NHS in Efficiency Shocker.... Twice!!!

[Wigsie]

So whatever has been going wrong with my back took a bit of a drastic turn a while ago and has been getting worse now on a daily basis, I have had pins and needles for a week now.

[Shocker 1]
So Yesterday I went back to the docs to try and speed up my next consultant/specialist appointment..."phone this number and see what they can do" I get told.. so I give them a call at 1.30pm "If you come down at 5.45pm we can see you then sir"

[Shocker 2]
Specialist consultant fella confirms he suspects disc has totally prolapsed and jammed the nerves, so he enters into the system that I need another MRI (Last one was feb last year). I get a telephone call 20 minutes ago "We can see you on Monday at 6pm Sir"

Lets hope Shocker 3 isn't them giving me MRSA!

 

[surfdude]

did they tell you which monday and which year its on

 

[accountantpete]

I think the Consultants are all earning as much overtime as they can before the money runs out.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/h...-consultants-can-earn-100000-in-overtime.html

 

[fossyant]

Spine's and pins and neadles need checking out pronto - so that's why you've been seen fast. You got the 'patient needs to be seen number'.

When I was knocked off the bike, the GP gave me a 'magic' number and I was straight to Xray after her info went through.

Good news for you. You should get the MRI results back pronto too - not have to wait a few months.

Good luck and I hope it get's sorted.

 

[Gromit]

Doctor with 30 years service under his belt got it wrong. Can't say any more, but always get a second opinion.

 

[krushavik]

Best of luck. Hope your luck keeps running to form.

 

[Wigsie]

Thanks for all the responses!

Was that an admission of guilt Gromit?

 

[Gromit]

No admission of guilt, something happened to a friend of mine recently.

 

[Intelligenthamster]

I'm guessing that is a patient-needs-to-be-seen case as fossyant says.

I had my first ever migraine at the age of thirtysomething recently- and got the full aura, my visual field was rippling like water and I was seeing the most amazing psychedelic triangular patterns. I rang the doc for advice and was told to get myself taken home, go to the surgery in a couple of hours and not to be alone.

Just turned out to be a boring old migraine, but the doc said as I didn't have a history the symptoms with the disturbed vision were a big red flag.

Heal well Wigsie. When I had an MRI, in spite of the racket of the machine, I nearly fell asleep.

 

[ufkacbln]

Unfortunately as most of our patients need an injection in the morning and then a scan in the afternoon it is usually too late to fill the gaps, having said that we had one lucky patient last week who saw his consultant at 10:00 came to us at 10:30, injected at 10:35, scanned at 13:30 and back to the consultant the same afternoon. Pure luck as he walked in as a patient cancelled their appointment 5 minutes before it was due

Non attendance is a big issue - we had 8 patients booked in for this afternoon, of which only 5 turned up.

As a result we had virtually a third of our capacity unused. Three patients could have utilised these slots if these people had phoned to let us knw they weren't coming in.

 

[postman]

A point on failed appointments .Which really gets up my back .Even though the reasons are private .A phonecall would be nice to tell someone .In our Dentist and i fully agree with this .You don't show up .Or phone 48 hrs before .They charge £25.You no pay .You no get next treatment .

This could be used in the NHS .

 

[Wigsie]

A point on failed appointments .Which really gets up my back .Even though the reasons are private .A phonecall would be nice to tell someone .In our Dentist and i fully agree with this .You don't show up .Or phone 48 hrs before .They charge £25.You no pay .You no get next treatment .

This could be used in the NHS .

They do this with the physio department here, you basically get 24 hours, if you miss an appointment & don't phone to explain why up to 24 hours after the missed appointment they discharge you.

 

[fossyant]

These missed appointments really annoy me - I was chatting with the nurses at my shoulder clinic, and they said they have lot's of no shows....really bad considering it's been a long two years to get to the point of being offered an operation. Waiting lists would be slashed if folk just turned up - the NHS really need to charge.

 

[summerdays]

Good luck with getting it all resolved Wigsie.

With regards to non-shows... I'm terrible at remembering my dentist appointments ... and usually get in a bit of a muddle ... this summer I phoned up to check it was the following week only to be told it was that afternoon - so I had to turn up at school and pick up my son who didn't know it was happening. I guess part of the problem is that the date is always 6 months away so plenty of time to forget. (Now I'm worried when my next dentist appointment is.... I'll probably have to ring them on Monday to check - though I think its not for a month or two more yet). This week I tried to go to a party a week early!!! Had baby sitter and everything organised ...

But I have never missed a hospital appointment - presumably because I worry about the outcome ... but I still stress over whether I have got the date and time right.

My opticians always phones a day or two in advance to remind us about our appointments - which seems to work well. I wonder if the NHS could text or email patients reminders. I know there would be a cost involved but in comparison to the cost of multiple missed appointments.

 

[Wigsie]

Heal well Wigsie. When I had an MRI, in spite of the racket of the machine, I nearly fell asleep.

Ha ha funnily enough I almost did on the one I had last Feb. They were playing the Chris Moyles show into the headphones, I remember thinking it would be a great torture technique for some on here, the enclosed space and Chris Moyles fart jokes!