Operation cancelled 3 times

mrseyes

My friend doesn't know what to do, her operation has been cancelled 3 times in a two week because of more urgent case. The problem is that she has has an arragement to make means she looses some of her earnings whenever she takes time off. But she has heard that consultnat have time to do lots of private work after hrs in nhs hospital.Doesn't make sence.

Savvy_Sue

I'd suggest she contact the PALS (Patient Advice Liaison Service) at the hospital - I believe every hospital should have one! Also, if she considers her own operation is urgent, then talking to her GP might help to get its priority improved.

elona

Talking to local newspaper might also be helpful!

katiepops_2

Consultants are under contract to do a set number of clinical sessions each week (a session is half a day) by the Trusts that they work for - the number of sessions they do depends on the job, ie some are full-time, some are part-time. What they do outside of those sessions for the NHS is up to them, so if they want to build up private practices then they can.

If a Consultant is doing his private operating in an NHS hospital after hours, then he is paying the hospital for the privilege, ie for the cost of the theatre staff, equipment, operating theatre etc etc - so the hospital can only benefit in the long run as they are earning money by renting out the theatre out of hours when it would just be lying idle otherwise.

With regard to NHS theatre lists - every Consultant surgeon will have their own allocated theatre time, in one session increments. So that means they might just have one list per week, or several - again this depends on their contract/their specialty - for example, I work for an eye surgeon who has one theatre session a week. We manage well with this and don't have a long waiting list, but there are other eye surgeons here who have three sessions each week, because their specialist interest in ophthalmology is the sort that brings a heavy caseload with long waiting lists and frequent emergency admissions/surgeries (whereas the Consultant I work for has a special interest that means that although there are emergencies, they aren't usually the sort that require immediate surgery).

However, it certainly doesn't sound right that your friend's surgery has been cancelled three times in favour of a more urgent case - has it been cancelled before the day she was supposed to be admitted, or on the day of admission? I don't know about other hospitals, but the policy here is that if we cancel a patient for any reason on the day of surgery (or the day before - they call it late cancellation) then we have to admit the patient and get the surgery done within 28 days, with no exceptions (unless the patient refuses two dates for surgery within that time).

Your friend should ring the secretary at the hospital and explain to her about the losing money when she has time off thing - I would like to think that most other med secs are like me and would pull out all the stops to help out a patient in this sort of situation (which I have done frequently - though I know that *some* med secs are nasty and won't help) and she should also ask what their policy is regarding cancelled admissions and timescale for rebooking.

HTH.

Kate

margaretclare

I sympathise. Last May when I asked my consultant when my 'urgent' surgery would happen, he said 'before November'. In August I got a phone call giving me a date in October. This was put back 5 weeks to end November. Then that was delayed to the following week - early December.

Some of the women in at the same time as me were stressing about not being able to get out to do Christmas shopping. One said she had done a pan of sprouts before going in - that was 3 weeks before Christmas! We had the usual concerns about 'can't get out to fetch my pension' etc. Thank goodness I was completely unworried about all these things - but I really would have preferred the October date, obviously!

My DH was meant to be going in to the day-care unit today for investigations under GA on his knee. While having breakfast before 8.30 am as instructed, he got a phone call saying the consultant is ill, and it's now rescheduled for 2 weeks today.

Aunty Margaret

mosaicwendy

The same thing happened to me in the last month, my operation was cancelled 3 times, the first two occasions I was prepped and already to go down to theatre.

After the third time I phoned the consultants secretary and explained what had happened and how badly let down I felt, how the delays were making it really difficult for us financially as I had now run out of sick pay and that the stress and illness was really taking its toll on me and my family etc. She got me in the following week and the operation went ahead.

As for PALS, I called them - it took them 2 weeks to get back to me, by which time I was at home after the operation!

I hope your friend gets her operation very soon

Wendy