Thousands of rheumatoid arthritis sufferers in the United Kingdom face a lifetime of agony because they are not being treated quickly enough through the government-run Nathional Health Service, according to a new report by the National Audit Office:
- Guidelines state that patients should receive treatment within three months of the first symptoms appearing.
- But the average wait is nine months -- and general practitioners (GPs) are not trained well enough to know what help to offer.
- There is no cure, but experts say that if arthritis is diagnosed in the first three months, drugs can be given which limit its progression; this means the disease will not be as painful as it would have been if the condition was diagnosed later.
This is a nasty disease, a progressive auto-immune disease, which attacks otherwise healthy joints. Early symptoms are joint pain and stiffness and it leads to inflammation and loss of strength. It also affects other parts of the body, such as the heart and lungs, and is also associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
The report found that the average length of time from the onset of symptoms to treatment has not improved in the past five years.
[The inevitable evolution of government run health care.]
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