Thursday morning saw me being squeezed in with an unscheduled rheumatologist appointment. It turns out that when you do cancel a 6 week appointment and turn it into a 20 week appointment then things are liable to deteriorate. Currently it's dactylitis of the index finger on my left hand.
In my pre NHS days I would have had to pay about £200 to get the finger injected with steroids. I would definitely be sorted pretty quickly but I could never afford to have any more investigation done. With the NHS I've had to wait a bit longer but not only will I get my inflammation sites injected but they are also going to investigate with ultrasound (would costs thousands to do privately) and speed up my change of medication.
I definitely couldn't afford the treatment I need privately but there appear to be a big caveat with NHS care. They will only treat you once it's become the last option. I just can't believe that it's cost effective. Had they changed my treatment earlier I wouldn't need thousands of pounds worth of investigations.
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