I suffer from bipolar and have been through many private doctors and finally got a really good nhs doctor in north wales who I trust.
I live half my time in vienna (where I dont work) so come to uk for my mental health treatment.
I had an appointment tomorrow so came to uk this week.
I have just had a phone call stating my appointment was cancelled. I asked why? The doctor had left 3 weeks ago. I have looking after me a social worker and mental health nurse. They do such a good job nobody bothers to call and let me know.
Bloody useless.

Hang on a minute! Doesn’t that make you one of those health tourists? Those benefit scroungers I’ve read about in the Daily Mail? I’ve heard that you’re personally costing ‘hard-working’ families £34,560, 673.954.00 each!!!! And thats why we all have to end up with no public services, and live in workhouses, eating stale bread for ever! I bet you’re one of those bloody Muslimists too, aren’t you?

Worse, welsh.
I have only worked 23 years in the uk and paid into the system for that long.
I only moved to vienna when I got sick.

How do they normally contact you when you’re abroad?

Edit: it goes without saying that this must be incredibly frustrating for you and do hope that something gets worked out so you get the help you need.

Perhaps you should find a doctor more local to you than Wales.

I hope you didn’t make the long journey from Vienna to Wales just for the appointment too….that would be an awful waste of money and time.

This means nothing to me……..

Oh, Vienna

So, we’ve got the OP and his doctor. Is there a third man in this story somewhere?

Have you tried getting treated in Vienna using an E111 card? Might be worth a try, their health system might be better than ours..

I organise my appointments in advance. Then travel over specifically for treatment. If I go a bit crazy I can contact them by phone.
I’m just annoyed nobody bothered to call me when they knew he was gone.
I would not have come to uk if I had known this.

Sandwich – Member
Oh, Vienna

Sorry, what has Rigsby’s cat got to do with this?

So, we’ve got the OP and his doctor. Is there a third man in this story somewhere?

I imagine, if there is, he will be quite disdainful of cuckoo clocks.

Have you tried getting treated in Vienna using an E111 card?

I would give that a whirl.

The doctor has gone only you and I
No appointment for me
No appointment for me
Oh, Vienna

You choose to live in Vienna and choose to be treated in north wales.
When it doesn’t quite work out as you had hoped you feel the need to bitch about it on the unterwebs.
poor you.

^^^bit harsh isn’t it?

I think the OP raises a valid general point that doctors seem to arrange their time on the premise that their time is invaluable but that everyone elses is worth nothing. Which at first glance seems like a fair enough idea to reduce budgets, but all it means is the patients get hacked off at having their time wasted and so don’t be as diligent in cancelling/moving appointments in the future.

If the NHS showed people more respect then it would help.

I have tried for 3 years to get a good doctor. Mental health is not so easy. I have tried many in austria to no avail.
I have paid my nhs contributions so have no qualms in using the nhs.
The amount of stress knowing you’re seeing your psychiatrist is unbelievable and unless you’re mentally ill you cannot understand.
To be told the day before the appointment the doctor left 3 weeks ago is just shit.
End of.
EDIT: I was 3 weeks in a mental institute in Vienna, Didn’t work

I imagine the doctor had quite a lot of patients. How quickly do you feel that they should all have been rung to inform them that he’d left?

Giving patients a days notice that there appointment was cancelled isn’t great, but if your local it isn’t really an inconvenience.

Your problem is that you’re not local.

So his secretary has had no time in 3 weeks since he’s left?
She must have been so busy making his appointments.

Giving patients a days notice that there appointment was cancelled isn’t great, but if your local it isn’t really an inconvenience

Not true. Getting an appointment cancelled the day before is quite an inconvenience. Especially if it’s something like wot the OP has got.

I don’t know if this is a troll but I’m guessing not some of your comments are despicably rude to the OP you show more care to a dog post/etc I imagine the situation to be an absolute nightmare to the OP !

OP i feel for ya…

To all the unsympathetic posters bad karma guys !

As much as I feel for you – I think if I was travelling all that way for only a doctors appointment, I would probably phone up the day before/on the day I travel to check it was 100% going to happen. Simple solution?

Mrs_oab has experienced some of this – near three hour drive to Dundee to attend consultation and pick up (much needed) meds.
.
Takes day off work, attends appointment, to be told meds would not be ready, and ‘any chance you could pop back tomorrow?’.
.
Three months later, en-route to Dundee for next appointment was phoned and told meds were here, but consultant was on holiday (a fortnight) so could they re-arrange the appointment for that?
.
Third appointment was made, only sent out 48 hours beforehand and sent out to old (4 years ago address at other end of country) and so we get snotty letter saying we did not attend appointment.
.
The tone of email back when we had the temerity to suggest some planning and patient focus was needed, suggested that it was a free service, we ‘chose’ to live in a rural spot, rather than Dundee and that the consultant was not going to bend to individual requests for ‘different’ appointments…. 🙄
.
As a follow up, we are now under Glasgow as of last month, who called up and offered three appointments in one day, and that many of our appointments could and should be done by GP, as long as GP and Consultant could speak on phone. So next appointment is at GP surgery, with Consultant on end of phone at same time. *win* 😀

So, we’ve got the OP and his doctor. Is there a third man in this story somewhere?

Every good story needs a femme fatale…

unfitgeezer – Member

I don’t know if this is a troll but I’m guessing not some of your comments are despicably rude to the OP you show more care to a dog post/etc I imagine the situation to be an absolute nightmare to the OP !

OP i feel for ya…

To all the unsympathetic posters bad karma guys !

😐

I do feel sorry for the OP.

It’s quite ridiculous that no one informed him his Doctor had left – a simple phone call would have prevented this issue.

My post was meant in an ironic manner – an attempt to introduce a little humour into a horrible situation.
I will of course now be accused of using the Viennese defence, but I can assure you that no ill will was intended.

So,
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFacWGBJ_cs[/video]

You do realise that previous payment into the ni scheme don’t entitle you to NHS health care?!
In not saying that on this individual case you do or don’t apply for care, but just because someone at some point paid ni you won’t continuously qualify..

DrP

My official residence in in uk.
I’m currently off sick so not contributing ni payments.
Why should I not get my healthcare?
I chose to be in Vienna as it’s a nice place.
Where should I go for healthcare then?

It’s not right for me (or anyone really) to make individual comments re your case tbh.
Is just relaying the myth that ‘I’ve paid for 70 years so will always be owed NHS care no matter where I live’ isn’t true.

DrP

My official residence in in uk.

Not if your living more of the year in Vienna and have done for more than 18 months. I live in Germany because I think its a nice place to live, I am now entitled to coverage from the German health system and not the UK system despite my many years contribution to that system, I think it’s pretty obvious that’s how it works.

While I sympathise with your health problems, it sounds like you are trying to cheat the system. You need to choose what is more important for you, living in Vienna or getting healthcare from the NHS.

And I may be misjudging the situation, but if you chose to move to Vienna when you got sick and fly back to the uk for treatment, maybe you could also choose private care to make sure you get the treatment you expect.

I have a home in the uk, I have a home in Vienna, this is how I have set my life now.
I have contributed a phenomenal amount of money to the NHS.I was a middle manager in a major civil engineering company earning a decent salary before I got sick.
How can that be deemed as cheating?
I also use the health system in Austria(Austrian) so what’s the problem?)
Why should I pay private?

I think DrP’s point was that it’s National Insurance.

As such, just like home insurance, not claiming one year doesn’t mean you don’t have to pay for it the next year.

Anyway, it is crap but I guess that you have put yourself in the situation by choosing to have treatment in one place while living in a very different other place. Things will always go wrong and I guess that the impact for you will always be worse because of the logistics of it.

Anyway, I hope you get it sorted.

It’s quite ridiculous that no one informed him his Doctor had left – a simple phone call would have prevented this issue.

Without knowing the circumstances of their leaving, but lets assume it was in a hury rather than 3 months notice if the surgery had appointments booked. Then if they had the usual appointment every 10 minutes like every other NHS GP, then it would take almost that long (3 weeks) to deal with each paitient. Seems reasnoble in that case to deal with them a day at a time, which hopefully means the secretary/receptionist gets enough time in their day to do their actual job as well?

I have only worked 23 years in the uk and paid into the system for that long.

While I sympathise with being ill and dealing with the NHS can sometimes be less than straightforeward (I’m also suffering both at the monent). It is funded by taxpayers, both income tax/NI, and VAT (and everything else). If we want a better service we’d have to vote for a party that would raise taxes. You could always move back and pay VAT (and contribute to the multiplier effect in the economy too). I assume you have good reasons for wanting to live in Vienna (I’ve been, it’s lovely), but if you need a free health care system, maybe pick a country with one? I’d love to move to California, but the cost of healthcare on a pre-existing condition means I probably never will without winning the lottery!

Why should I pay private?

To get a better service? 😉

FWIW I can fully understand someone wanting to be treated for a mental health condition in a country where both patient and medical staff can converse in their native tongue. It’s not like saying ‘ouch that hurts a bit’ for a physical ailment, and it can be hard enough to explain your feelings to someone without having to wonder if they’ve understood you.

Continuity of treatment is also important in this sort of thing, so it’s bad enough that the original doctor has gone let alone that the OP had short notice of this.

Why should I pay private?

Because (at least on the surface) you can afford quite a luxury lifestyle that complicates your healthcare provision. And given that, you need to accept that your best option will be to pay for the care you expect.

How can that be deemed as cheating?

For the reason already stated, if you live outside of the UK for most of the year and have done for more than 18 months, you are not entitled to use the NHS other than through a reciprocal agreement with your country of residence, which does not include the treatment you are getting. The UK is not your primary residence in these conditions and claiming it is, is lying and a crime.

Then if they had the usual appointment every 10 minutes like every other NHS GP, then it would take almost that long (3 weeks) to deal with each paitient. Seems reasnoble in that case to deal with them a day at a time, which hopefully means the secretary/receptionist gets enough time in their day to do their actual job as well?

FFS TINAS have you not heard of mail merge. 😉

Seriously, it should take no more than a couple of hours to pull the details of patients together and send out a standard letter/email letting everyone know that the consultant is changing and to contact them for a new appointment.

From the DOH website:

Living in both the UK and another country?

If you spend more than 3 months living in another country on a regular basis each year, for example because you spend four months living in a second home during the winter but return to the UK for the rest of the year, then you may not be eligible for free hospital treatment while you live here.

You may be exempt from charges if you have an EHIC card or if your country of residence has a reciprocal agreement with the UK.

I made the decision to be treated in uk as I finally found a doctor I could work with. Hence this rant.
I have tried many. I trusted him.
Now I have nobody again and the mental health unit have no idea who my next doctor will be and when my next appointment will be.
If I go funny again I’ll probably end up in hospital (AGAIN)
The uk really stresses me and Vienna doesn’t. It’s that easy.
I don’t care who pays.
I just need a doctor.

It’s shit having bipolar. Some days you just don’t know if you’re coming or going. Rapid cycling bipolar is great though. Fast on a bike with no effort.

# just two of my current favourite ‘in’ jokes.

I have ultra rapid cyling.
It can be fantastic when manic (like the worlds best uppers) but shit when you’re attempting suicide (again) when low.
This is why I need a doctor who knows how I am.

My wife prefers (out of various ranges. – she’d much prefer none at all) depressive state when I’m poorly. At least she knows I’m in a safe place albeit I could get out of bed and out of the window head first than when I’m manic where I disappear for extended periods and if I have access, spend lots of money.
I was in the middle of a house purchase just for me once. Mad!