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Services for people with rheumatoid arthritis

Presentation to GP and referral

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Transcript

SPEAKER 1:

I think it took me about 2 or 3 months, to be honest, to go and see my GP initially, because I actually thought it was something that would go away. So my first visit to a GP was probably after about 2 months. It was a very typical trip to see my GP; he had very little time for me, he didn't listen to all of my symptoms and diagnosed me with plantar fasciitis. I think it was probably another 2 months before I actually went back because I didn't want to be annoying a very busy GP and felt that perhaps I was making something out of something that wasn’t really there. I went back, saw another GP, who actually this time listened to me and spent some time with me (rather than looking at her watch), did a little bit more investigation as to the symptoms I had, asked me more questions and actually suggested that ‘it might be something like rheumatoid arthritis’ (which threw me somewhat!) but suggested at that point that she’d refer me to a consultant for a further opinion, or for a more detailed diagnosis.

SPEAKER 2:

Initially I only went to my GP because I was a student nurse at the time and I was working on an elderly care ward and it was only because one of the patients actually offered me her bed because she felt that I looked more in need of it than she did, that I thought ‘oh, this is really interfering with my work and people are starting to notice; I need to do something about it’. Well, my initial GP wouldn't refer me. One day I took my mother along with me (I was 19 by now, so not used to taking my mum to the GP with me when I was at 19) but we were just at the end of our tether because she knew I was ill and I knew I was ill and we weren’t getting anywhere. So I went to the GP with my mum and he basically said that I was a ‘neurotic teenager who was unhappy with her career choice’ and I just left his office, crying. The School of Nursing referred me to the occupational health department at the hospital in which I was training and the occupational health consultant took one look at me and said ‘oh, you’re far too stiff for somebody of your age, you need referring to a rheumatology consultant’ but the occupational health consultant at the hospital could not refer directly to the rheumatology consultant, so I went back to my GP and told him what had happened and he still declined to refer me to a rheumatologist. So I went to see another GP within my practice to get a second opinion and it was then that I was referred to a rheumatologist - by this time it was over a year since my first symptoms.

SPEAKER 3:

On my third visit to the GP he told me he suspected it was rheumatoid arthritis and he referred me to the hospital and it took me about 6 weeks to get the appointment and then from there I’ve been seen by the consultant and he confirmed that it is rheumatoid arthritis and he did warn me how serious it could be if I didn't get treatment straight away.

SPEAKER 4:

I went to my GP and they did a test for rheumatoid factor and the rheumatoid factor came back negative and so he said to me ‘well you haven’t got rheumatoid arthritis’, so I was really pleased because I thought ‘fantastic’ (because it was quite a scary thing to be told you have). Then he referred me to a specialist and I went to see a specialist and I didn't really know why I was seeing them (because I’d been told ‘you haven’t got rheumatoid arthritis’). I was handed all these strong drugs and I was told to take all these pain-killers and toxic drugs and I was obviously with my mum and we said ‘why do I have to take them’ and she said ‘well, of course you’ve got rheumatoid arthritis!’ – like Dr Shipman, she didn't have any bedside manner or compassion. It was quite a scary thing to be told because I had been told by my GP that I didn't have rheumatoid arthritis and then suddenly I’m being told ‘of course you’ve got rheumatoid arthritis!’ and it was quite daunting.

SPEAKER 5:

My GP said to me ‘I think you’ve done something to yourself, I’ll send you to the physio at the hospital’. So I waited for about a month for an appointment to see the physio and she taught me some exercises to do, which made the situation worse [laughs]. I did the exercises for a few months and I thought I was getting worse but then one evening I had such an awful pain in my arm, I just couldn't move, I couldn't move my arm at all. My husband was so worried about me, he took me to A&E, went back to the doctor’s after that and he sent me away, saying it was still probably a torn muscle ‘carry on with the exercises’. About a month or so after that I had an awful pain, I think in my leg (I can’t quite remember), I went to the hospital, the A&E man said to me ‘tell your GP you need to see a rheumatologist’ and when I went back to the doctor’s and told him that, he wasn’t very pleased but he did at least send me away to go and do a blood test; that came back as a positive inflammatory reaction and I then had, I think, 2 weeks’ wait before I saw the consultant at the hospital.

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