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[Kay]

I was wondering if people have had the same /similar experience as myself and my neighbour.

I have had appointments cancelled and been waiting months for an ENT appointment.  Was told I would be classed as an 'SOS'  patient (which meant that it would be quicker as new referrals take longer and I was at one time, under the clinic last year).

Anyway, nothing forthcoming on that front.

Secondly,  I was given an appointment with the Orthopaedic Clinic at HERTFORD Hospital, which I would not go to - so I was then given one at QEII in August - this week, I have had a letter through now cancelling that one and giving me one in September (wonder if I will get there).

I was talking to my elderly neighbour who was saying her husband had many appointments with the Chiropodist cancelled and now he has been told they will not cut his toe nails (he is on Warfarin - or whatever it is called! - and if he cuts himself he could bleed alot). Anyway, he was told it was part of saving money and to get it done himself!  So now, he has to live with the possibility of ingrowing toe nails.

tt4n
Kay

[Nessie]

Hi Kay

Just to let you know an SOS appointment is for patients who have been seen in an outpatient clinic so they can seen again if they have a recurrence of the problem they were originally sent to the hospital for.  Unfortunately it does not give them priority over new patients when being allocated an appointment.  The appointments clerk will simply make the appointment in the next available follow-up slot on that clinic.  This could be anything from the next day to several months away depending on how busy the clinics are.  The only possible way to speed things up is a pleading letter to the consultant from yourself or from your GP or a trip to A&E (It still may not work but at least you tried).

Due to a combination of doctor's new contacts and cash strapped NHS trusts when a doctor goes on annual leave clinics are reduced rather than find funding for locum cover.  Doctors should give at least six weeks notice before going on annual leave to allow time for the necessary alternations to be made.  Unfortunately if a doctor is suddenly taken ill (it does happen) at very short notice clinics have to be cancelled or reduced and the knock on effect is longer time spans between the initial consultation and any follow-up appointments needed.  With the Government setting targets on the length of time it takes for a new referral to be seen, NHS trusts have been forced to make new patients a priority in fear of breaching these guidelines and losing out on further funding. 

Nessie

[Kay]

Hi Kay

Just to let you know an SOS appointment is for patients who have been seen in an outpatient clinic so they can seen again if they have a recurrence of the problem they were originally sent to the hospital for.  Unfortunately it does not give them priority over new patients when being allocated an appointment.  The appointments clerk will simply make the appointment in the next available follow-up slot on that clinic.  This could be anything from the next day to several months away depending on how busy the clinics are.  The only possible way to speed things up is a pleading letter to the consultant from yourself or from your GP or a trip to A&E (It still may not work but at least you tried).

Due to a combination of doctor's new contacts and cash strapped NHS trusts when a doctor goes on annual leave clinics are reduced rather than find funding for locum cover.  Doctors should give at least six weeks notice before going on annual leave to allow time for the necessary alternations to be made.  Unfortunately if a doctor is suddenly taken ill (it does happen) at very short notice clinics have to be cancelled or reduced and the knock on effect is longer time spans between the initial consultation and any follow-up appointments needed.  With the Government setting targets on the length of time it takes for a new referral to be seen, NHS trusts have been forced to make new patients a priority in fear of breaching these guidelines and losing out on further funding. 

Nessie

Hi Nessie (in the know *smiles*)

Thank you VERY MUCH for this information. The person I spoke to (Secretary to the Consultant) had said the SOS meant I would not have to wait as long for my appointment than a new referral.  Thank you for th  information you provided, it was (is) invaluable).  I have been waiting since January, so another few months wont make any difference.

Guess darned Government targets are to blame.  What a shambles the NHS is in - Bevan / Beveridge would turn in their graves if they saw the state it had all got into.

BUT, the NHS is safe with Tony Blair (yeah sure), we all know the truth on that one.  Better to go to war than spend money on the NHS / Education / other policies...

All the best
Kay

[Kay]

Does anyone know ....... - Why is it that a person has to wait months for an appointment and then when they (I) get one - it is in Hertford?  I am really puzzled about this.  Seems to be that Hertford are first and foremost for appointments coming up - so they are allocated first.

I do hate going to Hertford for various reasons.  Waited about 8 months for the appointment anyway, so  having to wait another month for the appointment at the QEII wont make any difference - not their fault - money again (funds / resources etc.,).

tt4n
Kay

[Kay]

Fed up again with the QEII's inadequacies......

How is the Lister going to cope with the workload of appointments if the QEII are struggling already?

What I hadn't said with regard to going in for my 'op' on my hand is this:

I was asked by letter to arrive at 7.30 a.m. in the morning - I managed to get my neighbour to have my son that early for me (given she is an elder I hated to ask her - because of various reasons, mornings are not good for her). 

I got a Taxi over there - got there for 7.20/25 a.m, only to be told "Oh, you are not booked until 2 p.m. and someone did ring yuo and tell you yesterday (yeah, sure they did - they didn't speak to me and left a message - which I heard too late!).

I thought I was going to 'blow a gasket' to be honest.  I asked if there was anywhere I could stay  and was told I could sit in the hallway, but it would be 7 (SEVEN) hours before I was seen.   I went to the Cafe - opposite the small shop.

Text my daughter - who lives in WGC - asking if she wanted a visitor that day.... No problem......

After lunch I walk back to the QEII......  get there at about 1.40/45!!  In plenty of time - I thought!!  Only to be told I was expected (and apparently had been asked) to arrive at 12 mid day!  I was furious, but managed to keep ahold of my anger (just).  The Ward Manager even said to me "you were told 12 mid day, and there was a witness!".

I asked her if she was calling me a liar because that is what it sounded like to me..... "No" was the reply.  I was (still am) angry at insinuations I lied.   When I got home that night (9p.m.) there is a message on my answer phone asknig "this is the QEII here, we were wondering where XYZ is because she was due to have an operation today and come back at 12 mid day!".

Thank GOD, my neighbour had a key to my house and could go in to get some food for my son and get him to bed for me.  (I had only given her his lunch - expecting to be back home in time to cook his dinner).

aaghhhh

Next follow up appointment......  I receive a letter with a date for my check (which was meant to be after 14 days), it is about 8/9 days after the 'op'.  I rang them up to say this and tell them it would be near impossible for me to get there at 3 p.m. because I have a son at school who needs to be collected.

I am put through to the Secretary who says she will ring me back - no call....  I waited a week and then left a message for her to say she did say she would ring me back - but I had not heard from her or the appointments section.

Same day, I get a message on my answerphone telling me THEIR records show I missed my last appointment and there must have been some misunderstanding! Yeah sure - staff don't make errors do they?

So now, I have my post op check on Monday afternoon at 4 p.m. and thankfully have a friend who is collecting my son for me and having him back for Tea!

So, - how are the Lister going to cope with appointments if the QEII find it hard already?

tt4n
Kay

[John Wood]

Kay,
      I had to go to The Orthopaedic Clinic at Hertford Hospital recently,it was fine.It was a new modern building.I got there early and was seen early, by really nice and kind staff.
      A few weeks latter, I went to The Orthopaedic Clinic, at The QE11 and was treated very well there to.

[Kay]

John Wood - you are lucky then.  I went there this week - my appointment 4.30 p.m.  Got seen at 5.05 p.m. - home by 6.10 p.m. (bus) and when I got in, there was a message on my answerphone telling me they were having to cancel my appointment for that afternoon.  Gawd, I'd already been in the WGC area so they weren't able to get hold of me!.

tt4n
Kay

[Hatfield Girl]

It seems that nothing changes.  I got refered to the Hospital by my GP.  I phoned to make an appointment and under the new patient choice system I was told about the various merrits of four hospitals.  The one with the earliest appointment was Hertford so I chose that one.  I saw the Doctor who said that they would do a minor operation at the QE2.  Why go through all that choosing a hospital if you get referred to another one anyway?  I've now been give four dates for this operation, one I had to decline on advice of the Doctor, but I accepted the other three.  On each occasion I arranged for time off work and transport home afterwards.  The latest date is a week on Monday with an assessment next Wednesday.  I had still not recieved anything in writing about this so I went to the QE2 today to see what was happening.  I went to the office of the day surgery unit and said that I was waiting for a letter about my op on the 11th, they have no record of it.  I was told by the Doctors secretary that the Doctor had put me on the list himself after cancelling the last one.  As a result of all of the phone calls I've made, I've found that there seems to be no end to thier incompetence and lack of communication between each other and me as an increasingly less patient patient!
 
I wonder how much more treatment could be provided if they cut out the time and money they waste by not talking to each other.

[Kay]

HG "I wonder how much more treatment could be provided if they cut out the time and money they waste by not talking to each other. "

My sentiments exactly.

Hope you are well. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU and yours.

Kay

[Hatfield Girl]

Well I had my op on the 11th.  The op itself was fine but everything else was a nightmare!
 
I got no letters at all about the op or the assessment.  I got a phone call about pre op assessment in which I answered a questionaire over the phone and when I asked about going on the wednesday was told I'd only have to if the nurse who got the questionaire called me.  On the Friday before I gat a call from someone else to answer the same questionaire again.  They then said that I couldn't have the op because I hadn't been in for the assessment.  Eventually two senior managers down the line they agreed that I could have the assessment on the morning of the op in one of the wards.  I got there at 9am as requested and had to wait for an hour while they retrieved my notes.  I was sent for a blood test and then went back to the ward.  I had been told that I would be able to go home after the assessment and come back at 12.30 for the op.  I ended up having 45 minutes to get home, have a shower, feed the cat, pack my bag and get back to the hospital.  I then sat in the waiting room for an hour and a half and when they did call me through they said the bed wasn't ready, I couldn't have a GA I had to have a Spinal Anaesthetic and would then be taken back up to the ward I started on.   At the end of the day there were four of us waiting to be discharged.  It took three and a half hours to find a Doctor to discharge us and was by then after 10 PM.  At least I had my op.  One of the other women was told at 10.30 at night that the machine had broken and they hadn't done all of what she had gone in for and would have to go back.   Two days later, I got a letter in the post saying that my blood test hadn't bee labled and could I go back for another one.........
 
My observations were that the ward was freezing because of the drafts coming though the single glazed windows.  There was a lack of Doctors and Nurses, patients were on the ward who shouldn't have been.  There was  zero information about what to expect after the op and a total disaster of an appointments/assessment system.  The whole experience was quite shocking.