Expanding appointments
It is a week of time-gobbling appointments. Monday’s dental appointment was three times as long as expected. I had to have three (or four, I lost count) anaesthetic injections. And to think, Vishal was contemplating not using any injections at all! Enough of that.
On Tuesday we had to go to a hospital a few miles away for a cholesterol blood test. I don’t know why. Perhaps the powers that be, who have little notion how to organise things, thought it would be a sensible idea to centralise things.
We duly turned up well before the appointed time, and booked in. No problems there. My blood was taken and then it was Barry’s turn. He’s supposed to have blood tests every few months. He reappeared very quickly, looking thunderous. The doctor’s notes were missing, so the phlebotomist couldn’t take a sample. However, all he needed to do was ‘phone our medical practice and get a doctor to authorise the blood-letting. Then the phlebotomist told him he could bang on the door, and he would be relieved of the requisite syringeful of blood. Annoying, but simple.
He rang the GP practice. He was number nine in the queue. Fifty minutes later he was able to speak to a long-suffering receptionist. She then had to consult a doctor. In another ten minutes, a doctor was available to speak to the phlebotomist, and the sample was taken.
Today will be spent making ‘phone calls and composing emails and letters to Wes Streeting (Secretary of State for Health and Social Care) local MPs, the CEO of the hospital, the CEO of the Foundation Trust, our medical practice, and anyone else we discover who should be made further aware of the inadequacy of the system.
Patients – we, the public – are being expected to take on more and more of the organisation of our medical treatment. We must make the appointments, chase the results, organise ongoing treatment if required. Many of us are perfectly capable of doing that, but there are many more who experience great difficulty.
People who are already feeling unwell can quickly be defeated by a system that appears designed to confuse. They don’t or can’t persevere, miss appointments, and become seriously ill. By the time they finally come to the attention of the medical profession, they may be much sicker than they would have been had they been seen in a timely fashion.
In short, the appalling IT system is completely inadequate and deteriorating all the time. Everyone agrees, from consultants to clinicians to nurses to receptionists, that the system is broken and needs urgent repair. There is huge frustration across the medical profession because a wildly inadequate system is putting people’s lives at risk.
Tomorrow, Barry has an appointment at another hospital for an MRI scan.
Fingers crossed!
In the past year, I have had several medical appointments, including hospital visits and everything has gone smoothly - like clockwork in fact. I have no complaints, only praise for the staff I have encountered. Maybe I have just been lucky but I know other old codgers in Sheffield who are very satisfied with the health service they have received.
ReplyDeleteI haven't made it clear enough.
DeleteWe have no problems with the staff - all unfailingly polite and helpful.
We have no problems with the treatment, which is efficient.
It's the administration that's so badly at fault.
Maybe Sheffield uses a different NHS system to Berkshire.
Maybe we should all move to Sheffield. 😟🙁😕
I certainly hope that Barry gets his MRI without issue. I would have such a headache after what you have described that I would need to see a doctor. I just had my mammogram this morning, first one in three years simply because I don't go to the doctor anymore. And our Hospital finally got smart and decided to let us make our own appointments.
ReplyDeleteI hope your new system works for you (and that your mammogram was satisfactory.)
DeleteI'm pleased you, as people of a certain social strata with influence are writing notes of complaint. Noisy wheels get the oil, which some of the non retired working folk need to to understand.
ReplyDeleteAnyone is free to complain.
DeleteWe have no more influence than anyone else.
Most people just get fed up, shrug, and hope for improvement, or. at least, that it doesn't get any worse.
"People who are already feeling unwell can quickly be defeated by a system that appears designed to confuse."
ReplyDeleteThat's over here, too, and it's the biggest problem and often makes those that might need medical attention refuse to seek it because of all the hoops through which you are supposed to jump.
It's really not fair on those who need it most.
DeleteMy daughter was quite ill recently, with a very sore throat. She went to the pharmacist who can apparently prescribe now in your country. He looked at her throat and said that her tonsils were extremely swollen. She asked about this with real interest, as her tonsils had been removed nearly 20 years ago. He got very short with her. Turned out, she had a case of shingles, of all things, on her scalp and neck.
ReplyDeleteUnbelievable!! Your poor daughter. We're encouraged to 'ask the pharmacist' to relieve the strain on doctors.
DeleteI'm sorry your daughter has shingles - it sounds awful. It can last a long time, so I hope she can rest as much as possible.
I've tangled with the online appointment/enquiry system now in place at our surgery and it is irritating and longwinded. But they do get back quickly, often within an hour or so. It's hard work having a long term condition... tracking, organising, tracing appointments for 6 teams across three hospitals plus weekly oxygen cylinder requests, quarterly routine blood tests, and 6 weekly prescription requests to three different suppliers... 😀
ReplyDeleteYou're exactly the sort of person who needs an efficient health system in place. There are more interesting things to do than book appointments and chase them up.
DeleteIt's hard work being sick in the UK. I bless my own care, easy access to many specialists, eg hip replacement needed, set up, done in a month, home visiting physio, all covered by my Medicare. Where you live matters in your health coverage. I've been checked by half a dozen specialists in the last few weeks, as baseline routine care.
ReplyDeleteWe are lucky enough to have private medical insurance for 'big things.' Under the NHS I would still be on the waiting list for back surgery.
DeleteLiz HInds' husband had an awful time being referred and then having surgery delayed. Too many people are suffering with arthritic knees and hips and having to wait for years for operations.
How can doctor's notes be missing? Who would have taken them outside the room where the last examination/blood test had been? gggrrr
ReplyDeleteThe notes had not been sent through electronically from the GP practice.
DeleteThe first point of care, GP's i think have failed in their duty for years to the point now where it's impossible to see anyone, leading to too many people in A&E, and too many sick people without the care they need. I am livid that after all the years we have paid into the health system, just as we need it, it's failing. Far to much underspending on departments from so many governments, has .had to everywhere being in a mess.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what's happened with GPs. We can have a telephone consultation, which is okay for run of the mill stuff, but no good for anything serious. Too many people use A and E as a walk-in outpatient department for really minor things which could easily be dealt with with a bit of commonsense.
DeleteIt definitely seems to depend on your location regarding the level of care you receive. Here it is very, very slow but thorough, and the staff have all been wonderful.
ReplyDeleteThe staff are all wonderful, but they hate the lousy IT.
DeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteTwenty years ago we felt that the NHS in all its guises was a world leader in health care. Then we began to divide our time between England and Budapest . Some twenty years on and the situation is completely reversed. We can see our GP in Budapest mid-week on any day without an appointment. When referred, it is to specialists in a health centre a few minutes walk from our apartment where everything except major operations can be performed. Our regular medication can be 'ordered' online and collected at any pharmacy across Hungary...the IT systems work, even with our dentist. No wonder that dental tourism is big business in Budapest, perhaps health tourism will be next.
Hello, nice to meet you.
DeleteHealth tourism started many years ago in UK for some. A friend went to New Zealand for a knee operation. The operation, the flights, and a three week stay cost less than the price of an operation here. I don't know how he paid for it. Medical procedures are very expensive here.
Heath services in France and Germany are superior to UK, with a similar system to the one in Hungary.
However, if anyone should suggest that people in UK should pay a nominal fee for an appointment, there would be uproar. Obviously allowances would be made for those with fewer resources.
It would cut the glut at A and E, though.
Nothing is worse than wasting time on something that should be quick and efficient.
ReplyDeleteQuite so. We have been fortunate not to need much medical supervision and are only now, in the last couple of years, beginning to realise how dire it can be, and patchy.
DeleteI am glad you are going to be proactive and complain to the powers that be. Sounds like there is a lot of inefficiency to be addressed. Here in the states things are pretty good where I live. I have no complaints. Not sure if all will continue to be well though healthwise in this country with the head of health in this country trying hard to screw EVERYTHING up healthwise.
ReplyDeleteIt is shocking and very unsettling.
DeleteGood luck with it all. -Christine cmlk79.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteThank you.
Deleteyou have just decribed my life right now, dealing with health care issues like this is making my hair fall out from stress
ReplyDeleteFrankly, I'm not surprised, Sandra. You remain so cheerful, though I'm sure you could scream and bite the carpet.
DeleteSo cumbersome and unwieldy. Frustrating too.
ReplyDeleteThat's it. Top-heavy.
ReplyDeleteMy sympathies. Wish I could say it's better here but alas I feel there's way too much that simply seems to depend on "luck". One or rwo years ago they tried to introduce a new IT system in my region which in a few days turned everything to complete chaos for both GPs and hospitals (instead of making things easier, as was the intention). Staff more or less went on strike. The admin authorities had to withdraw the whole new system, and revert back to the old one (and in between staff had to go back to relying on handwritten notes) The damage done still affects things and the whole scandal keeps popping back up in the news every now and then...
ReplyDeleteThat's shocking, It's like trying to drive a four-wheel car on three wheels and hoping it will still work.
DeleteMy husband and I have very good doctors and their clinic is well-staffed, yet still dealing with all of it, especially if we are actually ill, is sometimes difficult. But we soldier on, because we must.
ReplyDeleteI fear that is commonplace. We cannot change it, so we grit our teeth and continue.
ReplyDeleteI hate doing all that. I wish I had an assistant with all the paperwork, emails, and phone calls because I hate doing all of it.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't it be lovely to have an assistant to take care of all the things we don't want to do?
DeleteI live in the United States and I can't count the number of times things happen like the doctor not writing the blood draw order correctly, or not sending it at all. I've learned to call the facility the day before just in case. And then there are all the doctor's offices that reschedule at the last minute for whatever reason. What is really bugging me now is the number of practices that are using AI to answer the phone. You go through all these hoops with the AI and, at the end of it, the AI tells you someone from the office will call you. Aaaaarhh!
ReplyDeleteIt seems to be a universal problem. Screams all round. 😱
DeleteSo frustrating ... and whoever you talk to, they tell of similar experiences. The staff are wonderful but the system isn't!
ReplyDeleteI do hope Barry's appointment tomorrow goes off without a hitch.
All the best Jan
Thank you, Jan. It did, and in good time, too. No complaints. 😁
DeleteWell the healthcare system is worse now than ever. My dog’s veterinarian gives better service and is more attentive than some Doctors I’ve heard of lately.
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly how we feel.
DeleteWe have great doctors, but the system really stinks. I think this is the way the entire health system is now days. No excuse for things to be this way. I get so frustrated with prescription insurance. Sam is on insulin and every other month we have to change the insulin because the ins will no longer pay. They need to get it together..
ReplyDeleteThe prescription insurance is scandalous. Everything is driven by money.
DeleteIt’s maddening how a system meant to care for people ends up testing everyone’s patience instead
ReplyDeleteI'm sure it creates more problems in the end.
DeleteWe have some of the same problems here. You have written an excellent post
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteThat does sound frustrating. You would think it would have been much simpler for the phlebotomist to call the doctors office and get the orders directly. Lack of organization if they are missing things.
ReplyDeleteSimple solutions don't appear to play much part in the NHS.
DeleteWhat a frustrating experience, indeed. You are right to be voicing your concerns about the inadequacy of the system!
ReplyDeleteI hope Barry's MRI scan appointment was without any hiccups! xxx