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Rheumatoid ArthritisArrow
Disease duration 11-15 years
Interview 29  

Interview 29

Age at Interview: 49
Sex: Female
Age at Diagnosis: 36
Background: Full time senior position within the NHS, single, no children. Family history of arthritis.
Brief outline:RA diagnosed '90 & Juvenile RA age 8-11. Significant DMARD side-effects. Had breast cancer '98 & drugs also relieved RA. Methotrexate 15mg/week, folic acid 5mg 6/7 days, daily Diclofenac, Tamoxifen 20mg & Nibedipine 20mg. Paracetemol & Zantac as required.


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Female
She had to wait hours in outpatients and was not told that the clinic was running late.

 



And  the main problem with the access is that, you, you can wait for hours and hours in the outpatients department waiting to be seen. And for people with arthritis that's not a good thing. So and you daren't get up and walk about and go and have a cup of tea because they might call your name when you're out. You know. 

So I actually said this and they said, “Well you could go and ask at the desk.” I said, “Yes I could. And there were about 50 people waiting and if each person went individually to ask at the desk the clinic would be chaos, wouldn't it?” “Oh yes”, they said. “So why don't you, like you're supposed to, under the Patients' Charter if the, if the clinic's running more than 1/2 hour late, why don't you tell people? 'Cos that's what you're actually supposed to do, anyway.” So the next time I went in, 'cos the nurses all know me,precisely 1/2 hour after my appointment was due a nurse stood up and said, “I'm terribly sorry everybody, everything's running 1/2 hour late today.” 

Two hours late or whatever it was, you know. “Sorry about that but that's the way it is, you know. But you can go and have a cup of tea if you want.” So they'd obviously taken notice of what I'd said.
Rheumatoid arthritis
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