Healthcare - NHS/Private

[mos]

They are wearing Pakistani garb.

No respected Indian would sit in this crowded condition.

????

[DodgyAgent]

????

I think that without any doubt we English are the most racially tolerant people on the planet.

[psychocandy]

When my wife got pregnant we went to the doctor to discuss a genetic problem that her family has which can be fatal (killed her sister when she was a few days old), the doctor refered us to a paediatrician whom we explained things to again.

They had told us that if they do not get back to use that means everything is okay. No one got back to us. A few days before the due date I mention in passing about this and the doctor gets confused so she phones around.

It turns out someone went to get records from a microfiche machine just after we saw the paediatrician but it was broken so they could not get the records. They forgot about it and the paediatrician did not chase them about it.

It turns out that the condition is lethal for my daughter and we should have been having genetic counselling every two weeks the entire time. Now it is too late to do anything, if she has it then she is dead - end of.

As luck would have it there is nothing wrong with her but I was simply amazed that this massive balls up could happen and no one seemed to care apart from our GP.

Not all surprised to hear this. This is typical...

Not going to help your daughter but I would be suing for negligence without a doubt...

[psychocandy]

This seems to be a recurring theme in NHS problems: There is a chain of activity involving several players, but nobody (apart from the patient, who is ignorant of the process) has any stake in the success of the activity.

There is a failure to communicate between people.

It seems to me that patients need a professional follower-upper person involved in their treatment, who has the knowledge, authorization, and ability to communicate with all players in all locations, to keep tabs on progress and keep people accountable for their tasks and responsibilities.

Something like a cross between a project manager and a helpdesk system manager, perhaps?

Yep. See my other post about wifes asthma. Urgent fax from consultant back to GP (WTF are we using faxes anyway). GP surgery can't be arsed, consultant doesnt check its been recieved and actioned.

[lilelvis2000]

They are wearing Pakistani garb.

No respected Indian would sit in this crowded condition.

There's another thread on denial in the Indian ICT community. I'm hoping this is a miss-post.

[Troll]

????

Page 2

[Runs With Scissors]

My missus used to be a Staff nurse in the NHS and the number of horror stories she used to tell me (usually when I was eating for some reason) beggars belief.

There's been a few changes in the way Nurses are educated, the main one being that a University degree is now necessary to be a State Registered Nurse. The post of Enrolled Nurse was also abolished. Who decided you need a degree to become a Nurse? IMHO we're getting people coming into Nursing now who can do the theory and pass exams but have no empathy with patients and very little hands-on experience of day-to-day Nursing that they used to gain under the old system where they would work in wards for 3 months at a time (or longer).

I'm not generally one who advocates a return to the old ways (Matrons etc) but something has to be done. You can blame Management all you like but the bottom line is that there were Doctors and Nurses in Staffs who did not measure up to the professional standards required. Most of them are still working in the NHS I believe. They should be up in front of their professional standards boards at the very least.

[formant]

=IMHO we're getting people coming into Nursing now who can do the theory and pass exams but have no empathy with patients and very little hands-on experience of day-to-day Nursing that they used to gain under the old system where they would work in wards for 3 months at a time (or longer).

Nursing students these days do a lot of ward placements. The requirement for an undergraduate degree is 899 hours minimum. In normal working weeks, that's basically 6 months.

[SueEllen]

I live close to one of the greatest metropolises in the world, you live in the arse end of nowhere.
That probably explains it.

I live in London, know how to get appointments the same day and have ensured people in different areas of London with different GPs have done too, I suggest the problem is with you.

It's up to you to be assertive with the receptionist and to tell her the appointment must be today.

[SueEllen]

Not all surprised to hear this. This is typical...

Not going to help your daughter but I would be suing for negligence without a doubt...

No point.

Unless you are staff at that particular hospital you don't get an apology.

All they do after lots of wrangling is pay you off when you feel particularly bitter and tired. You get no apology and no-one admitting liability.

You are better of going public with your ordeal.

On the other hand knowing doctors and nurses who have worked in both wealthier and poor areas, those patients in the wealthy areas try and sue all the time, when it's actually patients who live in poorer areas who are actually mistreated the most. One of my mates explained in leafy Surrey they don't discharge patients who in Croydon (which is actually in Greater London) wouldn't even have been in-patients.