Having been requested to have my latest PSA test by the local hospital, they stated they would send 'the form' I've been waiting daily on the post for a letter that was never going to arrive, even after a prompting by me a week ago and a promise that they would send one off it never came.
Turned up for my appointment and immediately was asked "Do you have the form" What followed was the nurse going off to check with the GP to see whether it was ok to proceed and me left wondering whether I was going to get a PSA test or not.
Post treatment and up to now, it's simply been a matter of booking an appointment every three month, - no question of 'the form'
While I can understand the need for budget controls, I don't need this hassle.
So I'm thinking of paying for the tests.
Ideally I would have them done locally in the surgery if they have a mechanism for payment - this would ensure the same laboratory is used and that I can continue with results down to one decimal point- which suits me.
Another advantage is that if the intervals between consultant visits get longer, I can have interim tests to give me some idea of how things are going, I don't suffer from test anxiety (although my PSA is rising slightly) but it would be nice to know how things are going.
The local private hospitals are air drive away and may well put on a higher 'mark-up'
Of course I can phone around next week but in the meantime, does anyone have any ball park idea of how much these tests can cost to the individual?
Dave
Not "Why Me?" but "Why Not Me"? |
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Hi Dave
I was just passed from Urology to Oncology after my op , but was given 6 PSA blood test forms to use when required by any specialist , even tho my Urologist is the requester. I can't understand the messing around if you are post-treatment. It doesn't make sense that you should need to go private for bloods tbh. And do you really want to over-check your progress at your own expense , looking for small movements ?
I agree at times I feel I'm not being properly monitored and have to steer my own progress so I know where you are coming from. Sometimes a simple call to the GP office or Urology secretary is all it takes to straighten things out again
Having googled it , I have just found Spire Hospital blood tests for £145 per go. You would have to look into it or contact them !
Best wishes Chris
Edited by member 28 Aug 2015 at 17:50
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User
Dave, can you not go down to your surgery and ask the receptionist (or nurse if that's what it takes) to print you off the blood test form.?
It is so wrong that there is no standard for any of these things.
Why should it be different where you are from where we are.
Our GP has just given John two forms.
One which he has already used to get his latest PSA and one for the hospital appt in November
I have to say it took us by surprise that he would be that far thinking but it saves John a journey back to the surgery.
For the previous PSA he just explained tot he receptionist he need one for his next hospital appt and she printed it off.
Have you been down there and stood in front of them to ask for it?
Ah. I've just re-read your post and I see it's the hospital who said they would send it. Wouldn't bother with that if I were you. Just get it done through the GP, ring for the result before you go back to the hospital and take it with you.
It's easy for left and right hands in hospitals to not work together or even know what the other one is doing !!
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Dave
I have to have blood tests done every 3 months too, of course not for PCa but it is the same procedure. I see my rheumatology consultant every 6 months he gives me 2 forms I can go to my GP with them or to the blood clinic at the hospital. If I go to my GP the test comes out of their budget but they do not worry about that. If I go to the hospital it usually involves a longish wait so I tend to use my GP
The forms are just a means of requesting the right tests and sending results to the right people.
No way should you need to go privately for this. So go to your surgery and ask them to raise the forms and make the blood tests available.
xxx
Mo
Edited by member 28 Aug 2015 at 22:17
| Reason: Not specified
User
Hi Dave,
I am not sure from your post who has asked you to get your blood tests done at the hospital? Did your hospital ask you the get the tests down both them, the hospital, or did your GP's surgery ask you to go to the hospital to get them done?
You are the only person I have heard of who has had to go to a hospital to get post op, or post treatment tests done.
My GP surgery Nurse does it for me and I get my results within 3 working days. They are not SS just basic, but there latest this week was 0.01 Normal. I am happy with that. :-)
As far as I am aware the super sensitive test costs about 4 or 5 times as much as the basic test, and I was told that the difference was felt to be not worth the expenditure. If you are aware that your PSA is rising, you may wish to ask for SS tests all the time? Or you opt for free NHS basic testing.
I am not sure of the value of SS v B when a PSA is known to be rising?
Have you clarified with your GP what tests they can and will provide on the NHS FOC to you?
dave
Edited by member 28 Aug 2015 at 22:15
| Reason: Not specified
All we can do - is do all that we can. So, do all you can to help yourself, then make the best of your time. :-) I am the statistic. |
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Many thanks for the responses.
Sorry for any earlier confusion, but I should clarify.
The local NHS hospital oncologist required me (by telephone) to get a blood test from the local surgery. He promised to send the form but despite a further prompting, it never arrived.
Up to now, I have never needed 'the form' Just contacted the local surgery and asked for the test.
This time the conversation went like this.
Receptionist at Gp's Surgury: Has the GP requested it?
Me: No, the oncologist at the hospital.
Recept: In that case, do have a form? you will need one.
Me: That's Ok, the hospital is sending me one.
Recept: Fine, bring it with you when you come:
It was explained at the time of the test that the importance of the form was to determine whose budget the test comes from, from the practice or the hospital. I gathered that the surgery regards it as important that tests requested by the hospital does not come out of their budget.
Dave
Not "Why Me?" but "Why Not Me"? |
User
Hi Dave (Countryboy)
No it was the hospital requiring me to have a PSA at local my local GPs' surgery.
From where I sit, your tests are sensitive, I've never had a result down to more than one decimal place, eg <0.1, 0.4 and so on. (latest is 0.7)
That's precise enough for me and I don't need it down to another decimal place.
The only reason I would think about getting interim tests off my own bat between consultations would be for planning reasons more than anything else - I envisage a time, hopefully not for at least a year or two when the urologist is going to increase the time between consultations and do nothing about hormone treatment until PSA rises to 20. In which case getting a PSA at six months rather than a year, say. enables me to plan travel ahead in the knowledge that there won't anything in the next consultation which will cause me to change plans.
I don't need to do that but I want to avoid situations like the present one, where I am waiting for some diagnostics and treatment and sod's law says that after waiting ages for it, it will crop up in two week's time when I'm off a long haul. Not a big problem, I can get diagnostics (scans) delayed but I'd rather avoid such clashes
Dave
Not "Why Me?" but "Why Not Me"? |
User
I think we were paying £175 per test but recently, John has just had them done at the GP practice without the form - the down side is that the uro and onco are not automatically notified of the result and so he has to phone both secretaries to tell them the results are due.
My view of your situation is that the specialist needs to get his act together and send you the form! Why should the GP practice take over if that means your specialist doesn't get the results direct? Different I think for men whose uro has more or less closed the file and passed care back to the GP, but you are not in that group
"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard
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Thanks for that Lynne,
The form arrived in today's (Sept 1st) post - it showed that it was actually printed on the 25th so even allowing for a Bank Holiday, it's taken a long time to get from printer to me.
I'm in an odd situation at the moment; Oncologist, this time's PSA requester, is NHS, Urologist, who refers me to the onco is private (at least for the time being!)
As my PSA test for the last three years have been requested by the Urologist and done by the local GP, I was getting tests that strictly speaking, I should have paid for. However, I wasn't going to press them if the subject of payment didn't come up and it never did (nor the question of a form until now) Also if I'm honest, I didn't fancy paying for the privilege of making a 50 mile round trip to the local Spire just for a test that I was getting free from my local GP.
However I wouldn't have minded paying the GP if there was/is a mechanism for doing so as I'm sure that the GPs' surgery would have balked at a free test had they known if was for a private consultant and my benefitting from their ignorance doesn't entirely sit easy with me.
I don't want to sound too virtuous- I'm not but I guess it's a bit like knowingly getting too much in change and not saying anything about it.
Mind you, at £175 a go, I'm not going to fall over myself to pay !
Dave
Edited by member 02 Sep 2015 at 00:18
| Reason: Not specified
Not "Why Me?" but "Why Not Me"? |
User
Just a couple of footnotes.
The form turned up on the 1st Sept, having been printed out on the 25th of last month. Too late now as the surgery pays, rather than the hospital (things have become very budget conscious now).
Secondly and more important to me, was that I was telephoned by the onco to say that my PSA test result was now 0.6, a drop from 0.7 (I've never been on hormone treatment so no effect from that)
Now it could be a tiny drop from say, 0.71 to 0.69 but even so, I'm happy it's dropped, but more welcome was the news that it hasn't risen.
Dave
Not "Why Me?" but "Why Not Me"? |