ralphandcarol

Went to the doctors this afternoon for my yearly flu jab.....I am Asthmatic so need to have it.
For the first time i was asked to sit and fill out a questionaire before I had the jab.
What they did not want to know was'nt worth knowing:

Usual Q's
How many do you smoke/if you smoke?
How many units of alchahol do you consume a week/if you drink?
Are you in full control of your bodily functions, bladder and bowel movements?
Do I have home help?
Do I have a stairlift?

I will not go on but to say the list was never ending and you get the basic idea of what they wanted to know.

My question is:
Because I refused to fill in and sign the form on the grounds it was an intrusion into my private life and why the hell should any authority (namely Blair and his cronies) have the right to ask such questions about me, or anybody else for that matter,
What, if anything can they do ?

BTW, they did not stop me getting my jab.

Ralph

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

dunno the answer to your question, but it happened to me too, as im asthmatic. but im scared of needles so kinda aviod injections...

andy

RON

I think you'll find it's the practice covering their ****...... my dentist now asks me if i'm on any medication before he even dares to look anywhere near my teeth.....

DCI Gene Hunt

Yes they can withhold treatment on the basis that you have not provided your medical history etc.

Its a pain but we all have to do it, so grin, lie about how much you drink and smoke and sign on the dotted line.....

andythejock01wrx

Lie, but lie well. I cut my weekly alchohol consumption figure in half when chatting to my GP and she still said I must cut down !!

Dazza01

My doc says safe amount is 4 units of alcohol a day well i work nights so i save them all up for saturday night and go get slaughtered

whitepilgrim

Basically all thes questionairs we get thrust upon us are b*ll*cks you dont have to fill them in all they are doing is gathering imformation for Mr Blair.
Where do all the statistics come from ????? mmmmm I wonder.

Also selling imformation to 3rd parties is alspo very luctravive.

If you get some jobs worth that insists that you have to fill in the form (you got to remember that most of the time they are a total strangers) ask them to fill in the form first so you can have all ther personal details .

Works everytime.

All medical records are kept from the day you were born and passed from practice to another if you relocate.

peahead

Ralph good to "see" you on line........sorry to hear you like the rest of us are victim of a "want to know everything about you what colour socks you are gonna wear on the second tuesday in 2010!!!!!!!!!!!!" world we live in today ..........i hate it too......... i reported a lock up garage which had been broken into and i was asked such questions such as what job do you do!!!!!!!!! just being a good citizen..sometimes it it just worth answering the questions .....and save getting an early heart attack thru stress and worry..... we cant beat the system....greatfull for small mercys and relative freedom etc.......

Jonty

Apols in advance -- I'm not having a dig at you, more the health bodies. Why the need for a yearly 'flu jab..? Because you're asthmatic..? Are you sure..?

I hold my hands up here... details are a bit foggy but I recall an advertising campaign a year or so ago which effectively claimed that people with certain diseases needed the 'flu jab and asthma was mentioned. Since when is asthmas a 'disease'..? Can you give it to someone by coughing or spitting on them..? No.

Sorry, but I took offence to the campaign. My Father had asthma quite bad as a child and I was similar but not quite so bad. Since leaving school I've pretty much grown out of it (to coin a phrase) and NEVER had the 'flu jab. I'm now 33 and, er, still alive (well, as I type this response anyway).

Again, apologies. This is a rant and I'm prepared to admit it. Maybe I read too much into the word 'disease' but at the same time asthmatics DON'T need the 'flu jab just because the government says you do.

Jonts.

p1doc

anyone with chronic respiratory illness would benefit from flu jab as asthmatics etc are more likely to get chest infectionns which are more severe especially the idiots who smoke and wonder why they are on home oxygen as they dont smoke many.flu jab has been proven to decrease severity /frequency of infections thus why it is prescribed
rant over
martin

misty

He was at his doctors!!!! I have a sneaking suspision they may already know that........But hey! I maybe wrong..
dave

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

absolutley spot on. exactly what my doctor said to me when i was whining about another injection. i personally run the risk with my athsma...

andy

Jonty

Admittedly this is where I'm confused and my frustration stems from. The advertising campaigns give the impression that people with asthma (a disease, allegedly) are more prone to catching bugs and get chest infections. Surely they should be specific and advise that a chest infection would be more severe if it occurred with an asthmatic person..? I have asthma and so does my Father. Our bodies defence systems are working just fine.

Just my opinion here, no desire argue with anyone.

Jonts.

ralphandcarol

Thanks for all the replies lads, Sorry i have not replied earlier but I was so pi##ed off last nite about this questionare I turned off the computer and had a bloody good drink instead (only 2 units, Mr Blair, honest)

Jonty,
I have the flu jab because I need it !!
I too had asthma as a kid and grew out of it but as most asthmatics know (or should know) that as you get to middle age, I am now 45) it can come return. Generally asthma works in seven year cycles, most kids grow out of it at 14 but it can come back at 21 or any multiple of 7, mine returned at 42 and worse than when I was a kid, I have been on life support machines three times in my life due to asthma.

My rant was not about "Do I actually need the jab", take it from me if I did not I would not bother, it was about why should I have to divulge such personal information to my Doctor, 99% of which has bugger all to do with my current condition.

As has been said in an earlier post, they have my medical records from the day I was born, Is that not enough?

Ralph

StiDoc

Speaking as a ( friendly , I hope ) GP I thought I might chip in from my point of view:

Yes, the 'flu jab does have a lot of evidence behind it that it can decrease the severity and number of infections in the general population. Unfortunately it does not protect against every bug going around but it is designed to protect against the commonest predicted strain of flu that year ( it usually changes every year ).
The government currently recomends that it is offered to all people over the age of 65 and other people in "at risk groups", including those with asthma, diabetes etc. The reason for this is that people in these groups are the ones most likely ( although still rarely ) to suffer from the more severe complications of such infections ( including hospitalisation and even death ).
The jab is not compulsory for anyone but the pros and cons should be thought about before going for it or turning it down.
One problem often seen with the jabbing season is that, as with many other health promotion exercises, the worried well tend to be the first to sign up for it and not necessarily those who really need it. It is for this reason why, at a national and local level, various schemes are used to try and target the ones who need it.

As for the questionnaire, that is likely to have been part of an information gathering exercise for your GP practice. Many people, especially younger patients rarely visit their GP surgery so the information we hold can often be out of date. We try and avoid this by gathering the information whenever you visit, for whatever reason and although some of the questions may have been irrelevant to you they are not intended to cause offence etc. The information is then used to try and use our resorces as effectively as possible in order to provide a good service to our patients. It is NOT an exercise to gather information for the Goverment and it would be illegal for us to pass any identifiable information on to them.

I can appreciate your suspicions but just wanted to defend our ( usually ) good name ! Apologies if anyone got bored reading this !

StiDoc

p.s. by not filling in the questionnaire it would not mean that your GP would refuse to see or treat you but having up to date information to hand can make it far easier for a doctor to assess your health & illness when you do need to be seen.

ralphandcarol

Thanks for a reply that covers all of my questions and doubts on this issue.
It is just as well that my GP would NOT see me again because I refused to fill in the form because, I did JUST THAT.

I do realise that the questions asked are to cover all the surgeries patients but do think it could be a little more tactfull as to who it is handed out to, it almost seemed because I am asthmatic I am deaths door and was being singled out.
As said earlier, I am 45 and only ever go to the surgery once a year (for my jab) so perhaps i was being paranoid and it is just a way of updating THEIR records

Ralph

StiDoc

That's what we like to see - patients who only visit the surgery once a year !