn't really understand this sig lark, Fri 5 Mar 2010, 14:40, closed)