The NHS is rediculous

[andrewb]

Where do I start. Christmas 2005 I started getting really bad headaches and then felt really sick, so I went to my doctor when it continued for a few days.
I was given medication, the headaches went away but the sickness didn't and I also had bad stomach pains.

The pains got so bad in early January that I called 999 because it was that bad at one point. I had bloods done, and more medications and a drip because I'd lost a lot of fluid from being sick all the time.

Over time throwing up stopped (months we're talking) but the feeling sick and pain did not stop. I went back to my doctor many many times, he gave me lots of different types of medication none of which helped. I had an endoscopy (camera down in to my stomach) which I had to wait like 8weeks for, and a CT scan which was also going to be an 8weeks wait. However its not as if I just had 16weeks and I was all checked out, had to go in and out of the doctors and out of patients surgery every few weeks, sometimes more than once a week, in order to convince them that they needed to put me on the waiting list.

Neither the Endoscopy or CT scan showed anything conclusive. So my doctor and consultant basicly put it down to something i'd have to live with.

I kept going back and annoying my doctor, because I wasn't getting better, feeling sick EVERY DAY and nothing was working. By now its had a major impact on my every day life, I mean how would you feel to be sick 24/7?

We insisted we be refered to a specialist in Manchester which we were, weeks and weeks later I got another test for stomach acid. Then another 6weeks later (today) I visited Manchester Royal Infirmary for the results.

We had to wait 2hours longer than our appointment time, then we saw a doctor, who wasn't the consultant which we had on our letter, who had NO case notes, NO test results had NO idea what had been going on for the last 1.5years, and gave me medication which i've already had and didn't work. Now I have to wait a further 7weeks to be seen again.

I really can't express how angry I am. I have been passed pillar to post for the last 1.5years and it's quite frankly beyond the joke. The waiting times are a joke for things they could just tell me over the phone, or things that just don't need to wait that long for, the communication between departments is a shambles. How am I ever supposed to get anywhere if I have to explain my situation to a different doctor everytime I visit? I'm not getting any followups, im being treated as a new patient everytime I visit.

One point five years. I'm an otherwise healthy 18year old who should be enjoying life, but I can't. I don't understand how they can get it so wrong. Why can't somebody sit down, understand the situation, follow the situation through to the end resulting in a diagnosis and treatment?

Quite frankly, Mr Blair, Mr Brown, and New Labour, your waiting times might be down, but it dosn't mean a damn thing if people are not getting better.

[Ber999T]

Cyfr yes it can be annoying having to wait for appointments and then having to wait in the clinic. It is hoped that the NHS (note HOPED) will soon have web-based records for ALL patients so that your records can be called up by the relevant staff when you visit your GP, Consultant or other Hospitals.

Did you not ask for your records to be sent to the Manchester Royal?

Did you not ask as to why you didn't get seen by the Consultant?

From my personal experiences on my 1st visit to a new Consultant it was the "Main-man" that saw me and follow-ups been done by registers(sp) or junior Dr (House Doctor)

Hope they get you sorted out soon though

[andrewb]

Yes I saw a consultant on first occasion, but none of the previous notes were seen by the junior doctor on the second occasion, both in Blackburn and Manchester. Complete lack of communication.

[Ber999T]

Sorry to say but that does happen and not just in the NHS it is more noticeable when it happens to you.

Next time you go to GP tell them what has happened and ask if there is a way of making sure that doesn't happen again, doubt you'll be given your records but they may ensure that ALL information is sent on.

[WillowTheWhisp]

You have my total sympathy Cyfr. I hope you get sorted out properly soon. It just isn't good enough. You've had your time wasted and the doctor's time wasted when this should have been sorted out.

Last time I went to hospital the specialist gave me a prescription - eye drops to be used until further notice, sent letter to GP but when I went to renew my prescription with the GP they claimed to have no record of any eye drops. I insisted they find out as the specialist had told me not to stop using them. Again, lack of communication. They'd had a letter but just not updated my records.

[MargaretR]

If the headache meds you take contain codeine, that could be giving you nausea. I was addicted to Solpadol (prescribed for osteoarthritic pain) but went cold turkey when they started to make me throw up (I never took more than prescribed dose)
Prescription meds can make you ill!!
Always check out for side effects on the web
Good Luck - sounds like you need some.

[andrewb]

I only took the headache meds for a short period (1 week) and I can't remember their name. However the specialist did seem to think that they could have been the cause of my stomach problems.

[lettie]

Sorry about your situation Cyfr, but I can say that it is no surprise. The ridiculous targets set by government have patients ushered in and out of hospital within the time frame but nothing really gets done. If you are not considered to be an urgent or emergency case then you could be pushed from pillar to post for years, but the targets will be met because you have been seen within the timeframe.

This is what our government call 'modernisation' and from a staff point of view it is galling to see more managers and admin staff appointed in order to meet these targets and less nurses and doctors to actually sort out the patients. There is another reason why the NHS will never move forward and that is 'meetings.'

There is more time wasted at pointless meetings in the NHS than anywhere else on Earth. Every new target, protocol or guideline sparks a plethora of meetings where managers will attempt to filter down the new information to the staff on the shop floor. This usually involves excessive paperwork for clinical staff, this paperwork usually contains loads of pointless tick boxes for various statistics. Clinical staff have to then waste more patient time filling these in, therefore the quality of patient's visits are reduced. Things are rarely resolved at these meetings so they are followed up by more meetings until ultimately we are told that the original meeting gave us misinformation and we have all been doing it wrong for months. Therefore another meeting is called (do you get my drift? )

This is progress and modernisation and according to government, meets patient's needs!!!!!! I have yet to meet a patient who wants to travel 20 miles to a big hospital in order to receive care. Most would rather be treat locally by staff who have the time and resources to care for them properly. Maybe I am cynical after 20 years working in the NHS but Patricial Hewitt can claim that the NHS needs to 'modernise' in this way until she is blue in the face but I do not know one nurse or midwife who supports her claim.

The reason that patients such as yourself stay in the system so long is down to Mis-modernisation, mismanagement and meetings and with every change of government it becomes worse.

[jambutty]

A couple of weeks ago my daughter’s feller got a sliver of metal in his eye so he went to A & E Blackburn. The sign said a minimum of 6 hours wait yet there were less than a dozen people waiting to be seen. After an hour when no one had been attended to he walked out.

By the Sunday the eye was still very sore so at 7:30 in the morning he was back in casualty with only a few other patients. He was still there by 3:00pm unseen. I’ve no idea what time he got out but that is absolutely scandalous.

I can accept long waiting times if casualty was full of people but how can they justify a potential 6 hours wait with only a dozen or so people waiting to be attended to?

NHS getting better? Don’t make me laugh!

[shakermaker]

Your spelling is also ridiculous mate

Never been in your position of faffing around with all those different quacks but hope everything gets sorted soon.

[WillowTheWhisp]

It must be very frustrating Lettie for anyone within the NHS who can see why it isn't working and yet still to be tied by all the nonsense.

I don't know if Blackburn A&E is the same as Lancaster Jambutty but when I went there with my daughter one summer they explained that the few people you see in the waiting room are the walking wounded with no life threatening problems. What you don't see are those brought in by ambulance and those whose lives hang in the balance and whose needs must take precedence so although it seems on the surface that they are taking forever to deal with a handful of patients you are not seeing all the others whose need is far greater.

[Wynonie Harris]

Originally Posted by lettie

Sorry about your situation Cyfr, but I can say that it is no surprise. The ridiculous targets set by government have patients ushered in and out of hospital within the time frame but nothing really gets done. If you are not considered to be an urgent or emergency case then you could be pushed from pillar to post for years, but the targets will be met because you have been seen within the timeframe.

This is what our government call 'modernisation' and from a staff point of view it is galling to see more managers and admin staff appointed in order to meet these targets and less nurses and doctors to actually sort out the patients. There is another reason why the NHS will never move forward and that is 'meetings.'

There is more time wasted at pointless meetings in the NHS than anywhere else on Earth. Every new target, protocol or guideline sparks a plethora of meetings where managers will attempt to filter down the new information to the staff on the shop floor. This usually involves excessive paperwork for clinical staff, this paperwork usually contains loads of pointless tick boxes for various statistics. Clinical staff have to then waste more patient time filling these in, therefore the quality of patient's visits are reduced. Things are rarely resolved at these meetings so they are followed up by more meetings until ultimately we are told that the original meeting gave us misinformation and we have all been doing it wrong for months. Therefore another meeting is called (do you get my drift? )

This is progress and modernisation and according to government, meets patient's needs!!!!!! I have yet to meet a patient who wants to travel 20 miles to a big hospital in order to receive care. Most would rather be treat locally by staff who have the time and resources to care for them properly. Maybe I am cynical after 20 years working in the NHS but Patricial Hewitt can claim that the NHS needs to 'modernise' in this way until she is blue in the face but I do not know one nurse or midwife who supports her claim.

The reason that patients such as yourself stay in the system so long is down to Mis-modernisation, mismanagement and meetings and with every change of government it becomes worse.

Hit the nail right on the head there, Lettie. Exactly what Mrs H, who also works in the NHS says. And some of you think Tony Blair's a good bloke!

[andrewb]

Originally Posted by shakermaker

Your spelling is also ridiculous mate

Never been in your position of faffing around with all those different quacks but hope everything gets sorted soon.

We had got to post 10 and nobody had said anything, damnit

I wish we could edit posts after 10mins

[WillowTheWhisp]

I'm lost for words reading THIS - if it was in a TV sit com you wouldn't believe it would you? You'd say it was too far fetched. I can just hear Victor Meldrew now.

[flashy]

well the answer to this thread is simple isnt it, if you dont like the FREE NHS then pay to go private