Here we can all be heard for a little while. Part 2

onomatopoeia99

I'm determined to avoid creme eggs this year, my weight and waistline are not heading in the right direction!

tea_lover wrote: »

First scary road trip of the week done....will be glad when Friday gets here!

To me, who has left the office exactly three times in over 20 years for work, it sounds quite interesting. (Two occasions were to try and diagnose customer problems on site and once was for a sales pitch to a bank in London - I was there as the "technical person" and it was so corporate that I hardly said a word)

Going anywhere nice on your travels?

tea_lover

An industrial estate in Hemel Hempstead this week.... so no! Next week is a dodgy part of Bristol.... so again no. Our offices are not in glamorous locations, still, beats freezing my butt off out on site inspections.

I do quite like getting out and about when I actually do it, it just makes for some long days.

Tiny penguin that discusses religion
This lent, I have 'given up' 5-10 mins of sleep to make an effort to read the bible every morning. It's going well so far, but it was a struggle this morning when I was up just after 5.30.
End penguin.

How's the new computer?

onomatopoeia99

tea_lover wrote: »

An industrial estate in Hemel Hempstead this week.... so no! Next week is a dodgy part of Bristol.... so again no.

Hemel, definitely agree with you there, I grew up a couple of junctions around the M25 (not that it was built then), so know there's not many reasons to visit for fun. Bristol is nice though, in places (not so nice in others), but I'm biased as it's where I have lived since university

The new computer is very nice, started setting it up last night, which meant I kind of forgot about my Italian homework. Must be better organised with my free time

tea_lover

I Keep hearing about these nice bits of Bristol but I never get to see them! I spend my time there either in a falling apart office, a Travelodge with nothing nearby, or dragging a suitcase between the two. One day I will visit as a tourist instead

onomatopoeia99

I never "do" my home city as a tourist, though I went to the museum and art gallery the other day, for the first time in about 20 years and only the second time ever! But, have never visited the SS Great Britain,or the Matthew, or the cathedral (not religious, but interested in the architecture and history) etc. All the sort of things that I would go and see if I was on holiday somewhere else, but ignore when they're on my doorstep

In the summer I'll go for a walk to Durdham down at lunchtime on a sunny day, though the walk there and back uses most of my lunch hour. The view from the down along the river Avon to the suspension bridge is lovely (I was looking on my flickr for a photo I had taken, then realised it comes up with my actual name, so abandoned that idea) and the walk down to the bridge and into Clifton is really nice as well. Mostly what I see though is my workplace, which is in a nice part of the city (residential rather than touristy), the big concrete shopping estate at Cribbs as it's halfway between work and home so I pass by it twice a day, and ... that's about it

elsien

I have been to the Clifton suspension bridge many many times. Accidentally, all on the same day, when I got lost trying to find my hotel and spent hours driving in circles pre-satnav days. I vowed that if I ever go to Bristol again it will be by train.
Would like to make it to the balloon festival though.

faerielight

New day, new fight. I have emailed my MP an update. She has advocated to me via the hospital for years. They fob her and me off with vague politician speak"we are doing everything we can to rectify the ongoing hospital capacity problems" but they never actually do anything.I wrote a complaint last year, but then got too ill to send it. I'm going to update it today and send it off, and I am a hairs breath from taking this to the press. I've been cancelled 8 times in 4 years for surgeries.
Here is the letter I got yesterday: Dear ******

I am writing to you as the service manager for the Directorate of Abdominal Surgery We have recently reviewed the medical notes of patients who have experienced very long waits for their abdominal surgery. I am aware that you waited well over a year for surgery to repair your abdominal hernia and this eventually took place after you came into our Emergency Department in November last year.
I am truly sorry for the unacceptable length of time you waited. I recognise the distress and frustration this will have caused you and the impact this will have had on your daily life.

You were first seen for your abdominal hernia on 13th August 2014. Mr ******added you to our waiting list as well as requesting a CT scan which was carried out on 26th September. I know that you saw Mr*****again in August last year after your surgery had been cancelled in February and April 2015. At this appointment you advised Mr ***** of the increasing abdominal pain and other symptoms you were experiencing. Sadly, despite our contact with our Patient Advise and Liaison Service (PALS) and your surgery being scheduled for August, it was again cancelled.
You then attended our Emergency Department in November due to abdominal pain.
I am aware that following your surgery and discharge home, you unfortunately needed to come back into our hospital for surgical drainage of a post operative area of infection. I do hope that you are now fully recovered from this surgery although I know you have other ongoing health concerns for which you are waiting to be seen at our hospital.

Regrettably, as you know, we currently have insufficient capacity to treat all of our patients within the 18 week timescale as we would want to do. As a result, we have to prioritise patients in order of their clinic urgency which means those with cancer and other life threatening health needs will be moved above other patients who have been waiting longer but do not require surgery as quickly.
We are very aware that for those patents who are cancelled, this compounds an already worrying and difficult time. Once again, I am profoundly sorry for the length of time you have waited for your surgery.
Whilst I am unable to alter your experience, I want to assure you that we are working hard within our local Clinical Commissioning Group colleagues to change this situation and ensure that all patients requiring abdominal surgery are treated as quickly as possible."



If helpful to talk more about any of the issues raised in this letter, please contact the PALS service on ***** who will help organise a meeting to discuss the matter further.

With best wishes,

Birdie85

Oh Faerie, it's all such a struggle isn't it?! Why can't they refer you to another hospital if they're struggling that much to treat you/other patients? Is that too simplistic? I know people who've ended up having private treatment paid for by the NHS as they haven't been able to see them within the expected waiting time. The NHS, whilst wonderful in some ways, is a huge mess in others. My Dad supplies a product for clinical environments and has had to speak to every single NHS trust to sell it to them and the prices agreed vary for each trust. Imagine the savings if they would just order everything via one central department, it'll be the same for everything else too, from pens to surgical equipment! With all of those savings, they might be able to afford more staff???

Hope the Creme Egg has helped you through the day WW!

I probably won't be able to get on tomorrow for Wednesday Weigh In as we're off out early for Baby Bird's birthday but I hope everyone else who is participating remembers to share their progress and positivity!

faerielight

it is Birdie, it really is. I tried getting away from the surgeon but was told no one else would feel confident operating on me as there's so much damage, and they won't let me change hospitals because they say I have to be in one with an ICU bed and a whole gastro team on site, otherwise it would be too risky.. It's so crazy, because it much more risky leaving me til another medical emergency whereby I need lifesaving emergency surgery!I really am in a trap and it's so scary x

tea_lover

Faerie, who told you no one else would operate? (sorry if you've covered this already, I lose track of everything!) If that information has come from the hospital, can your GP refer you to a completely different hospital for a second opinion?

A few years ago I put in a complaint against a surgeon in Leicester, my GP then referred me to Wolverhampton. Not sure if anything like this is at all possible for you?

I also involved my MP, and can really sympathise with just how frustrating it all gets.

(((hugs))) take care xx