Nice people thread part 8 - worth the wait

vivatifosi

michaels wrote: »

Also thinking of you - hopefully the NHS will have sorted out the ongoing problems and made things better.

DH is in a different hospital thankfully and it shows. I know that there is an extent to which you can't compare and contrast a local hospital with a London teaching one, but there's a gulf of difference.

When MIL was in hospital this week, there was one of those little cups of prescription meds at her bedside - they weren't for her but thankfully she didn't take them. They were for the woman in the next bed. The same woman who told MIL that they'd given her the wrong insulin - so you'd think they'd be checking her meds a bit more carefully. I'm beginning to think our local trust is quite rotten and needs root and branch reform to stop it being another Stafford. Now I've seen how it can work, my mistrust of the NHS has now moved to mistrust of the local health hospital authority instead. It also took them two days to do an operation that was classed as urgent, meaning that they didn't feed her and kept her on a drip, a drip they left empty for long periods of time while saying "oh I must change that" then forgetting.

Thank goodness DH is somewhere else!

misskool

vivatifosi wrote: »

DH is in a different hospital thankfully and it shows. I know that there is an extent to which you can't compare and contrast a local hospital with a London teaching one, but there's a gulf of difference.

When MIL was in hospital this week, there was one of those little cups of prescription meds at her bedside - they weren't for her but thankfully she didn't take them. They were for the woman in the next bed. The same woman who told MIL that they'd given her the wrong insulin - so you'd think they'd be checking her meds a bit more carefully. I'm beginning to think our local trust is quite rotten and needs root and branch reform to stop it being another Stafford. Now I've seen how it can work, my mistrust of the NHS has now moved to mistrust of the local health hospital authority instead. It also took them two days to do an operation that was classed as urgent, meaning that they didn't feed her and kept her on a drip, a drip they left empty for long periods of time while saying "oh I must change that" then forgetting.

Thank goodness DH is somewhere else!

Best wishes to you and family and hope they recover soonest. Are they both at the same hospital now?

However, must stress that even in difficult times, if you have all that trouble, you MUST complain. If you get no joy from the nursing staff/ward care then PALS is the way forward. Once you have stated your complaint they have to respond to you within 21 (or 28?) days.

sss555s

lostinrates wrote: »

We're squeezing everything ATM.

In that case the bath would be a waste of money

lostinrates wrote: »

Bathroom is still going to be a very comfortable five figures without deluxe corian bathtub. . With the bupa excesses about to get another round of bashing too ...well....we're not going on holiday. The car situation is looking a bit grotty too. A mechanic is going to give us a price on resurrecting the beast today, which would mean I could get a little runabout. We'd be a two car family (well, three counting parent) but the beast would effectively be a business car which I'd do very very few personal miles a year in.

Business account is also getting a bashing this year. Fencing and school building. Within a year period we will have spent something like dh earns in 20 months.

That's the thing about life lir. You're not supposed to be able to do it all at once or it would be too easy.

Get the structure, roof and functional right and the luxury can be introduced as and when it's feasible.

:money:

vivatifosi

Thanks missk. My family all have complained. My mother complained when they put her on a mixed sex ward 7 years ago following a double breast op and didn't feed her or help her in any way (plus much more). My husband complained 5-6 years ago when he went in for one op and walked out before they removed a different body part in error. My aunt complained when they failed to diagnose her broken foot from xrays for 12 days this past Christmas. My cousin and SIL complained when they received poor care giving birth last year. My MIL will complain.

The problem is that they are still sh*t. Even the local councillors suggest that people use their feet and use the L&D (another local hospital with a better reputation) instead. But how does that improve things? The person who oversaw this debacle has now been promoted to run Great Ormond St.

It isn't as though they aren't good at some things. They are good at outpatient day surgery (I can vouch for that), they are good at outpatient stuff in general. Actually A&E is pretty good considering. It is the surgical and urgent care stuff that doesn't work well. Plus the nursing seems chaotic and lacking in leadership. Maternity they are trying to pour a quart into a pint pot due to closures elsewhere, but that also leads to a poor service.

Where my husband is, he's in a much cleaner ward, with quality nurses who have a sister that leads from the front, they have docs on call all the time, the facilities for the patients are better, the facilities for visitors are better... It is just a much better experience all round.

Generali

vivatifosi wrote: »

DH is in a different hospital thankfully and it shows. I know that there is an extent to which you can't compare and contrast a local hospital with a London teaching one, but there's a gulf of difference.

When MIL was in hospital this week, there was one of those little cups of prescription meds at her bedside - they weren't for her but thankfully she didn't take them. They were for the woman in the next bed. The same woman who told MIL that they'd given her the wrong insulin - so you'd think they'd be checking her meds a bit more carefully. I'm beginning to think our local trust is quite rotten and needs root and branch reform to stop it being another Stafford. Now I've seen how it can work, my mistrust of the NHS has now moved to mistrust of the local health hospital authority instead. It also took them two days to do an operation that was classed as urgent, meaning that they didn't feed her and kept her on a drip, a drip they left empty for long periods of time while saying "oh I must change that" then forgetting.

Thank goodness DH is somewhere else!

Don't get me started!

lostinrates

vivatifosi wrote: »

Thanks missk. My family all have complained. My mother complained when they put her on a mixed sex ward 7 years ago following a double breast op and didn't feed her or help her in any way (plus much more). My husband complained 5-6 years ago when he went in for one op and walked out before they removed a different body part in error. My aunt complained when they failed to diagnose her broken foot from xrays for 12 days this past Christmas. My cousin and SIL complained when they received poor care giving birth last year. My MIL will complain.

The problem is that they are still sh*t. Even the local councillors suggest that people use their feet and use the L&D (another local hospital with a better reputation) instead. But how does that improve things? The person who oversaw this debacle has now been promoted to run Great Ormond St.

It isn't as though they aren't good at some things. They are good at outpatient day surgery (I can vouch for that), they are good at outpatient stuff in general. Actually A&E is pretty good considering. It is the surgical and urgent care stuff that doesn't work well. Plus the nursing seems chaotic and lacking in leadership. Maternity they are trying to pour a quart into a pint pot due to closures elsewhere, but that also leads to a poor service.

Where my husband is, he's in a much cleaner ward, with quality nurses who have a sister that leads from the front, they have docs on call all the time, the facilities for the patients are better, the facilities for visitors are better... It is just a much better experience all round.

Do you get to 'check and choose' or whatever its called?

Gp started about that yesterday and I just said I'd get back to them if bupa say no. . It's a really good thing, the power to support good nhs teams and not the others.


What really would interest me is what action is taking in under performing areas.

lostinrates

sss555s wrote: »

In that case the bath would be a waste of money




That's the thing about life lir. You're not supposed to be able to do it all at once or it would be too easy.

Get the structure, roof and functional right and the luxury can be introduced as and when it's feasible.

:money:

D you think I can replace the bath and wet room floor later if I get a few spare wall tiles? I'll ask nice builder. I have found my wall tiles and don't want to look again in the future. I wonder how many extra I'd need to buy. I think I might get a price for the corian and see how much of a stretch it would be. The plan was to knock down a down stairs wall this year too, and get some floor coverings. but I think I'd rather have the right bath. Yep. I would. I wonder if I could get my bathroom in a bathroom magazine? Do you think they pay anything? In any case it might add to future saleability of the house ...' As featured in....' ??

I don't want to do it all at once either...it's more fun, but I do want a working bathroom that doesn't make it rain down stairs and I don't want to keep redoing things. That's why I'm going white. Ok, it's split face (inevitably I wasn't going to give up on that) but white is classic and won't need redecorating ever...just maybe ceilings and wood work freshened.

I don't want to be a slave to interior fashion. Stylish and beautiful yes, but fashion no. So doing things once where possible is the plan.

I've actually grown really fond of my temporary kitchen, and I'm happy to live with it for decades rather than do a cheap 'medium term' measure'. I know what I want for. He permanent one, but I'm in no hurry.

Spirit_2

vivatifosi wrote: »

The problem is that they are still sh*t. Even the local councillors suggest that people use their feet and use the L&D (another local hospital with a better reputation) instead. But how does that improve things? The person who oversaw this debacle has now been promoted to run Great Ormond St.

It isn't as though they aren't good at some things. They are good at outpatient day surgery (I can vouch for that), they are good at outpatient stuff in general. Actually A&E is pretty good considering. It is the surgical and urgent care stuff that doesn't work well. Plus the nursing seems chaotic and lacking in leadership. Maternity they are trying to pour a quart into a pint pot due to closures elsewhere, but that also leads to a poor service.

Where my husband is, he's in a much cleaner ward, with quality nurses who have a sister that leads from the front, they have docs on call all the time, the facilities for the patients are better, the facilities for visitors are better... It is just a much better experience all round.

Your local Hospital is not yet a Foundation Trust - they are calling for 'members' and from them elected governors. You could consider doing this and look to influence patient experience more closely. They are late getting to the FT party for a reason.

L&D is an FT already- no gaurantee of quality -but it helps.

Not all of services at Mid Staffs were bad- but they are all tarred with the brush of those which were.

The Keogh review is looking at 14 hospitals with higher death rates - http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/bruce-keogh-review/Pages/hospitals-under-investigation.aspx

misskool

lostinrates wrote: »

Do you get to 'check and choose' or whatever its called?

Gp started about that yesterday and I just said I'd get back to them if bupa say no. . It's a really good thing, the power to support good nhs teams and not the others.


What really would interest me is what action is taking in under performing areas.

http://www.chooseandbook.nhs.uk/?

I never got an appointment referral letter from mine but my nearest hospitals were all in the same teaching trust so I'm presuming they would have the same consultants. I wouldn't want to go 20miles+ for a hospital appointment.

Has anyone actually done it rather than just turn up at the time the NHS deigns your presence?

vivatifosi

Lir, is your "forever" kitchen all going to be new or will some be salvage? Just wondered as the NPs can look out for some bits for you if there is no immediacy involved.