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Private PSA test

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User

Posted 02 Nov 2023 at 11:20

Many GP surgery staff are not clinicians don't have much grasp of decimal numbers, and even less so the significance of < and >. Unless they handed you a printout of the lab data (or emailed it) in a way which didn't require them to understand or transcribe it, I wouldn't bet much on it being correct.

User

Posted 02 Nov 2023 at 22:07

So I checked with the uro-oncology nurse today about the frequency of blood tests 1 year post surgery. Up to now it's been every 3 months. She said I need to continue with testing every 3 months until told otherwise. As long as I keep getting put on the system to receive a blood test them there are no barriers to getting one at the hospital or local practice.

User

Posted 19 Nov 2023 at 09:52

PSA results: my GP surgery reported my PSA at 0.01 So my question was did they forgot to put the <0.01 sign? It is 14 months post surgery and I've always been at <0.01

Anyway they asked to repeat the lipid blood test (for cholesterol). They then issued the same form including the PSA test. How can the hospital knows I only need to repeat the lipid blood test? Well, they'll know said the receptionist.

So here I go, I don't ask, the hospital take the blood test. Do the full tests again and now I have a PSA <0.01

Then one week later the first test print is finally available...and...it was <0.01 !

So I got 2 tests at 1 month interval. The results are similar but for the first test someone copy the results and forgot how important it is for us to see the < sign.

User

Posted 19 Nov 2023 at 12:49

No problem with my GP surgery doing PSA tests. I'm on Patient know best, I can get access to all my medical records.

Through that service I got my results within 24 hours results of them taking blood.

Adrian.

User

Posted 19 Nov 2023 at 14:51

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member

No problem with my GP surgery doing PSA tests. I'm on Patient know best, I can get access to all my medical records.

Through that service I got my results within 24 hours results of them taking blood.

Adrian.

I wish we ALL had that to take the PSA result anxiety out of our lives😟

User

Posted 19 Nov 2023 at 16:09

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member

No problem with my GP surgery doing PSA tests. I'm on Patient know best, I can get access to all my medical records.

Through that service I got my results within 24 hours results of them taking blood.

Adrian.

I wish we ALL had that to take the PSA result anxiety out of our lives😟

Believe you me mate, I've had plenty of PSA test stress. I can remember having tests at two local hospitals and ringing urology depts for results and no-one replying. I can remember leaving messages on the phone begging for someone to call me back with my results and no one replying. I can remember my GP refusing to pass onto my urology consultant my PSA results due to cost implications, because they were in different Trusts.

I can remember fighting my corner until I achieved the service I now receive and deserve.

I believe Patient knows best is a national service. Do you use it ? If not I suggest you do. If your local GP refuses to do post op PSA results challenge the refusal.

I'm a great supporter of the NHS but sometimes their service is poor. You either settle for second class service or you demand what you're really entitled to.

Adrian.

Edited by member 19 Nov 2023 at 16:19 | Reason: Not specified

User

Posted 19 Nov 2023 at 16:14

'Patient knows best' is national but not all NHS Trusts use it and GPs are free to decide which system they want to have - or whether to have one at all. In our area, my Dad's GP uses SystemOnline while our GP uses Patches - our NHS Trust doesn't use either of those.

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

User

Posted 19 Nov 2023 at 16:46

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member

Cheers Lyn. I'm on SystemOnline and I find it brilliant. It saves hours and hours on the phone, trying to ring clinicians for results.

User

Posted 19 Nov 2023 at 18:15

I’m in Scotland so goodness knows WHAT system we use…but I’m going to ask. It kind of annoys me, I go into the surgery to ask for my results, the receptionist tells me they have them but can’t tell me because the GP hasn’t reviewed them🤷🏼‍♂️ Do they NOT understand how stressful it is waiting on the results?

and then to cap it all when they DO decide to tell you they say ‘Normal’…well what use is THAT to us? So you have to ask ‘What is the actual reading?’😡

User

Posted 20 Nov 2023 at 18:10

I've got all the tech sites: NHS App, Patch, Patient Know Best and SystmOnline. For tests results it seems that the most reliable site is Patient Know Best. Unfortunately someone decided that I cannot see the PSA results immediately and they are visible only after 1 month.

In a way, I think I'm in the lucky ones category, having had no side effects and still <0.01 results after one year.

I was on active surveillance for 3 years and still I wasn't stressed to live with cancer. Now I'm in a better situation with hopes that this cancer is gone. So as long I can access the results on my own and make sure that the < sign is on, waiting one month won't make a difference. I was thinking to sort out a better solution and asked to get an appointment with my GP but was told there was nothing available.

User

Posted 20 Nov 2023 at 19:02

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member

Hi Eric,

I'm on Patient Knows Best, for hospital records and appointments and there is at least a months delay for results.

But my GP is on Systemonline which enables me to get PSA results within 24 hours.

I'm a firm believer that you should get your PSA results ASAP. I certainly wouldn't want to wait a month for them.

Only 2 months after my prosectomy I had a heart attack and was in a hospital ward awaiting an op. During my stay there, my urologist contacted me for a PSA test. I asked one of the nurses on the ward if she could do a blood test for me. She took a blood sample at 10pm and gave me the results at 6am the following morning. Now that's what I call service. 😀

User

Posted 20 Nov 2023 at 22:08

I take away a blood form at each Onco appointment then 2 weeks before my next appointment go to the NHS drop in centre, provide the sample and 2 days later ring the Specialist nurse in Urology who provides PSA and Testosterone numbers over the phone .

This has worked very well post COVID, however like others have said the couple of days waiting between test and results are somewhat unnerving.

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