Two years prior to covid my score started to rise and coupled with being over weight I took up playing football three times a week at the local sports centre.
As a result things dropped back to normal ( Diabetic score 35 ) as well as some really good weight loss.
Then covid struck, sports centre closed down and so I proceeded to drink myself quite stupidly into
pancreatitis as well as re-gaining the weight I'd lost and also the diabetic score went up to 42.
It remained this way until the last test which was 44 which is borderline type two diabetes with a score of 48 being the one to avoid.
The good news is that the sports centre has opened again for football and other activities which I now do twice a week and hopefully I can make up that lost ground.
My beef with the medical centre is that they have a dedicated results line where they are supposed to give not only the results but explain their meaning with a view to future medical care also this line was set up to free up the doctors time to concentrate on other poorly people.
For some reason known only to themselves they now just say one of two things.
No further action or action needed. When asked what this action might consist of or could you please explain my results to me they default to "Sorry I'm not medically trained you need to speak to your doctor." Which when you called up in the first place requesting to do so are told you need to speak to the results people. So the circle begins.
Whilst I get the not wanting to commit themselves to something they are not qualified to do I have to ask what is the point of them? In my case all I wanted them to do is to say out loud the number on the screen in front of them (44 in this case) and I could take it from there and act accordingly but no apparently you have to be medically trained to say the number 44.
The upshot is I had to make an appointment (telephone only as they no longer wish to see the great unwashed in the flesh) which was cancelled by them at the last minute and rescheduled for a week later.
When I did get the call (2 hours late) it was a locum nurse ( my practice has a big staff turnover so not unexpected ) all she wanted to do was give me my score then move on with her day with no explanation or anything. At this point I held out and said why couldn't your results people tell me this and save a weeks worth of stress and worry on my part as all you seem to want to do is tell me a number then move on to your next phone call without any advice on future treatment?
Her reply? You guessed it.
"Well they couldn't tell you your score because they are not medically......"
They round robin continued for a bit with the upshot being I need to speak to my actual doctor for further discussion. Something that should have been done in the first instance rather than prat around with results lines and locums who have no desire or are hamstrung by red tape, it would seem, to further the situation in any meaningful way.
I can only assume that we are as a nation adopting the litigious habits favoured by many on your side of the puddle and the medical profession are running somewhat scared in that regard hence the non committal responses.
For parity I would add that it wasn't always this way so maybe the reason suggested above or government diktat has changed things, could always blame covid I suppose (grins)
Sorry for the rant but you had to have been there to believe it.
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