Whilst on holiday in Cornwall in September I developed severe pain in my shoulder blade which spread to my bicep and lower arm intermittently also my index finger and thumb went slightly numb
Upon return I eventually got an appointment with my gp. He didn't really say what it was. I was going through paracetamols and ibuprofen like they were going out of fashion. I was waking up 2-3 times in the night. The gp prescribed codeine which didn't do anything. I sought the gp again and he referred me for an mri scan. I contacted gp again and was told 10 days for an appointment. I eventually got an emergency appointment the next day.
The different gp on this occasion told me exactly what was wrong and prescribed gabapentine, 9 a day. This was working for the pain, plus valium at night, also he tried to speed up mri scan.
9 weeks later I had the scan and the results the same day, which was trapped nerve due to arthiritis in neck. I was referred to mats a triage clinic
Two weeks later I received a letter from mats stating I was being referred to neurosurgery dept, Southmead hospital, which is where my problems really started.
I contacted Southmead to see when I was likely to get an appointment They could not tell because I could not be put on the system because of a new "challenging" system. I rang Southmead 4 times a week for 3 weeks. All I got was we will call you back.
Then after seeking advice from my gp, I rang again. I was then immediately given an appointment saying "we have caught up now"?
This apointment is soon at Cosham. This seems to be at the mats clinic
I have now been off work for 3 months I need to get back to work and I seem to get the runaround big time not happy I only have 3 months sick pay left
And am now getting desperate as to how long it's taking to fix this problem.
"How long to fix this problem?"
About: Southmead Hospital / Neurosurgery Southmead Hospital Neurosurgery BS10 5NB
Posted by Foggy (as ),
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