How Complicated Can the NHS be?

[Lou]

Bless the NHS, they did me sooo well last time, in for an arthroscopy within 3 hours of them suggesting i have one. This time, for a simple appointment, it has all gone nipples skyward and I have a cracking headache trying to sort it all out

The Scenario
I presented at A&E at Hospital 1 with a "Trauma" - read poorly knee. Saw Ortho consultant Mr A, who asked to see me back at clinic.

Got appointment for clinic at Hospital 1, went, didn't see Mr A (they had booked me for the wrong clinic) but saw Mr B, who sent me in for arthroscopy. Saw him upon discharge and he asked to see me in 3 weeks.

2 1/2 weeks pass and I have recieved no appointment so I phone Hospital 1, tell them who I am under and they book me a clinic appointment for today at Hospital 1.

Yesterday I get a letter from Hospital 2(!) saying i missed an appointment there. No appointment was ever recieved by me, so I phone Hospital 1 to chck I am still on for clinic today and tell them about the letter. They can't see appointments for Hospital 2, so I have to then phone them to explain what has happened. They thank me for letting them know, and say the appointment had been for Mr B.

I turn up today at clinic at Hospital 1 - no Mr B, he only works every 6 weeks there, so I see Mr C. Mr C agrees I need to be seen but he can't do anything with me as I am Mr B's patient, so he says he will refer me back to Mr B. This may take 2 weeks to get an appointment through, whcih would then be 6 weeks post op for a 3 week check-up. Hmmm.

I decide to try and be proactive - I phone Hospital 2 and try to get an appointment direct. They can't do this as they need to know which clinic. I tell them Mr B's clinic and look at the appointment you told me that I missed to see what type of clinic that is. They now can't find any record of me having an appointment at the time they told me I had missed an appointment. Upshot is, they say, Mr C's secretary has to write to Mr B's secretary to ask her to go and see appointments and get them to book me an appointment with Mr B again. This may take a while.

Okay, so next line of attack...I phone Mr B's secretary myself and explain the situation to her. She can't understand how it has happened but does have me as a no-show in the books, even though appointments can't find that appointment. She now has to speak to Mr C's secretary, and to Mr B to try and resolve it and get me an appointment. The lovely lady tells me to phone back tomorrow. Bless her.

I even mention the B.U.P.A word to see if that helped anywhere, but no...not just yet. I think we need some more letters....

No wonder there are cash deficits, there must be a simpler way. Why can't two hospitals, under the same Trust, who share consultants see the full apointments book, for example. Then when I rang last Wed they could have told me I had an appointment at the other hospital on Thursday. Why not have confirmation phone calls on appointments so they can chase up those who don't confirm instead of waste an appointment slot?

This isn't rant about the folk who work there, everyone wanted to help but were just tied in knots with "the way things work". Me, I just want to get sorted before the Gos!

[NeilP]

NHS is screwed.

Try working for them.

[frosty the snowman]

Originally Posted by Epic

NHS is screwed.

Try working for them.

Sad but true. Those of us in the clinical area (the reason the NHS exists) are suffocated under an unworkable and unaffordable beaurocracy that will be the death of the service unless it's radically reformed.

[dlegros]

Originally Posted by frosty the snowman

Sad but true. Those of us in the clinical area (the reason the NHS exists) are suffocated under an unworkable and unaffordable beaurocracy that will be the death of the service unless it's radically reformed.

What he said!

It's part of the reason I'm getting out

Dom

[abucksdiver]

Lou,
I have recently had similar situations, with my GP requesting I be seen by a specific named Doc in a specific Clinic at my local hospital. I knew that there would be a long wait (I had seen the specific Doc "sort of" privately, but can't afford the bills, so needed to go the NHS route!)

So, I get an appointment to see an unrelated specialist in a totally unrelated clinic... just so that their targets have been met!

The bureaucracy is killing the NHS!

(My mum is a Community Nurse in a specialist team... consisting of her and one other part time nurse.... the two of them have FIVE different managers...)

Andrew

[milldog]

I suspect its across the whole of the NHS they employ to many chiefs and don't have enough Indians to cover, you should try getting a contract with them, 9 months and still going on

just a question

this post wasn't a knee jerk reaction to the problem was it

Graham

[NeilP]

Originally Posted by frosty the snowman

Sad but true. Those of us in the clinical area (the reason the NHS exists) are suffocated under an unworkable and unaffordable beaurocracy that will be the death of the service unless it's radically reformed.

Totally.
Despite the trust I work for having a major turnaround plan due to it's £50m deficit (est), I still managed to receive my pay advice today and find out what the excess £500 I got paid last week was for - paid in error.

The trust I work for must be one of the worst managed in the UK.

Lou, it's a shame you've experienced what you have but that's the organisation within the NHS nowadays. Wait until all the Medsecs get sacked and all the notes, etc, are done in India, or wherever it's cheaper. That'll be fun - typing up an MP3 of what the consultant back in UK has dictated. Imagine the consequences of misinterpreting 'Hypotension' and 'Hypertension', for example!

Lovely

[principia]

It might well be a quality of the chiefs, not that there are too many.

[chrisch]

Originally Posted by Lou

... Why can't two hospitals, under the same Trust, who share consultants see the full apointments book, ...

This is a simple enough problem that the IT could solve in a nanosecond.

Nice Tony and Gordon gave million and millions of our dosh to Fujitsu-Siemens to do it...

Mmm...

Passport anyone?

Chris

[principia]

Originally Posted by Epic

Lou, it's a shame you've experienced what you have but that's the organisation within the NHS nowadays. Wait until all the Medsecs get sacked and all the notes, etc, are done in India, or wherever it's cheaper. That'll be fun - typing up an MP3 of what the consultant back in UK has dictated. Imagine the consequences of misinterpreting 'Hypotension' and 'Hypertension', for example!

Lovely

To be fair the research has shown that those very same errors get made in all transcribing whether it is done in the UK or abroad.