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A TIREDNESS OR cough that just won’t lift. Bleeding between your periods. A lump that wasn’t there before. Those changes can bring on worst case scenario thoughts: what if it is cancer?
You ring your GP and they order tests, and maybe make a referral to a specialist. This will often lead to a reassuring: “You have nothing to worry about, it is just…”
But what if you can’t make that call to your GP? What if you don’t have one?
This is what we faced, as a family, a couple of years ago.
It was summer, we were on the landing upstairs, my husband was wearing a cotton t-shirt. I brushed my hand across his chest in a light caress, I got a shock. “What’s wrong with your chest?” I lifted up his t-shirt to look at his mole: it had clearly changed.
He had noticed it too, but it was my reaction that shocked him into action. What’s the first thing you do when this happens? Well, you call your GP.
That was when he discovered his GP had retired.
Somehow, Paul* had fallen through the cracks, he either hadn’t been notified or had missed the notification from the GPs surgery. In his 30s, a busy dad with two kids under five, he had little reason to visit the GP anyway. He rang around trying to get an appointment.
Not only could he not get an appointment, no one would take him on as a patient.
They wouldn’t even place him on their waiting lists. They advised him to call back at various intervals: six weeks, six months, and they might consider putting him on the waiting list.
As a last ditch effort, he tried the online doctor service through the private healthcare his company provided. It was September by now. The online doctor was great, but was a bit flummoxed by the whole thing, it’s just not what the service was for.
She chanced sending a referral letter to our local suspicious mole clinic. It worked, but the wait time was going to be long.
At his first Friday morning appointment, he was asked to come back later to have the mole removed. That afternoon, the onsite surgical team said that the mole was too big for them to remove. They would refer him to the regional team.
If you are familiar with the usual pace of Irish healthcare, then it comes as a shock when it speeds up. On Sunday evening, he got a call scheduling him to come in the next morning. The news afterwards was bad: he had at least stage 2C melanoma.
Again the lack of GP was a problem. Where would letters be sent? Who was his GP? We rang all the GPs surgeries once more.
Still reeling from his diagnosis, we explained he had cancer and needed a GP. One receptionist was quite indignant: “How could he even get a diagnosis without a GP?” How indeed.
In the end I got a tip from a friend about her GP. I explained the situation to the receptionist, and she told me one of their GPs would ring my husband back. They were willing to take him on.
You learn a lot when you go through a cancer diagnosis. From Paul’s wide excision operation, we learned there was thankfully no spread to his lymph nodes. We learned that melanoma is a tricky cancer, you have great survival rates from its first occurrence, but less good from the second or subsequent.
We learned that it usually takes 30–40 years for most melanomas to develop, and that you can’t undo childhood skin exposure to the sun. We learned that melanoma cells like to travel.
We have learned to read between the lines. Paul has regular appointments where they do full body skin assessments, and afterwards sometimes there is another scheduled excision. He has regular brain and full body scans. After the excisions or scans there is always “the wait”.
We have learned to take the time we have together as precious.
One thing we do know is that it is hard to get a referral without a GP, and that means it’s hard to get a diagnosis when you need it most, and when time is of the essence.
No one should have to beg for care or beg to be put on a waiting list for care. But this is where we are.
I go back to that indignant receptionist: How do you get a cancer diagnosis without a GP? And also ask… How do you get cancer treatment without a GP referral? Too many people are left out in the cold when it comes to GP care. We need to do better.
The author has remained anonymous to maintain privacy.
*Name has been changed.
‘Powering through and praying’ — Read more of our readers’ stories about the impact of the GP crisis here >>
This is part of our investigation into the GP shortage which done in collaboration with other members of the European Data Journalism Network (EDJNET).
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We are all suffering not just the elderly
There will be more than the elderly suffering hardship if they put the price up.
It’s not just the elderly, I’m renting at the moment and have a near 2 year old that I have to keep warm this winter. I’d wrap myself in a blanket to keep warm but she needs the heat. I cut down a huge amount last year, I limited myself to an hour a day on just to get a bit of heat into the place and piled on the clothes. The bills are high enough!!
Nicola i got news for you the people that were elected to run this country could not give two fcuks about you and your child they do not care but they will tell you they do .
Oh I know that quite well that’s why I didn’t vote for them to get in.
Nicola you is a class act
Its a con, bord gais is being sold by the goverment. With higher prices it will sell for more. Everyone change company and the rise wont go ahead
Change company all you like Bernard, Bord Gais still own the gas! If they higher the price of gas, Everyone has to pay.
Change broadband company all you want, Eircom still own the telegraph lines etc.
Love live my stove.
My mother is elderly, a small pension of about 200e a week, telephone, food, esb,gas, home insurance, propert tax,yes she gets the fuel allowence of 20e a week, how many bails of bricketts is that 4!! She has oil central heating at approx 500e to fill tank, most elderly have worked and paid there taxes all there lives, and now been screwed by the state for every last penny,this government takes the piss
She gets a minimum of €230 a week pension. Plus all the extras on top. What does she spend her money on? Maybe she should move to a smaller one bed place if she is having trouble heating her current property.
Thomas, that’s nothing but a smart arsed reply, you want a woman who’s worked…..actually its not worth getting into an argument with the likes of you
Thomas the c…
Thomas your such a dick. Stop picking on everyone.
I paid my gas bill last April and hadn’t paid it since September 2012. It was €300. We didn’t light the fire or have any other form of heating in the house.
It’s a warm well insulated house but I don’t get when people say they can’t afford to heat theirs. It was only €150 each for the 8 months for the two of us.
Loads of people get an extra €20 a week on their social welfare payments during the winter months.
If you’re saving for a shopping trip in New York and a two week holiday in Santa Ponza you might struggle to pay your bills alright.
Marie they do not give a flying fcuk about you or your family as long as the people keep watching RTE and keep listening to the media they are safe and their big pensions ,even tonight they are laughing at you .
Thomas I believe north korea are looking for new members, maybe you and this government can go over and join them
If I recall jk Rowling she said she used to sit in a cafe and have a cup of coffee each hour and wrote harry potter, it was cheaper than heating her house while the kids were at school.
It’s cheaper per hour to run your gas heater tan buy coffee
Thomas, the amount of gas you emit in your comments would heat a whole city!
Don’t feed the trolls
Thomas the troll is a bored teenager. Leave him be.
Yeah I’m the troll. The only person coming out with actual numbers, statistics and calculations to prove my point.
Most of these people have worked hard all their lives, and if the least their getting is government grants, then so be it. They’ve done their duties for this country and deserve to be treated well. We’ll all get old someday and I’d hope we’d be looked after too.
Yes I would agree with that sentiment.They deserve all the help the state can give in their twilight years.
People who want the gas increased must be unintelligent & need to be re-educated! Shame on them.
Keep an eye on your elder bro’ an sis’s, esp those living alone. While some may not like the direct approach of knocking on their door for privacy and safety reasons, try popping a note in their door saying who you are and where you live with a phone number and your close by to help. ;)
Eh lads and ladies thomas the tank reagan is a super troll, just be advised dont read or reply to anything he says.
How? They get their fuel bill paid for in their household benefits package. They are one segment of society that has been largely untouched.
That’s Bull Sh1t Thomas
Do you think we should go around touching elderly people?
Still no sign of Bord Gais massively overpaid workers being asked to take a wage cut.
They don’t get it paid in full
@thomas I’m sure you love your parents all the same
Get your facts straight before saying rent is zero!
My 90 year old uncle has to pay rent!
The only income he has is the pension! The benefits they do get have been cut, fuel, phone etc… He doesn’t use his phone but has to have the landline because its connected to his emergency alarm!
Elderly people do not have it that easy! And they do not get their fuel bill paid for them, they get a fuel allowance, none in the summer months, and it doesn’t cover all their heating costs!
Louise what rent? Local authority rent? That’s peanuts. They get €520 a year fuel allowance which would cover my costs.
Stop feeding the troll
Fuel bill paid??? What planet are you living on? The elderly have lost money from HP in the last 3 budgets!
They get €520 a year. That covers most of it. If they can’t cover it then the €1000 a month of pension should cover the rest easily.
They do not get it paid for, they get but a small percentage paid, than they pay the out standing, research facts before you shout off Thomas
My 76 year old mother pays 50€ a wk rent, 30 for gas and 14 for esb, she also has insurance, phone, food and her credit union also to pay out of her pension and im sure like everyone every wk there seems to be something else that needs to be paid, she raised 7 kids and worked full-time from the age of 13 till she reached retirement age, she can’t manage on her pension and it’s just lucky we have a big family and each give her 10€ a wk and one of my amazing nephews who is only 21 and gives his nanny 50€ a wk but not everyone has a good family.
Yes there are many like your mother that had to go out at a very early age and start working. Especially in Families that would have lost their parents at a young age. In those days there was no other way. The eldest in the family had to take the role of the parent.The pension they are getting in some cases does not go far enough. Pension should be linked to inflation.Prices are going up but it seems that the pension is not.A lot of the pensioners were denied a full dedication because of family issues like a bereavement and they had to go and work to bring food home.In many cases they were the bread winners at a very early stage in their lives. They deserve all they are getting now and more.
I totally agree Francis that pensions should track inflation. In 1997 the state pension was €99. Prices have increased by 48% since then which means the pension should be €146.
How do you suggest pensioners live on that amount Thomas? As I’ve already said my mothers bills are: €50 a wk for rent, €30 for gas, €14 for esb, I’m not sure how much on food but I’m guessing at least €40-50 now that’s just the essentials, she now has to pay €10 a month for her prescription her.
@Thomas “Yeah I’m the troll. The only person coming out with actual numbers, statistics and calculations to prove my point.”
Makey uppy numbers don’t count as statistics.
Once again the Elderly are being hit. Also people with young children who are way behind in their utility bill. Winter bills in Ireland can be very expensive because of harsh winters. The biggest bill is heating. Which ever source you use be it Gas . Electricity or Oil. They are all mighty expensive. The elderly need the heat because most of them cannot get around and one needs to move in the cold weather to keep warm. When there is an increase in Heating costs that should be taken into account. Up the allowance for the elderly with the increase to cushion the burden. On the other side of the coin we have many families with young children struggling also to meet utility bill. So hopefully the Government will take note.
T.R you are a no 1
A.H
The elderly have more ability to pay this than the rest of us.
It is said a lot of elderly are going without food to pay these bills. In order to understand their situation you have to be in their shoes .They would have been around when Taxes were very high and wages were not to good back in the 40s and fifties. So we must appreciate them and not take them for Granted. Like today many would have had to emigrate to get work like today there was no work in Ireland
Shaun you and Thomas should go off and do brokeback mountain together and give us all a break.
Why so? A senior citizen who doesn’t have an additional pensionn has 230 a week. Free travel. Medical card. No TV license. Heat allowance.
Yes they need more heat than a younger person but they are in the main well looked after.
Thomas have a w*nk while looking at your gas bill you need the release..
The home allowance applies to either Electricity or Gas not to both, and has been reduced considerably by this present government. Generalising about elderly people and what they may or may not endure is assuming what we think might be , not what we know. Assume= ass/u//me.
Elderly, and the families with childrens probably do not fit to new world order… so Gowernment trying to get rid of them. then they will have mostly people who working and and paying taxes, without getting benefits. And all the money goes to fat overseas boundholders…
Will hurt working people as well
@John – I agree. The elderly have spokespeople and good for them but this is hardship for the PAYE worker as well.
I’ve had enough…passport quick!
FG/L government are ripping us off with taxes that we are not really able to afford. They have bullied us into submission with taking these taxes out of our pensions, social welfare and salaries. The gas board have now taken a lead from them – bully the people as we did and there’ll be no problem getting your money. The gas increase is only the tip of the iceberg and is happening because of what we have allowed this government to get away with. The only solution is to take to the streets and demand the resignation of this government.
They do this every year and we do nothing about it and we can’t every one should get a pre paid meter for free and but money in it in the summer time it would help a little bit
Its a disgrace the price of gas going up wages and social welfare cuts property tax and water charges on the way budget day in oct we are all gonna be fleeced a long cold winter on the way in its digraceful we dont have a chance serious hard times ahead for all
But as usual we will sit on our arses and do nothing as usual
We need another mass. .
The reason for the rise is because the French company that was to buy it pulled out .. So the gas company want to up there income to entice company back in to buying..at our expense of course..
I think the energy regulator should find there balls and speak out-
Oh wait of course they won’t cause there in bed with them – when have they ever spoken out , I can’t recall
‘Wont someone think of the CEO’S!!’
just another rip off,if its not gas is expensive to buy on the open market we now have its expensive to transport it to ireland….esb will piggy back on this guarateed price rise and yes it is guaranteed as the energy regulator has never refused a price rise and bearing in mind he is there to protect the customer….well in 2015 we will have an additional price rise to look forward to as water bills will increase in year 1 as it to will use the same excuse as electricity companies use to increase their prices only were the electrical companies blame their increase on the price of fuel ie gas we will have irish water looking for an increase on the double as they will use the excuse that energy used to produce clean has increased ie gas and electricity….
My post has just been deleted..so much for freedom of speech the journal.ie.. Me no likey no more..bye bye.
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