NHS three weeks to type up a letter

Starrystarrynight1

You're not the only patient they have to look after.

DomRavioli

Pennywise wrote: »

Charging for it, though, puts it back at the top of the pile. By charging, it should be done outside NHS time as the doctors etc are already paid by the NHS for a full day's work, so anything outside NHS work needs to be done outside NHS time.

It doesn't put it at the top of the pile. It goes in date order the majority of the time, so its urgents first, then all others in date order. If you want something like that faster, you pay for it to be bumped up the queue, otherwise you wait your turn. The secretaries don't see a penny of the money, it goes straight to the GPs.

If it is non-NHS services, it is chargeable as it takes up time which should be used for NHS services. It is usually done at the same time as NHS work, because most dictation software doesn't distinguish between letters, referrals et al apart from urgent and routine, and especially not between chargeable and non-chargeable dictations.

esuhl

Undervalued wrote: »

No more that the last Labour government did - arguably less.

It is far too simplistic to shout "lack of funds". The population is rising, medical treatments become ever more sophisticated and expensive. Often, to be blunt, that means that somebody lives a few years longer (great in a way) but during that time needs ever more support from the NHS. People are staying in education longer and, until recently at least, were retiring earlier. An ever smaller group have to pay for it all. A remarkably small proportion of the population are actually nett contributors. The others, even large numbers of "hard working tax payers", actually draw more from the state in their lifetime than they contribute. Health care, children's education, in work benefits, pension etc etc. Sooner or later the bubble will burst!

Exactly. We're in agreement. With ever-increasing demands on the NHS, it needs more money to sustain the same level of service.

The Tories are starving the NHS (more than Labour did) because they actually want the bubble to burst. They don't want to reduce the availability of minor NHS treatments or try to make the NHS more efficient. They want to starve it of funds, watch it die, until the only acceptable alternative is to scrap the NHS entirely and switch to a private-only healthcare system.

The Tories seem to want the NHS gone, but without the negative publicity of killing it themselves.

pmduk

To be fair, I saw a consultant on a non-urgent matter last Monday, the letter was typed and posted the next day. Pretty typical for that hospital.

sheramber

When my husband had an outpatient's appointment recently, the consultant dictated the letter to the GP while were there. His copy was received three days later.

likelyfran

SteveJW wrote: »

Appointment to see a neurologist
Saw my doctor in January and the outcome of my appointment was to refer me to a neurologist (sciatica etc)
Received a letter from the neurology department today, which was a cc of the reply to my doctor
Letter is in reply to my doctors letter dated 16th January 2017
The letter was dictated 29th January 2017, and is marked "dictated but not signed to avoid delay"
The letter is then marked with the date typed 20th February 2017

So from my doctor sending a letter to a neurologist dictating a reply (two weeks), I think this is acceptable
Three weeks to type up the dictation, I don't think this is acceptable

Otherwise I cannot complain regarding the service from the NHS

Rant over

You're right, it's rubbish.

I used to type those letters, so know that the reason why is that the systems in the NHS are archaic and there's far too much work for far too few people and far too many overpaid number-crunchers.

I did what was humanly possible - basically working flat out to try to do what 3/4 people should have been doing, and I'm talking really flat out, not empty desk and mogadon speed typing, like you see in non-NHS governmental agencies ....
But the truth is, common sense and sensible use of money have never actually been put into the NHS, in an efficacious way.

I could write a book on it, really.

likelyfran

esuhl wrote: »

My mum had bowel cancer, but was fobbed off for well over a year, despite (by the end of it) needing ambulances to repeatedly take her to hospital. Despite not having eaten for a fortnight, she was just given a saline drip and discharged the next day. This happened three or four times.

By the time they diagnosed her, she had a month to live and was so weak there was nothing they could do. She was "only" 60. If the NHS had done its duty, she'd probably be alive now.

NHS care is a very mixed bag. Surgery tends to be excellent, nursing occasionally negligent, and diagnosis can be appalling. Sometimes it's great, but people die prematurely far too often. It's hardly surprising -- the Tories are trying to kill off the NHS by starving it of funds.

Am very sorry about your Mum.

Your last paragraph - perfectly said, all of it.

Sicard

likelyfran wrote: »

You're right, it's rubbish.

I used to type those letters, so know that the reason why is that the systems in the NHS are archaic and there's far too much work for far too few people and far too many overpaid number-crunchers.

I did what was humanly possible - basically working flat out to try to do what 3/4 people should have been doing, and I'm talking really flat out, not empty desk and mogadon speed typing, like you see in non-NHS governmental agencies ....
But the truth is, common sense and sensible use of money have never actually been put into the NHS, in an efficacious way.

I could write a book on it, really.

I might take a few years

milliemonster

It's pretty ridiculous today that consultants are still dictating letters which are typed up by someone else and then sent snail mail some time later, we have email for goodness sake, secure email at that for NHS and I cannot understand why doctors don't email each other following consultations etc, this would then be instant rather than waiting weeks for letters etc, and I'm an nhs nurse!