Coronary Care

Crises

by Penguin - 2024-01-23 10:41:15

I imagine that there must be crises across the board e.g. in lots of sectors of healthcare currently - or at least, that's what the news seems to be saying. 

I hope it can be sorted out somehow! 

Access to our records and NHS care

by Gemita - 2024-01-23 12:10:04

Piglet, access to timely coronary care has never been easy.  However, it is definitely not the case everywhere in the UK.  We are faring much better under our London hospitals.  

We are going for an echo on Friday (after a short wait) and I shall be asking to have the results posted to “MyChart” - secure online health connection - where I can view messages, access test results and much more.  This has just been set up and offered by both my hospital (Guy’s & St. Thomas’) and my husband’s hospital, (King’s College London).  I see many other hospitals we attend are also linked to MyChart.

Do you have access to MyChart under your local hospital? In the absence of MyChart, all you can do is to ask your GP surgery for a copy of the echo results, or ring your cardiologist’s secretary to email you a copy.  This is what I have done in the past.

Alternatively, do you have an online GP/NHS account and have they “enabled” you to view your health records?  If not, have you tried applying formally to your Governance Office at the hospital, for a copy of your echo results through Access to your Health Records?  I am assuming that your echo results are now available?

Have a look at the following links about access to GP health records, if you haven’t already seen.  GPs still seem to have control over what some of us can see:-

https://digital.nhs.uk/services/nhs-app/nhs-app-guidance-for-gp-practices/guidance-on-nhs-app-features/accelerating-patient-access-to-their-record/update-from-nhs-england

https://digital.nhs.uk/services/nhs-app/nhs-app-guidance-for-gp-practices/guidance-on-nhs-app-features/accelerating-patient-access-to-their-record

Some GP Surgeries have been slow to act, but mine is at last loading test results which I can now view directly but some UK members here have had this facility for some years.  

I know the health service is in crisis but that won’t stop me from trying to get the very best out of my doctors, their teams and the health service whenever I need help.  I play my part too and take good care of our health for the rest of the time.  What more can we do?   

Piglet, may I ask what you have done to try to obtain your echo results or to obtain that promised Holter Monitor, especially before your next appointment with the EP?  

thought

by Pacer2019 - 2024-01-23 17:41:19

does anyone think like i do that the numbers for heart disease ar over stated?  I mean te heart stopig to beat is a pretty common cause of death ..... all kinds of diseases can end when the heart stops and thats what gets written on the death certificate.

Coronary care here is EXCELLENT ....the main heart hospital downtown has satelite loctions out in the counties that are urgent care loctions with a heart specility.

Care really depnds on where you are ... the distribution system and how managed the care is around cost...  

Care really depnds on where you are ... the distribution system and how managed the care is around cost

by akaDM - 2024-01-23 18:38:07

The quality of care does vary depending on where you are, but finance isn't the only important factor. Availability of experienced high quality staff is a big one, and so is geography - sparsely populated regions distant from major centres always present access difficulties. 

Thanks everyone

by piglet22 - 2024-01-24 07:00:25

The newspaper article was based on a paper from the British Heart Foundation, so is a credible assessment of what is going on in the UK.

What's going on in my health trust might be a warning to others.

Harping back to Risk Assessment, chopping out face to face clinics, then reliance on bedside monitors that don't actually monitor you actively and finally, not getting back to you with the manual data upload results, is taking risks big time.

One-sided, probably cost driven decision, no patient participation.

Failed once before because of lack of monitoring (emergency PM replacement) and another one on the horizon, excellent care is something to look forward to, one day.

Gemita

I'll get back to you on the points you raised.

The short answer on all the digital stuff is that I'm using everything that I'm aware of, NHS app, access to full medical record etc.

My Chart

by Pacer2019 - 2024-01-24 12:00:52

My medical providers use My Chart .... When I was in the hospital they would run a test ...blood, echo, xray, etc...  my app would notify me and I would know the resuts sometimes hours before they came to see me in my room. It's pretty cool

can't not say it

by Pacer2019 - 2024-01-24 12:05:07

no discussion about  deterioriating health outcomes in recent times can be had without mentioning Covid - either the post virus impact or vax side effects can all play a role.

My neice is the poster child for heart diseae post covid.

Yes diabetes, obesidity , and other factors come into play but the mre we learn so does what was a worldwide pandemic and even the "cure"

Covid

by piglet22 - 2024-01-25 07:53:16

The UK was quick to shut down life as we knew it in 2020 and beyond.

The health service rightly so protected their staff and imposed many restrictions.

However, some saw this as an opportunity to prune services way beyond the end of the pandemic.

My own GP surgery seemed to retreat behind the ramparts and still give that impression.

Now it's a race at 08:30 to get an appointment or more likely, a race to get a slot on the eConsult website for a telephone consultation.

Leave it until midday and you’re out of luck.

The diabetes course I was on was ditched never to be seen again, the Well Man clinic disappeared. And of course, the Medtronic MyCareLink appeared on the doorstep.