Gripe of the day

[Bob G]

I fully agree with what has been said.
The doctors and nursing staff are fantastic.
But the bureaucracy and systems that run the health service are not joined up at all, and are in my experience not fit for purpose.

My mum is 91 and not quite with it (Alzheimer's; Macular; Deaf; Arthritic). She WAS living at home, in Portsmouth, 3 - 4h from me depending on traffic.
She had an appointment at Queen Alexandra Hospital 18 months ago for a hearing test. She went, and a mold was made for hearing aids.
12 months later I started to complain, as I had been unable to talk to my mum other than when the carers were in cleaning or shopping (2x week) because she couldn't hear me.
Apparently she was not a priority.
I ended up contacting her MP, Penny Mordaunt. Within hours we had an appointment at Queen Alexandra Hospital but I could not get down and we had to arrange an Ambulance to go and pick her up.
We still dont know to this day whether the Ambulance arrived or if she turned it away, but she was marked down as a no show. My mum has no idea if she went or not, because of her Alzheimer's.
We were warned that if we did that again she would never get hearing aids.
3 months later we got another appointment.

I drove down with my wife (one person to look after mum, another to park the car).
It took us half an hour to get a wheelchair for my mum (she doesnt have her own). Porters have to be booked, but when they drop off, then they have to go back to base to pick up the next booking, which could be where they actually were! INSANITY.
To get back to the drop off point, we had to wait over an hour for a chair. Our porter arrived but we were not the name given to them so they went back without anyone in the chair. MORE INSANITY.
I threatened to trash the place as they would have to come and take us away then, and eventually one was borrowed from another department to get us to the drop off point.

At the fitting she couldnt have her aids calibrated as her ears were blocked with wax.
Your doctor will be able to fix that, they said.
OH NO THEY WONT. THEY DONT DO THAT.
Nor would the GP arrange a District Nurse to administer ear drops. That's your job as a carer.
You explain you live 180 miles away but that doesn't have any effect.
I am the person supposed to care for my mum in her old age.
Which is why i gave up most of my self-employed time in March to sort her out.
Because when I wasnt sorting her out i was complaining or begging for help or screaming or crying.
We had to go private for ear suction, because it is impossible to get NHS help for an old lady of 91 who has no vision.

A month on, my mum is in a care home, much closer to me than her home. It will have to be sold, as the care home costs £900/week and she owns her own home.
We are now waiting for an eye specialist to assess whether she can have an operation for cataracts or not.
The request went in 2 weeks ago but her new Doctor has not responded to the request.

I am now on blood pressure tablets.

The doctors and nurses are fantastic, but as I said at the start, the system is totally broken.

As am I. I am in total despair. Before anything happens she must be assessed...

Bob

[tutenkhamunsleeping]

I had an 8:45 appointment recently after my 2 year old jabbed me in the eye with some vigour

Always store vigour well out of the reach of children

[guest311]

I fully agree with what has been said.
The doctors and nursing staff are fantastic.
But the bureaucracy and systems that run the health service are not joined up at all, and are in my experience not fit for purpose.

My mum is 91 and not quite with it (Alzheimer's; Macular; Deaf; Arthritic). She WAS living at home, in Portsmouth, 3 - 4h from me depending on traffic.
She had an appointment at Queen Alexandra Hospital 18 months ago for a hearing test. She went, and a mold was made for hearing aids.
12 months later I started to complain, as I had been unable to talk to my mum other than when the carers were in cleaning or shopping (2x week) because she couldn't hear me.
Apparently she was not a priority.
I ended up contacting her MP, Penny Mordaunt. Within hours we had an appointment at Queen Alexandra Hospital but I could not get down and we had to arrange an Ambulance to go and pick her up.
We still dont know to this day whether the Ambulance arrived or if she turned it away, but she was marked down as a no show. My mum has no idea if she went or not, because of her Alzheimer's.
We were warned that if we did that again she would never get hearing aids.
3 months later we got another appointment.

I drove down with my wife (one person to look after mum, another to park the car).
It took us half an hour to get a wheelchair for my mum (she doesnt have her own). Porters have to be booked, but when they drop off, then they have to go back to base to pick up the next booking, which could be where they actually were! INSANITY.
To get back to the drop off point, we had to wait over an hour for a chair. Our porter arrived but we were not the name given to them so they went back without anyone in the chair. MORE INSANITY.
I threatened to trash the place as they would have to come and take us away then, and eventually one was borrowed from another department to get us to the drop off point.

At the fitting she couldnt have her aids calibrated as her ears were blocked with wax.
Your doctor will be able to fix that, they said.
OH NO THEY WONT. THEY DONT DO THAT.
Nor would the GP arrange a District Nurse to administer ear drops. That's your job as a carer.
You explain you live 180 miles away but that doesn't have any effect.
I am the person supposed to care for my mum in her old age.
Which is why i gave up most of my self-employed time in March to sort her out.
Because when I wasnt sorting her out i was complaining or begging for help or screaming or crying.
We had to go private for ear suction, because it is impossible to get NHS help for an old lady of 91 who has no vision.

A month on, my mum is in a care home, much closer to me than her home. It will have to be sold, as the care home costs £900/week and she owns her own home.
We are now waiting for an eye specialist to assess whether she can have an operation for cataracts or not.
The request went in 2 weeks ago but her new Doctor has not responded to the request.

I am now on blood pressure tablets.

The doctors and nurses are fantastic, but as I said at the start, the system is totally broken.

As am I. I am in total despair. Before anything happens she must be assessed...

Bob

I wish I could say I was shocked at this, but ...

no, while appalled, certainly not shocked.
you hear so many stories like this, it is a total disgrace.

just a good thing you didn't trash the place, not doubt that would have been dealt with very quickly, and vigorously 

it seems more and more that the elderly, and at 73 this month no doubt I'm now one of them, and having worked and contributed all my life to this system, when you need it, it is basically a case of Foxtrot Oscar, you'll affect my budget / figures / etc.

ambulance crews / paramedics = five star
nurses = five star

the rest , wouldn't p**s on them if on fire, too worried about caring for themselves, and not those who they are paid to CARE for.

sorry if this sets off the 'political' alarm, but it is so obvious from post after post that there is seriously something wrong once you get away from the NHS front line.

[PLD]

the rest , wouldn't p**s on them if on fire, too worried about caring for themselves, and not those who they are paid to CARE for.

sorry if this sets off the 'political' alarm, but it is so obvious from post after post that there is seriously something wrong once you get away from the NHS front line.

Thanks Mate 
As one of those non-frontline NHS staff, I'll confirm in some organisations there are some free-loaders who contribute very little, but hopefully can offer a bit of a different perspective.

Contrary to the media hype the ratio of admin to operational staff in the NHS is in fact the lowest in the EU... And who would you rather have do the paperwork? a £25k Administrator or a £75k Doctor?? Unless you've been there you don't realise just how much is done with so few, and unless you have spent time on the front line (I've been an observer in A&E and done ride alongs with ambulance crews) you won't realise just what is faced by the genuine heroes on the front line and you won't realise the waste of time some so-called patients actually are.
The patient with 200++ A&E attendances in a year with nothing wrong with them (but they have to be at least triaged by a Junior Doc or Nurse Practitioner every time taking 10-20 minutes)
The new mother who called an ambulance because Baby didn't like the flavour of what she was feeding it (protocol then said dispatch for any case involving an infant)
The Patient who calls after he was supposed to check in for his operation demanding an operation the next day saying he didn't turn up as booked "because it was such a nice day so he played a round of Golf instead"

One part of a former role was investigating some of the complaints receive (believe me in most organisations, all are at least reviewed) and in a significant number of cases stories were sadly exaggerated, embellished or simply complete fiction which takes time and resources to investigate and does no help to the patients cause. Wading through the spurious ones hinders dealing with those with a genuine grievance...

You learn to instantly spot the contradictions that flag the dodgy cases. A classic example was the one who in the same letter complained the length of time he waited in A&E meant he missed the last bus home and at the same time demanded compensation for damage to his car in the hospital car park.
Which reminds me...

took a taxi to the hospital
...
I left my walking stick behind somewhere en route, probably while paying for the car park.

First thing I'd do is complain to the local taxi licencing authority if the Taxi driver made you pay for him to park.

[stevewalker]

took a taxi to the hospital
...
I left my walking stick behind somewhere en route, probably while paying for the car park.

First thing I'd do is complain to the local taxi licencing authority if the Taxi driver made you pay for him to park.

I read that as drove to the blood test and then got a taxi from there to the hospital for the second appointment, as there wasn't enough time to park up at the second appointment.

[Dorsetmike]

I drove to the multi storey at the shopping centre where the NHS clinic is over Boots the chemist, I had passed the hospital car park on the way - it was full - (again) after the blood test I took the taxi from shopping centre to hospital (fare £3.40). When I finally finished at the hospital took bus back to near shopping centre car park. Hope that clarifies the sequence of events Steve.

[emjaybee]

@Bob G , sorry for your troubles bloke.

Having had a brush with the NHS this last weekend I can't thank the front line staff enough.

Hope your life eases up a bit soon.

[Newportnobby]

@PLD As one who fairly frequently lashes out at anyone other than the 'hands on' staff and, yes, probably unfairly at times, it's good to hear the other side of the coin and I admit to no surprise of some of the public's shenanigans. It's mainly the appointment 'bbokers' and the consultants I have issues with. 6 months after my triple bypass I saw the consultant for a follow up and his first question was "Have you had your op yet?" to which I replied "You're joking, right?" His next question was "What medication are you taking" to which I replied "I'm not telling you. Look it up on your computer" (He must have thought I was a patient from hell)
Last year I had an appointment to see a consultant and when no one had been seen entering/leaving his room for at least ½ an hour I caught a couple of nurses listening at the door to see if he was still awake.
When he asked if I was well, I replied I would be if he paid my car park fee.