NHS Rant...

[Deleted User]

I recognise that others are going to be in much greater need than I am, but I still want to get this rant off my chest.

I'm waiting to have surgery on my face to deal with a range of breathing problems and complications.

This first started in January and I saw my GP in March. I was referred to hospital in May. The first hospital referred me to a specialist in a different hospital. That hospital has referred me to a surgeon in a different hospital again.

It's now middle of October and I've been told that I need an appointment on 8th November with the surgeon to discuss my procedure, after which surgery will be booked in (but no indication of when).

As of today, it's 25 weeks since my doctor referred to me the hospital and by 8th November it will be 29 weeks.

According to NHS Direct, under the NHS constitution there is a 'maximum waiting time' of 18 weeks from initial referral (by GP) to treatment. I'm already 7 weeks over that time today and by the time my surgery comes round - assuming it's a further 7 weeks from my next appointment - I'll have waited double the 18 weeks - 36 weeks in total.

I fully appreciate that others are in a worst position than I am, but I just want this sorted and I'm not sure how to push for it. I've contacted PALS (Patient Advisory Liaison Service) who said they would look into it for me, but that was three weeks ago and I've heard nothing since, despite chasing.

Any ideas for what to do? According to the specialist, the longer this goes on the less the chance is I will regain my sense of smell (which I've lost as a result of the problems), so I'm keen to sort it asap!

How can I argue that 36 weeks isn't acceptable to wait for treatment, or is it?

Noctu

Sorry to hear this - I know you've already chased it up with PALS but, if you haven't already, I would suggest phoning the manager of the PALS department.

Also, there may be a seperate official complaints department (there is in my hospital) - when I had a similar problem (PALS taking ages to get back to me) I phoned them. I had a call back from PALS within the hour....!

I fully agree that 36 weeks in unacceptable especially when this is time critical and is obviously affecting your quality of life... plus the fact that it's well over the targets!

Good luck.

bazzaboo

I'll join in with the rant. Been walking around with a hole in my belly button which constantly discharges pus since April, Being shoved from pillar to post.Didnt know PALS existed and will definatley contact them.

Jo_Mc_2

So sorry to read that you're having such an unacceptable wait. The NHS really is a mess.
I was sent for emergency day surgery last month and was told that providing I was okay two hours after the general anaethetic I could come home. In the end this wasn't possible as, although I'd been told to be there for 7.30am and had to be nil by mouth from midnight the previous night, I wasn't taken to the operating theatre until 8.30pm. Afterwards I was given a bed on a ward totally unrelated to what I'd been operated for and none of the staff really knew how to deal with my questions.
At 8am the following morning the ward sister told me she had my discharge letter and was just waiting for a particular doctor to sort out a prescription for me so I had some medication to take home. Despite her contacting the doctor throughout the day, it was 2.30pm when she finally came to the ward and wrote the prescription and another hour before the pharmacy got the prescription made up. It was 3.30pm before I was discharged and obviously in that time I'd unnecessarily taken up a bed - even though I spent the time pacing around, bored out of my skull - which could've been used by someone who really needed it.

carcal_2

sorry to hear of your awful wait, 36 weeks is unacceptable. Unfortunatley the new government has scrapped the 18 week target, but apparently most trusts are "trying" to maintain it.

Get back onto pals, or go to your gp to get them to send a letter expressing the concern.

Im currently in a similar position being past from pillar to post over the last 9 months as i need a spinal fusion. my lastest referral to treatment going by the old 18 week target expires in 8 weeks. In 6 weeks, i am going onto the waiting list as thats how long its taken to see the consultant, and to keep the 18 weeks would mean i would need to have the op 2 weeks after my appointment - aint gonna happen.

The nhs (i work for them too), is gonna get worse with this new government :mad:

cheapscate

where can I find out what the guidelines are for waiting times for treatments and results ?
( I was left for 12 weeks waiting for biopsy results from a specialist last year, everytime i spoke to anyone I was told 'oh, i'm sure if there is a problem you would have been contacted by now' but I didn't find that very reassuring given my family history and ended up writing to the consultant to beg for my results - I found out later that the results had taken the lab 10 days to process - I was made to feel a right nuisance)

daveyjp

18 weeks target has now gone - so we are back to the good old days. My mum in law had an op on her foot in June - day surgery case - which went very well.

At her 6 week check the surgeon began the paperwork process to undertake the same operation on her other foot with a view to having it done before Christmas.

She went for an appointment two weeks ago and was seen by someone who she hadn't met before, who didn't give her name or 'rank', she had no name badge and could have been another patient!

It became apparent whe was an administrator of some sort and her job was to get my mum in law to sign away the need for the op. She refused as it is being done on advice of the surgeon., but she won't now get the op until at least Easter next year.

Paul_the_Painter

Oral Maxillio Facial surgeons/doctors are in very short supply in some areas of the country. Some delays may be down to this. I currently work in medical recruitment, and you wouldn't believe the specificness of some requirements. Had one for a consultant Community Peadiarician with audiology experience for 2 days a week, now if your child is in that PCT area and needs to see that sort of consultant, you are in for a wait. Simply because there is no one to see you until they recruit.

Some delays just can't be helped

stevemLS

If I saw a doctor who thought he didn't have the skills to do what I needed, I would rather wait and be referred to someone who knows what he's doing.

binkadv

The NHS has failed close to me three times in the last three years. Firstly shunting my daughter to three different hospitals (not an emergency, just bed shifting) once without telling me she'd moved and me coming back to the hospital to find an empty cot (daughter was 6 weeks old at the time). Second taking my daughter down to the operating theatre without notifying me that they were performing a non emergency operation on her. (2 weeks old at the time)
and thirdly my 67 year old next door neighbour fell over in the snow last january and shattered her top arm bone (sorry proper word have evaded me) and dislocating her shoulder... it's still broken and they keep bouncing her around different hospitals and consulants.
Luckily she's now on a waiting list to have an operation to finally fix this but no person, especially a lady who lives alone and is too pigging stubborn to accept outside help, should have to live for just under a year with a severly broken arm

Gosh I hate our national health service...

funguy

18 week target from referrral has now gone as part of new reforms - websites/paper work may not have caught up with this yet.

The NHS is bursting at the seams and unfortunately all services are going to be getting worse over the next few years....We all need to face up to longer waits and restricted/rationed service to probably paying for GP appointments to keep the services as we get at present. For improvement, independant researchers have already indicated we need to start paying for significant amounts of our healthcare to insurance schemes as in most other countries. The cost of medicines/treatment is going through the roof and it is impossible for the NHS to cope with this....the longer we keep going like this, the quicker we are falling behind the rest of the world.