An engineer has slammed a GP surgery which failed to spot his cancer for a year – before he diagnosed himself using Google.
Kevin Everett‘s doctors suspected asthma, bronchitis and sleep apnoea when he visited them complaining of wheezing and problems with his sinuses.
After his condition worsened, a desperate Kevin, of Hull, East Yorks., took to Google to search for symptoms of his condition – and discovered on the NHS Choices website that he had nasopharyngeal cancer.
Now, Mr Everett is about to start intensive radiotherapy and has made an official complaint to the Care Quality Commission about the Calvert Practice in Hull.
Mr Everett said: “I have no faith in GPs any more. I just wonder if they’d picked it up earlier, would I be going through all this now?
“I was told that if it had taken any longer to diagnose, it could have spread further and then it would have been incurable.
“I was told that if it had taken any longer to diagnose, it could have spread further and then it would have been incurable.
“I know diagnosing yourself is not the best thing to do and it must drive the doctors batty.
“But, after a year of getting nowhere, it was the only thing I could do.
“If it took me 15 minutes to look at NHS Choices, why couldn’t they, as trained GPs, find out what was wrong with me.”
When Mr Everett, went to the practice last year to complain of wheezing he was given inhalers, but then developed problems with his hearing and sinuses.
A different GP diagnosed bronchitis, but a chest X-ray was clear. He was given different types of antibiotics and then steroids, but the problem still did not clear.
Despite being diagnosed with sleep apnoea and given a special machine to keep his airways open while he slept, he was still suffering.
Kevin, who is part of Hull band The Ninja Bees, says his deteriorating health affected his singing and he was then prescribed a nasal spray and antibiotic cream.
Again, the treatment made no difference and he lost the hearing in his ear.
He searched on NHS Choices and realised his symptoms were identical to those of the cancer and went back to his GP to ask for a referral to ENT at Castle Hill Hospital, in Cottingham, East Yorks.
“They put a camera up each of my nostrils for about 30 seconds, took it out and said immediately there was tissue growing in my post nasal cavity,” Mr Everett said.
A biopsy confirmed a malignant tumour and he started his chemotherapy in April, spending five days in hospital after each course.
He completed the cycle on June 6 and is now preparing for intensive radiotherapy lasting six weeks from July 6.
He has been warned a feeding tube may have to be fitted into his stomach for six weeks and recovery from the treatment could take up to three months.
“I received fantastic care at Castle Hill so I’ve seen the very best and the worst of the NHS,” he said.
A CHCP spokesman said the organisation was unable to comment on individual patients.
He said: “We would always encourage any patient or service user who is unsatisfied with their level of care or treatment to contact our customer care team, so that we can discuss their concerns in more detail.”
Kevin Everett, 60, who is married and has five children, says that he had nine appointments at the the Calvert Practice and saw five different doctors before he diagnosed himself.
He said each time he went to the doctors he spent around four to six weeks taking medication for the conditions doctors thought he had, before having to return to them when they didn’t work.
He added: “It caused everybody in the family quite a lot of worry and stress over the past year.
“They have all pretty much suffered by this and they are disappointed with the practice.”
A full statement from City Health Care Partnership CIC (CHCP) which represents Mr Everett‘s GP surgery, said: “City Health Care Partnership CIC take all concerns and complaints seriously. We are unable to comment on individual cases however, any received complaint will be investigated thoroughly.
“We would always encourage any patient or service user who is unsatisfied with their level of care or treatment to contact our customer care team, so that we can discuss their concerns in more detail.”
