So, long story cut short, but 3 months ago I had an front wheel / wet log interface that resulted in a bit of a tumble and the immediate recognition that ‘something bad’ had happened to my ankle. went to the wwalk in (well more like hobble) centre and the nurse took one look at my ankle, squeezed my leg then said go to A&E now. So I went to A&E, they pretty much just sent me home with ‘could take a few days or weeks to heel’. No X-Rays done.

8 weeks later and still not much in the way of healing, I went to the GP who sent me to have an X-Ray. 1 1/2 weeks after that I finally (after much chasing) get the result and I have an anterior (something I can’t remember) fracture and I need to go to the fracture clinic. The appoint for this is on Thursday (this will be pretty much 3 months since I went to A&E and I haven’t been able to walk properly yet)

So, I’m sitting here wondering what’s going to happen to my spangled right foot. Who’d care to have a guess – the recurring theme at work and amongst mates is ‘have you seen the film misery?’ Well, yes I have and no I don’t want that!

simplest and most effective way (TJ will agree with this and provide evidence based evidence no doubt) is to remove the whole foot and re-attach it properly. recent research has shown that using old logging tools to remove the foot is best as it introduces “healthy bacteria” (and various natural juices from old trees thus improving the strength of the repair).

top tip for the day, buy a multi-pack of gaffa tape (different colours always brightens up the mood in a dull office) to save the hassle of taking time off and the expense of travel costs to the docs to have it re-dressed.

guess the treatment

I’ll go with 4 to 6 weeks immobiliastion, with regular visits to the fracture clinic in between.

Followed by a bit of physio to assess/improve range of movement etc.

4 to 6 weeks immobiliastion

Not liking the sound of that 😐

So I went to A&E, they pretty much just sent me home with ‘could take a few days or weeks to heel’. No X-Rays done.

That is shocking but why did you leave it 8 weeks?!!

‘cos I assumed that the medicalists knew what they were doing and it was just taking it’s time. Clearly after 8 weeks, it wasn’t so then went to GP. Didn’t help that everyone kept saying that there couldn’t be anything broken as I was walking/limping on it

Not liking the sound of that

IANAD, but I have experience of untreated fractures, and after 3 months I’d have said 6 weeks immobilisation may be on the optimistic side of things. Sorry – but at least my prognosis is slightly better than phil’s.

The trouble is they don’t like to do Xrays if they don’t have to. I’m sitting here with a thumb which is still painful to bend after over a month, having decided I’d only strained it, and wondering how long to wait to go and get it checked out (though I’ve had soft tissue injuries in joints which have taken months, so still don’t think it’s a break).

Didn’t help that everyone kept saying that there couldn’t be anything broken as I was walking/limping on it

Yeah – I got that with my wrist when I eventually got something done 18 months later! Managed to write with it (painfully) and even kayak (very painfully for <5 minutes) the same day, so never considered it could be broken – both my GP and the doctor in A&E said they thought it wasn’t broken, but I got sent for Xray anyway. I’d say fortunately, but for that I never did actually get it fixed properly, so it still hurts a bit sometimes – like now when I’m ill and trying to type.

I went into A&E when I bust my ankle. They asked if I could walk and I said not very well but as it happened in the middle of the woods 2 miles from anywhere I had managed to hobble out.

The triage nurse said that if I could walk then it wasn’t broken and sent me home with exercises.

3 days later I went back as I really couldn’t walk and the swelling was so much I though the skin would split. I was told that I was an idiot for leaving A&E before being X-rayed. They then looked at the notes, went very quiet and rushed me through.

My ankle has never healed despite 28 weeks in a cast. One of the nurses gave me a photocopy of the original medical notes ‘in case I wanted to take action’ but I decided not to.

Of course, I am sure you will be fine. 🙂

Isn’t gingerflash a medical negligence ‘sue-everyone’ type lawyer?

That Nurse obviously felt pissed off enough that you could have future implications due to negligence.

Its not always ‘where theres blame’ its a case of she was paid to do a job.

There are various criteria for assessing ankle injuries to see if they need x ray / treatment. This is designed so you don’t end up xraying every slight ankle twist or sprain
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa_ankle_rules

so if the medics assessed using these criteria then they have applied best practice and there is no negligence. If they haven’t then you have a case for negligence.

I would be tempted to make a fuss if the rules were not followed – not so much for compo for you but to get the procedures changed so it doesn’t happen again. Medical procedures really do get changed in response to known incidents of substandard care – but this can only happen if teh powers that be know of the incidents

I’ve broken the same one twice, always been x rayed despite being able to walk on it. All this stuff about can you walk on it can you wiggle yer toes etc is a load of balls, if its hurt/swollen bad it needs an x ray.

(EDIT – with deference to the rules Teej posted above)

The trouble with sueing the NHS is that we pay the fines. I thought about it when I did my ankle as I was apparently ‘entitled’ to a lump of money.

What would I spend the money on? Probably a bike which would put me back in A&E.

What was the purpose of the fine? 1) Pay for extra expenses in my life and the inconvenience and 2 act as a reminder to them that they should be careful.

1) No extra costs and monety doesn’t make up for inconvenience
2) I saw the triage nurse hovering outside when I was being seen the second time. She looked very nervous and contrite so I guess she had been reminded already.

Leave the money in the NHS if you can

The trouble with sueing the NHS is that we pay the fines. I thought about it when I did my ankle as I was apparently ‘entitled’ to a lump of money.

What would I spend the money on? Probably a bike which would put me back in A&E.

What was the purpose of the fine? 1) Pay for extra expenses in my life and the inconvenience and 2 act as a reminder to them that they should be careful.

1) No extra costs and monety doesn’t make up for inconvenience
2) I saw the triage nurse hovering outside when I was being seen the second time. She looked very nervous and contrite so I guess she had been reminded already.

Leave the money in the NHS if you can

with that kind of common sense i am really doubting if you should be allowed on this forum! please post something idiotic to balance it out or i’m going to have to throw a lolcat at one of them there sensible political threads.

Well, I’ve not said anything about sueing anyone and I’m not about to start. I don’t need the money, the NHS can not afford it and, as WCA says, we are the ones that pay anyway.

Mrs Feet is ready to make a complaint, but this is largely down to the delays and miscommunication etc that have happened along the way.

Me, I just want my ankle fixed so that I can get back to off-road riding and pick up another injury

WCA – its also about ensuring procedures are changed to stop it happening again. Staff get trained up, procedures and guidelines are reinforced and changed.

There was a preventable death in Lothian last year. The FAI showed up a series of mistakes made. as a result of this every single nurse has had some training in new procedures which have been established with reminders on every phone ( a part of it was poor information exchange)

I would say it is worth doing for that reason sometimes

Again this is why I always argue for “no fault” medical negligence investigations. Its been shown repeatedly that people do not want compo – they want an apology and to know it won’t happen again to someone else

Fractured ankle – guess the treatment

I do believe the popular 21st century treatment is to beat it, every day for a period of no less than 62 days, into submission with a wet haddock until healed. Caveat: I’m not a doctor. 😉 And good luck.

Yeah I duuno about sueing but I would defo complain.

Leave the money in the NHS if you can

Hey I’m the same. However the NHS is funded by the taxpayer and the staff are paid/chose to do this vocation.

Its not a charity and you shouldn’t feel grateful for any attention.

If the care you receive is a lower standard with a potential longterm impact why should you suffer with the member of staff receiving no attention/retraining where appropriate?

One thing that does rankle with me though is the A&E dept at Wythenshawe hospital- EVERY wall is covered in ‘no win no fee’ advertising for a local firm of solicitors.

Your ankle will only get better if you take part in this raffle : http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/win-trout-lights-for-5-support-team-bulheart#post-2233302

There you go Phil – suitably incorrect advice?

much better 8)

What would I spend the money on? Probably a bike which would put me back in A&E.

It’s worse than that – you have to ask what the lawyers would spend all their extra money on! I presume from what you’re saying TJ that there is a procedure for gettin things investigated (and maybe getting an apology) without getting lawyers and money involved?

One thing that does rankle with me though is the A&E dept at Wythenshawe hospital- EVERY wall is covered in ‘no win no fee’ advertising for a local firm of solicitors.

I thought ambulance chasing was banned here? Presumably the hospital takes a fee for this, and the majority of the cases aren’t actually against the hospital!

I presume from what you’re saying TJ that there is a procedure for gettin things investigated (and maybe getting an apology) without getting lawyers and money involved?

No there isn’t. I think there should be.

At teh moment things get covered up its hard to find out what happened because individuals and institutions are afraid of being blamed. I would rather there was a free and open investigation

I agree with TJ that there should be a no compensation investigation procedure. Unfortunately as soon as the reason has been identified and if someone was at fault the lawyers can step in and wave the prospect of a big lump of cash.

The fault in my case lay simply with the nurse who saw a bloke hobble in complaining about a sore ankle and then was told he had just walked 3 miles to get there. She assumed that you can’t do that with a broken ankle and sent me home instead of taking the time to check.

I think it was an individual at fault rather than a systemic issue.

Medical opinion please:

So I sprained my ankle a few months back, swelled and bruised around the outside damaged area, around my toes and inside of my ankle, difficult to walk on etc, couldn’t face going to A&E, mainly because I was in denial, already got a fractured scaphoid and clavicle, my wife would kill me, and yes I really should consider giving up trail riding, anyway I’m still getting the odd twinge on a daily basis, I assumed this is just ligament damage rather than a fracture? I can walk and run on it, it’s painful if I’m kneeling with my foot out flat.

I thought ambulance chasing was banned here? Presumably the hospital takes a fee for this, and the majority of the cases aren’t actually against the hospital!

Its bloody hypocritical and sends out the wrong message though. Even if there is an agreement that said-Solicitor wouldn’t handle any cases against the hospital for perceived-negligence themselves it still smacks badly for me.

One of the signs are circa 3m’s x 3m’s. You really can’t miss the information as its in your face.

rewski – impossible to tell without a proper medical assessment. Could be ligament could be bone

Ligament damage can take months to heal

Thanks TJ.

Go and bloody find out!!!!

You have circa another 30yrs on this earth. Don’t leave anything leg-wise to chance. ALL mountain bikers should be taking joint supplements now on a daily basis just to future-proof yourselves for a better quality of life later anyway.

Oh – if there’s not something already, then I agree with TJ and BBB that there should be. I’m sure a lot (I’d like to think “most” but sadly I suspect not) of people claiming compensation are just after a proper investigation, and plenty of people don’t do anything at all because they don’t want to take money out of the NHS.

Aracer -t hats what the research on it suggests – people want to know what happened, want an apology and want to know it won’t happen again.

At the moment its hard to get as apologies imply fault so the lawyers don’t like it and people understandably attempt to cover up their actions if they think they could be in trouble for them

TJ- The trouble is that research also shows that despite what people say when asked they still see the money and grab it when it is offered.

You can still have compo with “no fault” investigations – you just have it independently assessed like with teh criminal injuries board

Nobody spotted the irony in the user name? You have indeed got feet of cheese 🙂

This seems a common problem with A&E, unless you demand an x-eay they send you home with paracetamol. My dad fell off the garage roof a few years back, went to A&E (in the car) with back and chest pain and they sent him home with paracetamol and told to relax. 8 weeks later he went for physio (who was a friend of mine from School). After a very brief examination he told my dad that he needed to go for an x-ray which showed 2 fractured vertibrae and a couple of broken ribs. They then told him it was too late to give any treatment. Compare that to my partners treatment after a nasty fall on her second day of skiing in France. The appartment owner said to nip and see the doctor just to be sure. He looked and said it’s def not broken but did an x-ray to be sure, she’d actually ripped the top of her tibia off where the cruciate attaches (if I remember correctly). An ambulance was outside before I’d had time get our bags together and she was seen by 4 nurses as soon as she got to the hospital. She was put in plaster (just her leg) x-rayed again, diferent cast put on and sent for an MRI or CT scan and sent home all within 3 hours. It did cost £1200 though. To be honest though I would rather pay for medical insurance and get superb treatment like that than have to be on waiting list to receive patchy and inconsistant treatment.

Rant over.

Alternatively:

konaboy2275 my GP was alarmed at the fluid etc on my knee and filled in a xray referral form to go asap. She also said ‘it normally takes a week to get the result back so made a note on the form to be reviewed asap AND asked me to explain this that I needed the results reviewing there and then’.

I was told at the xray that the results will be with my GP within two weeks. I insisted on reviewing the results and it was agreed however I was told if I wanted to see a Doctor/wanted the results review properly it’d be back to the A&E section and a wait as a new patient of 2-4hrs.

I was gobsmacked at the amount of pushing-back I needed to do. At no stage did I smell of alcohol, act rude and my personal hygiene status was/is “washed”.

I honestly did feel there was an element of ‘don’t care in the place’.

Up until recently I assumed with politeness A&E professionals all cared. Taking hora junior into over Christmas with blisters/blotching that wouldn’t blanch under glass-pressure I constantly asked ‘well do you know what it is’? (no). They really didn’t no. I had to gently push for them to take swabs to be sent off.

Has there been changes? I’m sure (a few years ago mind) that visits to A&E were different for me back then.

At last, I have news!

Seen the consultant and turns out I actually managed to fracture 3 bones 😯

Good news is that everything is in alignment and healing, so don’t need any boots / casts or ops 😀

I will need quite a bit of physio as ligaments and soft tissue is still a bit of a mess. Doc reckons at least 3 months probably

At least I know what’s going on now. At last

Acupuncture and crystals should sort you out in no time.

“tazzy was selling some powerblands a while ago…. mine helped me recover from a broken face within 1 month” – toby lerone, weymouth