Great news!! I wonder when the US will grow a pair and do the same? Doctors over here are so regulated, most are scared to care for a patient taking generics, at least mine was. It seems like they would rather have insurance companies pay the big dollars, than give somebody the ok to take generics. Crazy!!

Hi everyone!

Does anyone have any experience with a Whipps Cross University hospital?

Hi Akiniai, I’m in the UK and will send you a PM. Try not to worry, things are improving.Look out for a message above right, small blue letters ‘private messages’

Hi Gaj, yes, the HepC Trust are being more helpful recently at last, but the feeling I get is no-one wants real details being posted on forums, as my clinic said to me ‘we’re doing it quietly’ , suggesting if we post too much on public forums, it may hinder the help some are offering.

Hi RSF That’ll be me
Yes, many GPs do seem to be less restricted and mine has been amazingly supportive too. Having said that, they don’t offer such full testing like the hospitals, but are more frequent in their testing, so having both is the ideal if at all possible .

Hope you’re doing well ?

LG

Hi Akiniai, It’s probably a good idea to try and register with a more family style practice if you can? We always see different GPs at ours too, but I ask which day the Dr is in that gave me my diagnosis and book an appointment when he’s next in. Once he was away on holiday and I needed forms for blood testing so had to see another GP, but she was also fine about the tests as my GP had written it all in my notes. I did ask around to find out which Drs were popular and who had been there the longest before I booked her though, sometimes the receptionists can be helpful if you word it right. Mine have been forthcoming as to which Drs they like ! but as I say, I have now built up a good relationship with my GP by only seeing him and he’s been great.

It seems to me, GPs main concern is cost of testing. Liver Function Tesrs are quite cheap, it’s the Viral Load testing that costs. I took Dr Freeman’s GP cheat sheet in with me (above in the drop down menu), some GPs don’t know anything about HepC and are nervous about what’s involved in monitoring and my GP said this was very helpful. He did want me to be under a hospital specialist too though, but once he had one letter from a helpful consultant, he didn’t ask again and has been great.

Have emailed you & will email you again later, I’m confident with a bit of effort you can line up support, although I know finding a local, family-style GP can be tricky these days, especially in London!

One thing I have learned throughout this, is not to be scared to ask any Drs re monitoring you, just need to find one with a ‘duty of care’ . I’ve had 3 hospitals since diagnosis and my GP has been consistant.

My best support however, throughout all this has been Dr Debasis at MonkMed, he’s a star, but can’t order NHS testing, unfortunately. Also Dr Freeman has been extremely helpful and kept an eye on me, all you really need is an NHS Dr for testing as private testing is so expensive , Drs D & F are the ones who really know what’s what and are the best to seek unbiased advise from as they aren’t restricted by NHS bureaucracy.

Hope this helps.

LG

ps A clinical nurse I spoke to told me the hospitals that have permission to run trials are the ones who are generally more free to assist generic HepC patients through their trial status. She told me hospitals had to be approved by pharma to get this status.

Hi Uk Hopefull, and welcome, Please feel free to DM me (direct message in blue righting, above right)

Meanwhile, as above you should download and/or print the GP Cheat sheet provided on this site here :
http://fixhepc.com/forum/forum-gp-cheat-sheet.html

LG

Hi UK_Hopeful,

I’m so happy to hear about your mother. Well done to both of you – you fought it together and won.
Best wishes for the future.