Lucy & Anita's Story

Lucy, 55 has fibromyalgia, hypothyroidism, kidney disease, PTSD, and ME. Chronic pain and fatigue profoundly shape her daily life. She takes medications including codeine, solifenacin, pregabalin, and lidocaine patches. She feels anxious about taking medications correctly, especially forgetting to take them. She also worries about over-reliance on medications and their side effects (she experiences gastrointestinal issues and brain fog). Lucy spends a lot of time on the internet trying to learn about her conditions and visits online forums to speak to other people about her conditions, which services she should access, and where to look for answers. Living alone, and having no family or close personal support, she leans on her faith, church community and volunteering for support and social connection. However, fluctuating energy levels often prevent her leaving the house, leading to mental health decline. She doesn't work and worries about changes in benefits and affording her rent. Lucy feels abandoned by the health system, struggling with long waiting times, lack of communication between specialists (having to repeat her story), and dismissive attitudes towards her conditions leave her feeling unheard. She often finds herself lost in a maze of appointments and referrals.

Her GP, Anita, has helped chase up referrals and coordinate Lucy’s care, however, Lucy struggles to continue seeing Anita, as it is difficult to get an appointment at her GP practice and Lucy has to switch between whichever GP is available at the time. As a GP, Anita herself faces challenges providing care within a fragmented and overstretched system. She often sees patients like Lucy, frustrated by long delays and disjointed care pathways. Time constraints in appointments make it hard to develop relationships with patients and address multiple/complex needs. Emphasis on standardised care pathways and performance targets diverts focus from person-centred care. Much of Anita’s day is consumed by clinically demanding background work, often complicated by poor communication between primary and secondary care. Anita feels these systemic inefficiencies disempower her patients rather than supporting them to manage their conditions effectively.