A mother who made 200 calls to her GP for an appointment has told of her shock cancer diagnosis — which she only received by swapping surgery.
Jolene Segrave said she spent roughly two months trying to get seen at The Ridge Medical Centre, Bradford.
The 32-year-old first developed troublesome symptoms in October, complaining of extreme tiredness and itchiness all over her body before losing weight and suffering night sweats.
After a night of drinking alcohol that same month, the mother-of-three felt pain in her shoulder and arm and thought she was having a heart attack.
She was eventually diagnosed with stage 4 Hodgkin lymphoma in February.
Ms Segrave only found out she had the aggressive form of blood cancer when she decided to move her whole family to another GP practice, who then referred her to specialists.
Jolene Segrave said she spent roughly two months trying to get seen at The Ridge Medical Centre
It wasn’t until February that Ms Segrave was diagnosed with stage 4 Hodgkin lymphoma, after trying ‘hundreds of times’ to see a local doctor
The mother-of-three first developed symptoms in October of extreme tiredness and itchiness all over her body, then started to lose weight and experience night sweats
She said: ‘I called 200 times to get through.
‘[On one] particular call, when I finally managed to get through, they cut me off before I even entered the queuing system.
‘I moved my entire family out of there [The Ridge Medical Centre].’
Ms Segrave, who has children aged ten, five and one, added: ‘I thought I was going to have a heart attack. It is not something you expect to get when you are 32.
‘I would tell people that if you have any lumps make sure they are checked out straight away.
‘You might even have to change your GP like I did.’
Ms Segrave said she began to feel very unwell roughly six months ago, with a worrying array of symptoms.
But she claims screen grabs from her phone prove she made hundreds of unsuccessful calls to her surgery and once spent over 53 minutes on hold only to be cut off.
In December, she registered her family with Bradford Student Health Services, where she was given an appointment and medics found two lumps on her neck.
She was then referred via the Two Week Wait scheme — which requests an urgent appointment with a specialist for people with symptoms that might indicate cancer.
Ms Segrave was seen by a specialist at the Bradford Royal Infirmary and then sent for an ultrasound-guided biopsy.
In February, Ms Segrave received the devastating news that she had Hodgkin lymphoma, a rare cancer that develops in the lymphatic system.
Hodgkin’s lymphoma starts in the white blood cells.
It is named after Thomas Hodgkin, an English doctor who first identified the disease in 1832.
It affects around 2,000 people each year in the UK, and 8,500 a year in the US.
Ms Segrave has since started chemotherapy for the disease – which was found in her neck, armpit, abdomen and bones – and has shaved off all her hair after it fell out following a nap.
She said: ‘This type of cancer is very aggressive. There are six cycles of escalation. I am okay but the chemotherapy does make you quite tired.
Ms Segrave said she took her whole family out of The Ridge Medical Practice (pictured) and to a different GP surgery
Ms Segrave has since started chemotherapy for the disease – which was found in her neck, armpit, abdomen and bones – and has shaved off all her hair after it fell out following a nap
‘One day I fell asleep on the sofa and woke up with hair all over the cushions. I knew then it was time to cut it all off. I wanted to take control.’
A spokesperson from The Ridge Medical Practice wished Ms Segrave the best for her treatment but refused to confirm if she was a previous patient with them.
They told the Telegraph and Argus: ‘We are very sorry to hear that this lady has a diagnosis of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, that must be very upsetting for her and her family, and we hope that her treatment goes well and has positive outcomes for her.
‘As we respect and take very seriously our obligations around confidentiality and information governance, we can neither confirm nor deny whether this lady has ever been on our patient list and we cannot respond specifically to the issues raised to us in this story.
‘We always encourage patients to let us know as soon as they are experiencing any problems with our services as most of the time we can help them straight away and advise about ways of getting the best from our practice every time they need us.
‘Our complaints procedures are clearly displayed on our website and in our surgeries and include advice about getting help in being supported by an advocacy team to ensure that patients have equitable access to giving us feedback about our Practice.
‘We constantly keep access to our services under review and strive to find ways of improving this.’
MailOnline has approached The Ridge for comment.
