"Awful doesn’t even cover it - Gynae"

I have been dealing with chronic pain in various forms and trying to find answers in the last 10-15 years to no avail. I have seen a lengthy list of consultants within the NHS being pushed back and forth from one to the other. Numerous tests: several Ultrasound  Scans (USS) including Transvaginal Ultrasound (TVS), laparoscopy, biopsies, scans, scopes etc carried out and I’m still no further forward.

I have seen various private specialists, paid privately for MRI’s etc and am still fighting. Most recently my GP had referred me to gynae again within the western trust several months ago, yet the gynaecologist in question whom I had seen years previously, has rejected my referral as I apparently had extensive tests done in the past, which was 2013 to be exact.  This ignores the fact that my pain has not only changed but dramatically worsened since, not giving me a chance to relay any of this.

To me, this is a red flag in healthcare. How are they able to make out that nothing had changed in my instance? They fobbed me off to gastro all those years ago, for gastro to then refer me back to gynae, and so on.

Fast forward almost 10 years of numerous private consultations in different areas, waiting on a diagnosis, answers of any sort, I’ve still not found out anything and the pain has been progressing even further. I’ve had two ultrasound scans in Altnagelvin Hospital within the last few months which I was told were normal and showed nothing. So I proceeded to book another private consult with a gynaecologist out of desperation. I made them aware of my extensive list of symptoms and how they have been worsening and impacting on my life. They agreed that the root cause needs to be found and not masked. This is the first Doctor who has ever said anything along those lines, the first to actually listen and speak sense rather than taking the easy route and trying to prescribe medication after medication to further delay a diagnosis in the long run.

I proceeded to have another USS which showed something which can not be identified fully as of yet, which now requires surgery. The consultant whom carried out the scan was shocked as to the fact that this was missed in both recent scans carried out in Altnagelvin. I am now faced with a surgery, privately at considerable expense, within less than 1 week to find out what exactly this is that she has found on my scan. I was advised that the wait on the NHS is 2 years +

Altnagelvin didn't notice this finding on my scans. I believe this was an error on their part. They missed something that could be the potential cause of my pain. It’s horrific.

To feel that patients put trust in qualified specialists to be let down again and again. Why should one receive superior care, have notable findings produced and logged just because they have paid for the service.

This review, which doesn’t even touch on my whole experience over this lengthy period of years of trying to get to the root of my pain, is just another part of the uphill battle. Finally having a partial answer and having something show on a scan by going privately was a good thing, but now the hindrance of paying privately for surgery because Altnagelvin failed to pick up on something on my scan is what I am faced with.