NHS

[guest311]

so, would I  clap for them ?

aftewr today's example 'No. I would not'

daughter 2 had a bad night with grandson #3

sick several times, then temperature up, in the end to 38.
phoned 111
GP will phone you back...
did, and after going through symptoms said go to out of hours doctor at PRH  Haywards Heath...

on arrival ... closed
used box on wall, and was told to go to A&E..
on arrival told 'we can't see him' ' go to OOH doctor'
explained no one there...
'they are down at the fractures clinic'..

drag down there, see receptionist... 'you haven't got an appointment, doctor won't see you'
explained situation, explained told to go to OOH doctor ....

NFI

told to go home and phone 111
already done
they will phone you back
already done
they will tell you to go to OOH Doctor
ALREADY DONE 

as obviously dealing with brick wall ...
went home...
phoned 111, again
GP will phone you back, again

did, take to OOH doctor at PRH 

explained previous experience ......
take to Pediatric hosp in Brighton...

did

final outcome
.....
'we think he's got tonsilitis'
wait for anti-biotics
wait
wait

bet Boris didn't have all this faffing about .

still waiting for her to get back, and

guess what I'll be doing tomorrow 

NHS, no better than they ever were, to many got free training and then went abroad.

what a shambles

[NOE 544R]

Hmmm bite my tongue or reply....

Doesn't sound like a great experience BUT we are amid a pandemic. All these staff, poorly equipped in areas, have had to learn how to tackle a virus which is ever changing and creating massive strain on the service. They put their lives on the line for us fighting this invisible enemy while many stay at home, safe from it...

I think It's unfair to label it a shambles. Ill prepared...maybe, but I for one think we should all be thankful of the work they are doing.

Hope the young'uns get better.

[Bob Tidbury]

Yes I hope your little one is Ok .
My granddaughter is just turned one and she had a temperature of 39.2 my daughter rang 111 and had the same sort of run around as you told NOT TO COOL her down but just try and calm her  ,eventually got to the doctor and he said TAKE HER HOME AND COOL HER DOWN WITH A COLD FLANNEL .
BUT PLEASE DONT BLAME THE N H S  THEY ARE UNDER TERRIBLE PRESSURE .
THERE HASNT BEEN ANY THING LIKE THIS FOR YEARS and nothing could have prepared them for this and of course things are changing as the experts learn more about the virus and how to deal with it
The staff you dealt with might have been on duty for many many  hours and had to deal with deaths and other major problems during their shift .
I wouldnt want their job for all the Locos made .So give them some slack .
Would you cope with the job .
Hope things get better soon .
Bob Tidbury

[Steven B]

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the country a neighbour called 111 because they were worried about there child. Within an hour they'd had a callback from the 111 GP, been refered to out of hours doctor, was seen by said doctor, received medication and were on way back home to bed.

Sadly like most experiences with the NHS, shops, garages etc we all to often only hear when things go wrong, not when they go right.

Steven B

[Trainfish]

Speaking as the husband of a nurse I think it should also be remembered that a lot of NHS staff are carrying out tasks which they are not accustomed to at the moment. It's all hands to the pump and they are doing the absolute best they can.

[Shropshire Lad]

My wife is a nurse working long hours and suffering for it. Can't say a lot else, the forum software censors pretty much everything I've tried to type.

[guest373]

When the PM first took up residence in Downing Street, he said 'the buck stops here'.

[Newportnobby]

[gmod]Let's not make this political please or posts will be removed[/gmod]

[guest311]

while I accept that nurses and doctors are working long hours, and dealing in many cases with things outside their experience, surely that is no excuse for simple poor performance.

so many companies etc are using covid-19 as an excuse for poor service, but I'm afraid that some jumped up receptionist acting in this manner is just not acceptable, under any circumstances 

this view was actually endorsed by the complaints department when I spoke to them this morning, and they clearly stated that this should have been referred to the OOH doctor.

as for the A&E department, they simply referred my daughter to the fracture clinic, where the OOH doctor was located, and so did not refuse to see my grandson, simply redirected them.

the whole problem was the receptionist at the fracture clinic. whether by ignorance of her job, or sheer laziness, she will now be explaining her actions to the complaints department.

hopefully this sort of 'care' will not occur in the future to anyone else.

unfortunately, grandson is not responding to the antibiotics, and is now heading back down to the Alex for further investigation.

[Newportnobby]

[gmod]The latter 2 posts have been removed as promised - the second one only as it had nothing to refer to with the first one gone. Any more and the thread will just be locked[/gmod]

[N_GaugeModeller]

You have to remember that the NHS is under enormous strain at the moment, mistakes will happen, but even now I suspect they get it right most of the time.

I know its worse when its your child but mostly they are doing an excellent job with little if any thanks.

[PLD]

Responding carefully as I work for the NHS...

There is no denying that issues do occur, and "Out of Hours Services" do seem to have more than most other services, especially in regions where they are not provided by the GPs and not by the same organisation as the A&E department. (Way off my patch, but from my directory of services OOH at Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath is a independent sector provider "IC24"?)

There's a multitude of reasons issues occur. Sometimes there is an element of misunderstanding on the part of the patient, sometimes it is work load or other pressures on the staff, sometimes it is capacity, sometimes it is a breakdown of communication between the patient and the service or between services, and in the OP's case I suspect the latter is most likely the root cause.

I don't know the standard process in that area, but what would (should) happen in my area is that when 111 refer you to the OOH service they either book a Telephone consultation with the OOH Doctor who would then call you, or they book you in to attend at the OOH clinic (will give you a booking number and a half-hour window to arrive within), but either way the OOH service are expecting you.
I'm not sure from the OP whether the Doctor that phoned was from 111 or the OOH service (he might not have explained who he was properly), It's that next step that's missing - the Doc has said to go to the OOH clinic, but seemingly no-one told the clinic to expect you...

Covid-19 is undoubtedly putting extra pressure on services in some areas, and has lead to an avoidance of face-to-face interactions (from both patients and staff) which may be why the receptionist was reluctant to admit an unexpected arrival, but is rarely the sole cause of problems and shouldn't be used as an excuse...

For anyone reading; Your first step if you have any issues should be the "Patient Advice and Liason Service (PALS)" team at the relevant provider(s). All the ones I've dealt with are without exception good at 1. explaining to the patient what might have gone wrong, 2. reviewing/investigating common issues 3. ensuring that lessons are learnt.

[stevewalker]

Breakdowns in communication seem to be behind many of the problems.

Over the years I have lost a fair bit of pay with taking time off for appointments and it can be very frustrating when it is wasted.

I have had a GP appointment before work and a hospital appointment during the afternoon. I decided to take the day off (unpaid), due to the shortened day, only to find at the afternoon appointment that it was to go over the results of the test that they hadn't given me an appointment for yet!

I have taken a day off and paid for one of my sons to attend a music class for the day, so as to take another son to an appointment, only to have the appointment cancelled 15 minutes before it was due, as they'd forgotten to call everyone the week before and let people know that the clinic was cancelled (this was for the results, that we were desperately waiting for, of tests after our eldest son had a fit, followed by cardio-respiratory arrest!)

I have adjusted my working hours after receiving a letter cancelling my youngest son's appointment (that we had been waiting six months for), working fewer hours in the days preceding, as I knew I no longer needed the afternoon off, only to phone to make a new appointment and find that original had not been cancelled and they had no idea how the letter had been generated as they are created automatically when the appointment is cancelled on the system - more lost pay.

More recently I took the afternoon off to take my disabled wife to an appointment for treatment. Only for her to arrive and find chaos - the junior doctor had gone home because his child was ill and had to be collected from school ... but had not told anyone, so the department only knew when they had a clinic full of people all well past their appointment time! Luckily, the consultant agreed to treat her, as she knew that coming back the next day (as first suggested) would lead to me losing another afternoon's pay.

My wife suffered a fracture to her finger joint and an infection that needed an emergency operation and nearly cost her her finger. They "diagnosed" rheumatoid arthritis and referred her to rheumatology for a full diagnosis and confirmation. However the system prevented them referring to another hospital (the first was "out of area" as our local A&E has been closed) and they had to send a letter to the GP, who had to send another letter to the other hospital. One of the letters was never produced or went astray, meaning that she did not start treatment, her joints suffered further (permanent) damage and she has not been able to work since.

We have had many "choose and book appointments" that I have made arrangements around, only to have every single one cancelled at short notice and a new date just allocated without any consultation as to what suited us. Last year one of the re-allocated dates fell during our holiday, so we had to re-arrange, only for them to phone up twice on the day that we'd cancelled and offer us an appointment for that afternoon (probably the slot that we'd cancelled and they'd failed to offer to someone else!)

Why can't NHS implement a proper communications and appointment system and allow one hospital consultant to refer directly to another, without having to go through the GP. Why can't they arrange an appointment electronically, there and then?

We have had a whole lot more of these problems and it does seem to be (internal) communication problems that seem to cause them - much of it likely due to antiquated systems, lack of joined up computer systems and arcane rules of the various trusts. Until a recent "ban" the NHS was the world's largest customer for new fax machines - how long has it been since anyone in other workplaces sent or received a fax? Why they insist on sending faxes or letters for everything instead of simply encrypting the message and emailing, I don't know.

The treatment we have had has generally been very good - just the organisation and communication has been awful.

[Newportnobby]

I tend to agree the 'hands on' staff are terrific but the office wallahs let the overall effort down. It's nothing new, though. 4 years ago my triple bypass was postponed the day before it was due. I'd already taken the cat to a cattery and psyched my self up by smoking all my last ciggies before I gave up before going in
I had to fetch the cat back and then do it all again 10 days later

[Trainfish]

You gave up smoking twice? Well done! I only managed to do it once