"Blood tests"

On attending to receive some blood tests being used to support my overall health and wellbing to live well with cancer i was initially questioned by the GP about who had requested the tests, then challenged by the GP about the significant cost of the tests, the fact the GP would not support them doing regularly as this was unjustifiable, why the cancer charity i am attending couldn't do the tests themselves and how often they would expect them to be done. Eventually the result were shared with me.

I try my best to participate fully in maximising my health. I knowthat current policy is to empower patients and support them to achieve as much independence around illness as possible, maximising their health and happiness in order to reduce burden on society in the long term. I am very aware the NHS needs to take this approach to enable it to function effectively within current demands.

I found the GPs approach insensitive, uncaring and did not demonstrate any ability to consider my health in it's wider context to support and maximise ongoing well being considering my diagnosis. I am very conscious of not wasting resources and do my best to minimise my use of the NHS knowing how stretched things are. I co-ordinate my own care to reduce unnecessary appointments for example ensuring blood tests for different reasons which are requested by different departments are all put together and done on the same day to reduce taking more than one appointment, reduce using more than one lot of needles etc and reduce the number of times i experience an invasive technique so reducing infection risk and any need for ongoing treatment. No recognition of my care with this was mentioned. Just the financial burden to the practice of my request, very disappointing.