NHS Consultant appointment cancelled/delayed 4x

pmduk

smala01 wrote: »

If you are that concerned, why don't you just pay £120 to see the consultant privately at time convenient to yourself. Probably in the next week.

If you use the choose and book system I mentioned above, you can sometimes see the same surgeon at a private hospital. That's true MSE style!

Dizzy_Ditzy

kazzah60 wrote: »

queen_of_cheap wrote: »

Actually, NO, the secretary does NOT hold all the keys to a clinic

As you are a new referral, you are better off getting PALS involved.

Sadly, the secretaries take too much flak for clinics being cancelled. They are always the first point of call for patients who are frustrated with the rubbishness of the system. We are actually tied up by the same system

I hope you get your appointment soon. Please let me know if I can e of any assistance


sorry- my mistake - the consultant my son is under and also my husband have very helpful secretaries who are happy to make appointments for patients - in fact my sons consultants secretary schedules all his appointments and NONE go out via the appointments team - this may be because the condition is time senistive and has very specific windows of opportunity for treatment - but I know for a fact that she personally schedules the routine and emergency appointments herself.

In my experience PALS are as useful as a chocolate fireguard - I have had several sessions of contact with them over the years and in EVERY case they were unable to move things along
but that's just my experience

As a secretary, it's a whole lot easier to deal with patients who are follow up because they are already in the system. It's the new ones that we can't do anything about. There are ways and I have exploited them from time to time but its not without its own problems.

I schedule my own routine and emergency appointments too. But we cannot touch new appointments :mad:

Sometimes, our jobs are really quite horrible. You want to help but you can't because of all the red tape and politics:mad::mad:

Listerbelle

OP - sorry to hear of your woes.

ljonski wrote: »

That's exactly what the consultant wants.-And thats part of my point,that The Consultant probably has a free slot next week , but i would have to cross his greasy palm with Gold to get it.

I would advise any youngster to take up private medical insurance,not because i believe in it , just because there is one law for the rich and one for the poor, and in things like health its foolish to be enchained to your consience.
I am not making a political statement because it was the same under the last administration and the one before that and before that........

This situation arose just after the war when the Atlee Government in order to get the NHS through the statute books had to placate the Doctors,by allowing them to have a certain amount of hours in the working week in Private practice. Otherwise it is doubtful whether there would have agreed to work in the NHS.

It is time these lucrative hours were curtailed, but it certainly won't be happening in the foreseeable future!

Private work isn't actually all that lucrative when the administrative and other costs are considered.


DoI: NHS junior doctor who is astounded by its lack of training, and its inefficiency and bureaucracy.

brook2jack

Should also point out waiting list targets only apply in England. Not so in Wales,Scotland,NI . So complaining to pals is less likely to produce a result in those countries. Choose and book is also an English only initiative so will be of no use in those countries.

paying for a private consult Will not move you up a nhs waiting list, the consultant is not allowed in most hospitals ,access to the waiting list in that way. The only way it may speed things up is if special investigations arenecessary e.g. mri,ct scan and paying for those may speed process up.

Should also point out many consultants do not do any private work, and they are not allowed to use nhs clinics to do so.

pmduk

brook2jack wrote: »

paying for a private consult Will not move you up a nhs waiting list, the consultant is not allowed in most hospitals ,access to the waiting list in that way. The only way it may speed things up is if special investigations are necessary e.g. mri,ct scan and paying for those may speed process up.
.

Experience within the private health industry, has shown me on many occasions seeing a consultant privately will lead the patient to being prioritised by the consultant within the NHS. Unfotunately consultants still consider themselves pretty superior to God.

brook2jack

Most of our local hospitals the waiting list is held centrally, the consultant does not have access to it, indeed there are a series of protocols in the software to stop access. Appointments are sent out centrally. However once an appointment has been sent out (as in ops case but cancelled) the Secretary has access to details and may keep a short notice cancellation list.

Any queries about waiting lists have to be sent to central department who operate it.

Speaking as someone who refers alot of people to hospital this is a nightmare, whereas before if I thought someone should be seen quickly I could ring up the consultant ,discuss it with them and get them seen , more recently it is a nightmare of negotiating a tier of clerical staff, ticking the right boxes ,faxing letters etc. These days a consultant has virtually no control over their waiting list .

The only exception is once you have been seen if you need a special investigation like a ct scan , you can save time by booking this privately, particularly as the waiting list for this can be very long in some areas.

smala01

Listerbelle wrote: »

OP - sorry to hear of your woes.


DoI: NHS junior doctor who is astounded by its lack of training, and its inefficiency and bureaucracy.

I had to laugh when the exec of the local trust said that because of the cuts he would be FORCED to bring in new technology to improve efficiency... and that the govt should think twice about reducing budgets...

:rotfl:

Smala01

Dizzy_Ditzy

smala01 wrote: »

I had to laugh when the exec of the local trust said that because of the cuts he would be FORCED to bring in new technology to improve efficiency... and that the govt should think twice about reducing budgets...

:rotfl:

Smala01

If its anything like the new technology we had forced upon us, it will have been a very expensive disaster! Ours was so bad it made the bbc national news

pulliptears

pmduk wrote: »

If you use the choose and book system I mentioned above, you can sometimes see the same surgeon at a private hospital. That's true MSE style!

Choose and Book is marvellous! I sat down to sort out DD's appointment back in October using CAB. Local big, brand spanking new teaching hospital first appointment - End February 2013. Small hospital 45 minutes drive away - 2 weeks later.

DD has actually seen her consultant twice now and commenced treatment at the smaller hospital long before she was due her first appointment at the local one. Amazingly the UK's leading expert on her problem takes referrals from the small hospital, so had I stuck with the shiny new teaching hospital she wouldn't have seen him at all.

Sometimes it pays to travel a bit and given the level of care received at the small one I know which I'll be choosing in the future.

misskool

ljonski wrote: »

That's exactly what the consultant wants.-And thats part of my point,that The Consultant probably has a free slot next week , but i would have to cross his greasy palm with Gold to get it.

Not all consultants offer private clinics!

The ones I work with are clinical academics so they are only in hospital for 1.5-2 days a week and the rest of their time is spent on research.