"Disappointment and sadness at treatment from staff"

I attended an appointment at outpatients with the musculoskeletal team after a referral for further advice/assistance with an ongoing issue that I have had with my shoulder for the best part of 8 years. Prior to attending the GP in desperate need of help I had tried chiropractors, osteopaths, acupuncture, red light therapy, shockwave therapy, sports injury specialists and just about every pain killer I could get my hands on, I have had two MRIs, one I paid for privately, one was referred on the NHS and received a steroid injection into my Ac joint, I have spent thousands in search of some relief and answers.

At this appointment, the staff member I saw forced my arm above my head, told me it’s muscular and treatable at home, offered to refer me to the pain clinic for ways to help me manage my pain and sent me on my way, no offer of treatment at all. I’m now back out there paying for a private physio who believes they may have found the cause of my pain and is actively treating me twice a week with me paying per session.

I felt humiliated, like I was making it up and being dramatic. I haven’t ridden my horse in well over a year due to being in severe pain and it affects my sleeping and mood permanently. I would just like to express my disappointment. Thankfully I’m a pretty tough cookie and didn’t allow the dismissive attitude to dishearten my efforts in finding a solution to my problems but someone else may well have taken the words as gospel and made the decision to live the rest of their life in chronic pain. I’ve always tried to pay privately where possible for my health concerns to reduce the stress on the NHS, however, due to changes in family circumstances, I’m no longer in a financial position to self fund.

I just wanted to make the service aware and really express my disappointment and sadness at this treatment from staff. They did offer to test me privately after they instructed me to purchase a ‘back nobber ‘ that I could use to treat myself at home, I did buy this back nobber, but it’s now in the bin. Totally unprofessional.