[Closed] Unsatisfied with local hospital treatment question.

That sounds a bit shit, I'll ask the Mrs what she'd do. Maybe you could call your gp to get referred directly, but would you end up back where you are now?

Stand on your doorstep every Thursday night at 8pm and boo?

Make the appointment with the surgeon and contact the patient experience team that you had to make an appointment to see a surgeon.

Make the appointment with the surgeon

Thanks Drac.
How do I do this please? They just booked a general appointment for me not specifically with him*.
I know his name if that's any use?

Also

contact the patient experience team

How do I do this please?

* after I had to wait half an hour for the receptionist to return from her lunch break...

Not sure it's the hospitals fault your bones aren't healing as quickly as you'd like them to, but are you aware that there's not much in the way of surgery going on at the moment* anyway due to some illness that's going round.

* not sure if this is true but it came from my mate who's a consultant surgeon.

Who's 'the doctor' - another consultant, surgical registrar on the consultant's team?

It's a shame that he couldn't collar him on the spot and ask him to take a look, but I suspect he's said he doesn't like being sidetracked when he's doing rounds/seeing other patients. Team dynamics and etiquette can vary widely.

My advice would be to remain as charming and calm as possible, ring up the consultant's secretary, see if can you can be squeezed in to his next available clinic.

Not sure it’s the hospitals fault your bones aren’t healing as [s]quickly as you’d like them to[/s] at all, but are you aware that there’s not much in the way of surgery going on at the moment* anyway due to some illness that’s going round.

Then they should just tell me that straight not lie to me.
I'm not saying it's their fault i'm broken and not mending my self.
Just asking for thoughts from any medical folks.
I've also been told that the local hospitals are now doing surgery as normal by an NHS manager for this area.

I’ve also been told that the local hospitals are now doing surgery as normal by an NHS manager for this area.

This is pretty much correct, they're not a full speed yet but there is loads more surgery going on than there was a month or 2 ago.
This should, in theory (from what I've been told) means the consultants and surgeons have a little more spare time...

Yes you can. You can ask to see the consultant and not one of their team. You can ask for a second opinion from another consultant. As has been said contact the patient experience team. I would also write to the consultant directly, ask who their medical secretary is, raising your concerns

martin.
Just one of the consultants team I presume.
Either way it seemed he was offended that I wanted to speak to the surgeon after being told he couldn't offer me the op.
I remained calm throughout.
I saved my pissed of to fight the shoulder pain as I walked home...

Thank you Chris.

Patient experience team might also be called Patient Liaison Service (PALs) - varies by Trust, just google your trust and either of those terms should show it up.

Just keep at it - if you need to see the consultant's in person to be put on the surgery list, then this is what you need to do.

That sounds shit, I was in exactly the same position years ago, but 24 weeks, not 10.

I know how you feel, sometimes it's a case of you miss the boat for some reason or other so you have to be refereed back to Mrs or Ms so and so, you know they're there, in the building that day seeing patients, but they just don't have time to work out of sequence so you have to wait 4 weeks for a letter, then 2 weeks to get in etc.

My 'quick and easy' route to resolution was to find Experienced Surgeon who specialised in elbows (for my busted elbow) via Spire Healthcare, I paid the NHS hospital £25 for a copy of my various scans and X-Rays on a DVD, then paid Spire £100 for a 30 mins consultation to show him. The difference was night and day, Hospital Clinics run at a crazy pace, you're often talking to someone who is acting calm and relaxed whilst they're trying to see dozens of people a day. Anyway, 30 mins of uninterrupted, unrushed conversation made all the difference. He transferred me onto his NHS list and off we went, it took months but that was the injuries fault, not his.

A letter to all NHS trusts was sent out recently with an expectation that they would be up to 90% of last years activity in September 2020. This may vary a little but they need to be making progress

It sounds like they are just leaving it and when pressed maybe are not the most organised!

Maybe book a call with your surgery and explain your position and its effect on your job/general health and ask them for support to get something done? A 10 min phone call might help you navigate the very large and difficult organisation that is the NHS!?

Best of luck!

Some options are open to you.

1. Your GP, make an appt and ask them to refer directly to the consultant. they can do this through the consultant's medical sec. You can also have a discussion with your GP through NHS Patient Choice to have treatment at another hospital, which does include local private hospitals.

2. Private treatment. (does your work provide medical cover you can tap into?) Or just grab your file and ask how much to do the treatment?...It might be worth the expense in the long run.

3. Contact your local Healthwatch or PALS, and they can help resolve your issue with getting an appt. to see a surgeon.

Bear in mind, you may just end up with another appt with a surgeon who may agree it needs to be operated on, "queue is 18 weeks.."

Good luck, hope you get sorted soon.

Bear in mind, you may just end up with another appt with a surgeon who may agree it” needs to be operated on, “queue is 18 weeks..”

Even this would be better than where I am now.
At least I can then have a date to focus on.
That'd help me massively from a mental POV.
As it is it just seems an endless cycle of building up my hopes just to be fobbed off again. ☹️

Your GP is the gatekeeper to acute care so I suggest you get an appointment, explain the situation and either ask for a referral to another trust (your right through patient choice)or ask the GP to engage with the Consultant on your behalf. You can raise a complaint (PALS as referenced above)- this is the first step and quite an informal one but in practice it won’t get you seen any quicker. In terms of context hospitals are restoring routine services but it’s a phased approach as described by alibongo001, social distancing requirements will have an impact on capacity and there are waiting lists to address so waiting times will be impacted. Hope this helps.

I asked to see the surgeon who I was told wasn’t there today.
The surgeon (i know who he is) then walked past the cubicle.
I asked again to see the surgeon and was told he was busy.
I offered to wait to see him and was again told he was busy.

I'm a doctor, but not an orthopod. I'm afraid I have no idea about how to treat the non-union. But whatever the merits of shoulder surgery, this ^^^ is unacceptable (assuming it went down as you say).

The consultant has overall responsibility for all the decisions made and actions taken in her/his clinic. If I was a consultant I'd be very irritated if my junior lied to a patient of mine. I suspect if you point this out to him/her they'll bend over backwards to sort you out and reduce the chance of a formal complaint. At the very least you can insist on seeing the consultant. Make friends with their secretary and see what (s)he can do.

As others have said, you have to separate any frustration about the injury itself from the issues with the care / communication.

Thank you Superficial.
I have found the contact number for the surgeons secretary.
I will ring her tomorrow and ask to make sure that he can see me at my appointment next week.
I will also inform her about the lies told to me by the doctor i saw last time.

I've edited my post ^^ slightly.

Also I'd be wary of moving to another trust. It'll no doubt cause issues with getting the scans / X-rays etc and you may find you have to take several steps backwards before you make any progress. It would definitely be simpler to ask to see another consultant in the same trust.

Thanks again very helpful.
I will remain calm and polite but be a little firmer now I know that I can ask to see a different consultant.

Some excellent advice above, namely

1. Use PALS. Its astonishing just how much effort will be spent avoiding a (recordable and reportable) formal complaint being lodged.
2. Med secs are the unsung heroes of the NHS. They link everything together, take a huge amount of flak and never get the praise they deserve. Be super nice, empathise for what they've been through in recent months etc and they can open most doors. Oh and buy them some chocs if they help you out
3. Although NHS England have mandated 90% surgical activity the reality is quite different and very variable, and the current priority is to clear the urgent (and massive) backlogs, so you probably won't be a priority. Sorry.

Just a quick update on this
I took the advice on some of you guys and spoke to the consultants secretary
At the hospital now and although I didn't get to see the consultant directly I did see another doc that was a lot more professional and helpful
The results of this are that I'm booked in for an operation on Monday unless things don't go to plan
Got to have a covid test on Friday then they'll ring me on Sunday to let me know if it's all going ahead on Monday
Thanks so much for this advice as it seems to have done the trick
Very greatfull for the help with this.
STW really is awesome when it matters.👍

Great hopefully all goes well.

That's great news. Gawd bless the NHS etc!

Great news.

thats great news SSS, i broke my tib/fib years ago and it took from mid december til April to heal enough to then have just a lower cast, another month or so then a removable one til august/september. They can take forever to heal.

I'd definately take the perceived risks of an op/plate next time. although my legs been fine for 20 years since.

having had surgery last weekend on an unrelated matter, i'm tempted to step up private medical insurance through work.. i thought i was bullet proof till i hit 40 :0(

He transferred me onto his NHS list and off we went,

this is illegal. Fraudulent mixing of NHS and private. Once you go private you cannot be seen by the same person on the NHS.

Of course you can, TJ.

https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/nhs-services-and-treatments/if-i-pay-for-private-treatment-how-will-my-nhs-care-be-affected/#:~:text=Receiving%20private%20and%20NHS%20care,between%20NHS%20and%20private%20care.

If you're receiving private and NHS care for the same condition, your NHS and private treatment can be supervised by 1 healthcare team.

Thats a change then - and using private consultations to then go onto NHS lists to queue jump always used to be.

Its bang out of order

Most people would have an issue with jumping places on the operating list over NHS patients who are already on it (and most trusts I'm sure would have policies to prohibit this, don't know for sure). This is about getting in front of the consultant in clinic quicker, and then put onto the operating waiting list x number of weeks earlier.

Effectively you're right, you'll end up getting your op x number of weeks earlier, and I agree with the sentiment.

Thats a change then – and using private consultations to then go onto NHS lists to queue jump always used to be.

Its bang out of order

NHS employees, who knew they weren't all angels...

Great news Stu, hope you get sorted out.

Just had a call for the hospital.
They want me in there tomorrow for the operation.
Should be some time after mid day.

Good luck fella. In just under the wire timing-wise I reckon.

Cheers Martin.
My thoughts exactly.

Excellent good luck.

Cheers Drac

Just back from the hospital and all appers to have gone well though they did keep me in over night.
Was in a private side room with a few shots of liquid morphine which was nice.
Lets just hope the bone graft takes now.

a few shots of liquid morphine which was nice.

Lucky sod.

Excellent hope you recover well.

Lucky sod.

it is rather moreish.😄

Just back from the hospital.
Xrays looked ok. Bones still bolted together with 6 screws and a plate.
Taken the initial wound dresseing off and removed the steri strips.
That all looks good with no sign of infection and the stitches that are left should dissolve shortly.
Starting to do some physio on it to get the shoulder moving again is going to be painful...
First physio appointment next week with any luck.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/stu-b/50427253017/in/dateposted/

Oof. Looks like they peeled you open like a kipper.