NHS waiting list rant!!

sillyvixen

i am not looking for medical advise just other experiences of members and how they sorted it!

i have been playing the waiting list game for a while now!! i have an incisional hernia from a previous open op to remove my gallbladder - to cut a long story short i was a day case in a cottage unit but complications ment i had to have an open op that the unit was not set up to deal with.
any way op was nearly 2 years ago - and i started getting pain in the area a year ago and 9 months ago found a swelling at the incision site - i cut down on my activity and took thins easy for a month - in the hope things would resolve - lump got bigger i saw my dr who reffered me for a mesh repair 8 months ago. initial problems with NHS choose and book ment it was a full 3 months before i got an outpatients appointment (urgent referal)!! by then it was december and there was no money in the pot for surgery - i was told i was too fat for surgery (size 14) told to loose wieght and told to come back in three months - i was p****d off but had no choice. 3 months later i went back to be told they couldn't understand why i was not listed before and i should be listed and hear somthing in the next 2 months - it is my belief that i was put off as there was no funding for my op!! I was also told that the suture used internally was the best available in the cottage unit and stronger suture would have been used in main hospital in the same circumstances!!

i have left it 2 months and phoned consaultants secretary today to chase up op appointment - she is on holiday - so i phoned inpatient addmissions line to be told i should have been listed on march 3rd but am not on the list .. i have to speak to consaultans secreatry who is on holiday and not availsble - nothing can be done till she gets back.

i was refered 8 months ago and am no further forward - any experiences!! the NHS what a crock of s**t! not the 1st time i have been missed of the lists!

Dill

Just thought I’d join in your rant..:D

Tell me about it.. I’ve found it unbearably stressful dealing with the NHS. Am even considering getting some private medical cover (not very moneysaving, I know) as I dread the thought of going back to them!

It’s a shame, because in theory the NHS is brilliant. Free healthcare, not being lumbered with a huge medical bill is perhaps something we take for granted here. It’s just that in practice (in my experience at least), the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. Letters go missing, or simply don’t get written (!) Admin staff can be extremely rude and unhelpful. And people’s position in the hierarchy is considered more important than patient care. It’s very frustrating.

You could maybe try PALS? I’ve never been to them myself, and am not sure how much they can help, but it might be worth contacting them.. Or as a last resort perhaps even your MP might be willing to say something on your behalf?

Hope you get things sorted soon.

Horace

Instead of ringing try writing - sure Consultant's secretaries take holidays but there is usually someone else in the office to cover. Telephone messages can be easily lost but not letters that have been sent recorded delivery. If I were you I would also be speaking to the GP to see if he/she could move things along a bit.

Telling you to lose weight is not unreasonable as the heavier you are the more anaesthetic that has to be used and anaesthetics can be dangerous.

The NHS isnt all bad, I have had two lots of eye surgery recently - in March where I had some compression sutures put into my eye and a second op in April to remove the sutures and do something else because the compression sutures had pulled my cornea out of alignment resulting in blurred vision. I have always found the hospital in Winson Green (both the general one and the eye hospital) to be wonderful and I have never really had to wait a long time for operations.

melbury

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quote=Dill;10658487]Just thought I’d join in your rant..:D

It’s a shame, because in theory the NHS is brilliant. Free healthcare, not being lumbered with a huge medical bill is perhaps something we take for granted here. your MP might be willing to say something on your behalf?

Would just like to make the point that the NHS isn't free, we pay quite dearly for it via National Insurance contributions - unless of course a person is either living on benefits or is foreign coming here for treatment, in which case you could say it is definitely free.

A fairer system should be introduced.

LillyJ

melbury wrote: »

[


Would just like to make the point that the NHS isn't free
A fairer system should be introduced.

No but it is "free at the point of delivery" to everyone, which you will be grateful for if, god forbid, you ever need serious or urgent treatment.

If we ever go over to the American system where people without the cash for insurance are left to die, I will leave this country.

melbury

LillyJ wrote: »

No but it is "free at the point of delivery" to everyone, which you will be grateful for if, god forbid, you ever need serious or urgent treatment.

If we ever go over to the American system where people without the cash for insurance are left to die, I will leave this country.

Would just like to say that God forbid we did need the help of the NHS last summer when we were on holiday, or rather my husband did, and they completely let us down.

He was admitted with suspected appendicitis and then left for some 14 hours after being told they would operate that night. Eventually the appendix burst, which as everybody knows can be fatal. He was then discharged only 29 hours after the operation because they needed the bed, even though he was still really unwell. Since then he hasn't been able to speak as a result of something happening to his throat when they anaesthetized him. He was so unwell that he didn't return to work for three months and then had to go back for purely financial reasons. As I am sure you can imagine, it is very difficult in any working environment when you can't communicate with people, can't answer the phone or make calls etc. All the NHS have done is refer him to a speech therapist that he sees once a month if he is lucky and it doesn't get cancelled, and has done no good whatsoever.

So please don't preach to me about how wonderful the NHS is. It is a totally inefficient white elephant swallowing up vast amounts of money, no matter how much more money is given it doesn't get any better. It needs to be dismantled and replaced with something that actually delivers half decent healthcare.

It's just a shame we were on holiday in this country, he would undoubtedly have got much better treatment elsewhere!

I apologize for ranting, but believe me this has been totally life changing for my family.

LillyJ

melbury wrote: »

Would just like to say that God forbid we did need the help of the NHS last summer when we were on holiday, or rather my husband did, and they completely let us down.

He was admitted with suspected appendicitis and then left for some 14 hours after being told they would operate that night. Eventually the appendix burst, which as everybody knows can be fatal. He was then discharged only 29 hours after the operation because they needed the bed, even though he was still really unwell. Since then he hasn't been able to speak as a result of something happening to his throat when they anaesthetized him. He was so unwell that he didn't return to work for three months and then had to go back for purely financial reasons. As I am sure you can imagine, it is very difficult in any working environment when you can't communicate with people, can't answer the phone or make calls etc. All the NHS have done is refer him to a speech therapist that he sees once a month if he is lucky and it doesn't get cancelled, and has done no good whatsoever.

So please don't preach to me about how wonderful the NHS is. It is a totally inefficient white elephant swallowing up vast amounts of money, no matter how much more money is given it doesn't get any better. It needs to be dismantled and replaced with something that actually delivers half decent healthcare.

It's just a shame we were on holiday in this country, he would undoubtedly have got much better treatment elsewhere!

I apologize for ranting, but believe me this has been totally life changing for my family.

I am sorry you have had a terrible time. However I am unsure quite how the NHS itself caused the issues with his throat. This was some sort of side effect of being intubated and therefore had nothing to do with the financial workings of the NHS, and I am unsure as to why you think this would not have happened had he been private - it would have been the same anaesthetist doing the procedure.

It is also very standard to be released from hospital so soon after appendicectomy. There are also medical reasons why people are left after being brought into hospital for appendicectomy which I will not go in to here.

I had an experience in America (we were living there) when my 2 year old sister nearly died as a result of a massive asthma attack - she had stopped breathing and they wouldn't treat her as our insurance company were on lunch break and couldn't confirm proof of insurance.

You are lucky to be able to afford health insurance, and we have this option in the UK should we wish to take it. If you can't afford it, just think what would have happened to your Husband?

I was not actually preaching about how wonderful the NHS is, I was stating that it is free at the point of delivery (which it is) and that the American system leaves people to die (which it does).

There are many failings in the NHS, and it is not perfect, but there are a huge number of benefits of not having people suffer ill effects as they cannot afford insurance.

nottslass_2

Hi,have you been back to your GP and asked him to write to the consultant asking for your op to be brought forward ? failing that try contacting pals(if you ring your local hospital and ask to be put through to the PALS office)

You should not have to wait ANY MORE that a total of 18 weeks from point of referral to receiving treatment - perhaps an email to your MP may help the situation !!

melbury

LillyJ wrote: »

I am sorry you have had a terrible time. However I am unsure quite how the NHS itself caused the issues with his throat. This was some sort of side effect of being intubated and therefore had nothing to do with the financial workings of the NHS, and I am unsure as to why you think this would not have happened had he been private - it would have been the same anaesthetist doing the procedure.

Of course the NHS caused the issues with his throat. Although loss of voice is quite a common occurrence after an operation, this normally only lasts for a few days - certainly not seven months+. An ENT consultant said that although nothing could be done surgically, his vocal chords had obviously sustained damage, as they were not functioning correctly.

I didn't mention in my post anything about private healthcare or that it would not have happened if he had been private, I don't know where you got that idea from.

It is also very standard to be released from hospital so soon after appendicectomy. There are also medical reasons why people are left after being brought into hospital for appendicectomy which I will not go in to here.

It is only standard to be released from hospital quickly if it is a normal appendectomy with no complications, such as perforating, which can lead to peritonitis and death. A work colleague's daughter had her appendix removed and it burst as they took it out, however, she was in hospital for 5 days recuperating.

You are lucky to be able to afford health insurance, and we have this option in the UK should we wish to take it. If you can't afford it, just think what would have happened to your Husband?

Why do you think I can afford private health insurance - I can't.

The point I am making that if everyone paid into a scheme, as they do in Australia (which is a different type to America), which wouldn't cost anymore than we pay in National Insurance, we could all be covered and the scroungers who just come here for free medical treatment would then be unable to take advantage of our so called FREE service.

IThere are many failings in the NHS, and it is not perfect, but there are a huge number of benefits of not having people suffer ill effects as they cannot afford insurance.

As I said before, it is just too big, completely out of control and costs an obscene amount of money to keep going. There is so much wastage in the NHS, too many administrators/managers earning fat salaries etc etc. Needs completely restructuring and, in more ways than one, to clean up its act.

LillyJ

melbury wrote: »

As I said before, it is just too big, completely out of control and costs an obscene amount of money to keep going. There is so much wastage in the NHS, too many administrators/managers earning fat salaries etc etc. Needs completely restructuring and, in more ways than one, to clean up its act.

I am sorry I still don't understand how the NHS ITSELF caused the problem with his throat. If you paid in to a healthcare scheme this STILL would have happened. Therefore you cannot blame the NHS for this, it is a tragic thing that has happened but fault has not been laid with anyone.

I agree about the structuring of the NHS, but if you think that someone who hasn't paid in to the NHS doesn't deserve it - what about people like me? I studied for 6 years therefore paid no NI contribtions. Should I have been left to die when I had my asthma attack that put me in intensive care? Of course not.

"Health tourism" is far less of a problem than the media makes out, but there are some non British people who utilise the system as they become ill whilst here. Would you rather they die on your doorstep?

calleyw

This is turning in to my husband almost died because of the NHS rant. Which is not what the OP was on about.

Can I join in then. But I will not. And yes I have been throught it with my husband leaving the house to be admitted for tests and not coming home for nearly three and half months. So been there and got the t-shirt. And yes it has been life changing for us as well because he physical disabilities and and part of his brain died.

Top trumps anyone:rotfl:

The OP was after help to get up the waiting list quicker. The best way is to just keep ringing them up. Tell them you will take a cancellation.

And by the way private don't touch things like in my husband case he had a stroke and if it goes wrong where do the patients go. That's right in to the NHS. So private is not all it is cracked up to be. And we don't pay nearly enough in tax to get a NHS that we should have. If you want a NHS to be proud of then you need to start putting you hands in your pockets. But as people don't want to pay then we get what we deserve.

All the best to the OP I hope you get something sorted quickly.

Yours


Calley