Hospitals!!! aarrgghhh!!

[Flummery]

I agree that you should kick up a fuss and write a formal complaint. To be put off so many times - often through incompetence - and then told too much time has elapsed is just not good enough. I'm not surprised you had a cry. I'd be spitting mad too.

[FionaH]

Make a fuss, get a second opinion, so sorry to hear this it is disgusting

[allotmentlady]

Just got back from doctor's she says that she can refer to me another consultant in manchester but it could take months............:0( she says she will write to consultsnt thast i went to see but does not hold much hope, she says that it's just one of those things. I erupted by saying that my ankle 'isnt just one of those things', this is my health and at my age I shouldnt have to be like this, riddled with feckin arthritis, bad knees, ankle and back and neck, relying on sticks and wheelchairs, said i am sick of being pushed to the bottom of the pile............

I was asked to calm down and that she would 'call' me in a few days....

If it was spring i would have gone to my shed on lottie and yelled.

[jackie j]

Newton Abbot has had a new hospital opened today. Wonder if it will be any good, it has a new maternity unit something they got rid of at the old hospital just before my youngest son was born 21 yrs ago. It also has a good gym for the people who need to exercise.

[Glutton4...]

...I was asked to calm down and that she would 'call' me in a few days....

If it was spring i would have gone to my shed on lottie and yelled.

It it were me, I'd have yelled wherever I was - you're too polite. If you were one of life's moaners or whingers they would have dealt with you sooner!

I really hope they get their *rses into gear for you soon. Good luck.

[allotmentlady]

thanks :0)

[HeyWayne]

The squeaky wheel gets the oil.

I'd be hopping mad (sorry, I'm bad I know, I couldn't resist!)

[Hans Mum]

contact the PALS (Patient Advice Liason Service) at your hospital they have to investigate
Patient Advice and Liaison Services (PALS) overview : Department of Health - Managing your organisation

[allotmentlady]

contact the PALS (Patient Advice Liason Service) at your hospital they have to investigate
Patient Advice and Liaison Services (PALS) overview : Department of Health - Managing your organisation

they are a complete waste of time but thanks for the advice.

[selfheal]

if its resulted in lasting damage to your body then definately complain.

however i totally feel your pain:

i had a heart infection almost 2 years ago now. it wreaked havoc with my body and has left me using curtches and a wheelchair and unable to work. before i got ill i was booked in to do my chainsaw licence and was walknig 2 miles a day working in countryside management...

anyway, 20 months on and i still havent got a diagnosis, let alone aving recieved any treatment or support of any kind. I havent even had any physio for my joints. They say it might have been Lyme disease that started all of this. Ive just been awarded higher rate mobility DLA which means im legally 'virtually unable to walk' which isnt fun at 21.

currently ive been waiting for an MRI scan and other tests for 6 months- its a 5 week waiting list for a day admission for this. I have not been put on the waiting list and they cant find out why i havent because they've lost my notes. The cardiologist has forgotten that he said i need to be reffered to infectious diseases when i saw him in october, and for the last 2 months my file has been 'on his desk' waiting for him to admit he forgot what he said (he wrote it down in a letter so he definately said it!) and tell my GP to refer me.

meanwhile im stuck 200 miles away with no treatment, no OT assessment and no physio. I also cant have a local GP because i have to wait for the ID referal before i can transfer my GP from birmingham to dorset.....

The NHS sucks donkey balls. (and so does lyme disease...)

[willowstar]

if you put in a formal complaint that will set the process in motion and your case will be reviewed by the clinical governance team. there are time limits on how quickly the trust has to respond etc...it probably won't help you at this point but it might help people in the future. sorry, that isn't very helpful is it!

[selfheal]

amazing what a phonecall to PALs can do...

rang them on friday morning, to explain whats been going on and to ask for their help to sort stuff out. they promised to get on it and ring me back in a couple of days to let me know the outcome. Today i got a letter telling me im booked in for MRI day admission 9th Feb (whatever happened to that 6 week waiting list ey?) and a phone call from my GP's secretary saying they have been sent a letter telling them to refer me to infectious diseases.

Annoyingly the GPs receptionist was phoning to tell me my GP doesnt want to refer me (yay... another hurdle/misunderstanding to overcome) because he feels i should get a dorset GP and a referal to a local hospital. Nevermind that ive been waiting 2 months for him to refer me to this hospital in birmingham so i could transfer to a dorset GP...

Theres a very good reason to get reffered to the birmingham hospital- I am already under 2 hospitals in birmingham in the same trust as this soon to be 3rd hospital. It makes total sense to go to this hospital and my cardiologist wanted me to go there specifically because he KNOWS they are one of the best infectious disease places in the country. If i was to go to a hospital in dorset i'd end up having to travel to southampton which is just ridiculous!

Anyway, phoning them back tomorrow to tell them this and hopefully it will all be sorted out nicely.

However slightly dismayed that PALs didnt ring me back as promised to tell me they sorted things out and that NO-ONE has offered me an apology for things being messed up in the first place!!!

i have a great respect for the medical profession... but my experience over the last 2 years seems to have been bungle after bungle

[BarleySugar]

On Monday I received my choose and book letter to see the specialist about my neck. I rang the closest choice, who told me they hadn't currently got a clinic (why put them on there then?) and it could be up to the 13 week time limit before they sorted it out. I told them I'd try someone else on the list. The system was then down for the rest of the day, and on Tuesday it told me my booking reference was invalid.
The contact at the GP couldn't get into the system, and advised me to contact the Clinical Assessement service, as they might be able to help. She couldn't find me on her system. I get back to the GP, she can't find me on the system either. She contacts the original hospital, who say they did refer me to CAS. To cut a long story short, it turns out the original hospital didn't refer me on to anyone, just dropped me from the system. If I hadn't chased it up, I could have waited forever. Now we start the process again, with the surgery having to refer me again, me wait for the paperwork, then contact the people on the list So much for patient choice.

[jackie j]

My OH has gone to see the consultant today about a problem that he has had for over 18 months. He had a phone call asking if he still wanted an appointment, course he does why else would he have gone to the GP in the first place.
My bil has had two operations on both shoulders in a private hospital because the NHS lost his notes and it would be ages before they could do it, The NHS paid.

[Catrina]

Three or four years ago I was suffering from a pain in my side. I have had my appendix out in an emergency operation 9 years ago and have adhesions. But this pain in my side would not go away. I had various tests which did not find out what it was, I also had a camera up my rear end (very painful) but the camera broke whilst they were doing it so they could not get through to the area where the pain was. I was taken back to the ward and they did not carry out the test again. I was told to go and see my GP in 6 weeks. I duly did only to be told that the specialist said that he could not find a reason for the pain and to give me a low dose antidepressant which will mask the pain. I dont want antidepressants I want to know what it is.

The pain has come back in the last six months so I have been to my doc who sent me for a scan to see if I had gall stones. I dont, so now she has referred me to another specialist who, after trying for two weeks to make an appointment wont see me till the 9th March. I am seriously fed up as the pain in my side is bad today and I have absolutely no energy whatsoever, which is not like me at all. Dont know what to do.