I guess this is another rant against Welsh NHS I received a appointment for my 2nd ablation and had to be at Morriston Hospital 8am Thursday it is only 75 miles away so set off at 5:45am and at 7am called them to confirm I would attend, only to be told their is a problem with the procedure room and call back at 10am so as I was over half way carried on and waited. I called at 10am and was called they were having a board meeting and someone would call me within 30 minutes, they did only to tell me my procedure has been cancelled due to no bed available for recovery this is the 2nd cancellation for an ablation within 3 months! This on top of being on a waiting list for a hip operation for 6 years. Does the Welsh government and NHS realise what they are putting people through. I always thought I was a strong person and in past questioned people with depression but NO longer. I have to stop writing more
Another cancellation : I guess this is... - Atrial Fibrillati...
Another cancellation
That is an awful lot to cope with TikaTora - I would certainly be annoyed by it. Can your GP follow it up for you to push for a new date? I can imagine how stressful it would be to do this yourself - which is why I would try to delegate the stress and complaining to a GP.
It surely sounds to me like bad management but I'm not familiar with how things work (or don't) in Wales. I'm in N Ireland and we have the same problems with waiting lists and unavailability as the rest of the UK but your experience is as bad as I have heard of.
Bless you, that must have been so disappointing. I can only say that's exactly how I would be feeling too. Why not write them a letter letting them know how you felt having your procedure cancelled for a second time (psst do your best to creep around them and they may try to fit you in again soon).
Don't go thinking that it's just the Welsh NHS that's letting people down. I think it's happening all over the UK NHS countries. I know I'm a cynical old misery but I can't help but feel that since covid no one really wants to work? My doctors surgery was rated outstanding before covid (hasn't been re-assessed since). Now what we mostly get to see is nurses or Nurse Practitioners, despite there being over 8 general GP's. I can only guess that they've all gone on to do part-time work. The surgery has very few people in the waiting area when I go there. Must stop moaning now, but feel for you.
Take care.
Jean
Hi Jean,
Your last para ..... totally agree ..... you are a clever lady ............. you've just described my surgery down here at the pointy end of Cornwall .... and you are miles and miles away from where I am. 😂
What I find particularly galling is that ... nobody cares. Just nobody cares anymore and its all since CoVid. Thankfully my AF is kicked into touch now ....... my life now is all about pain control in shoulders particularly sleeping at night as I tend to be a side on sleeper. ( Not helped of course by a torn rotator cuff tendon as a result of tripping over our cat around 01.30 am one morning). The cat is well thanks ! Thriving in fact !!
Stay well.
John
Thanks for the reply Jean I realise it is not just Welsh NHS but it just happens they are who I am dealing with or rather being let down by,
Jean - that's our GP practice to a tee - the odd time a patient is to be seen waiting, phones constantly ringing (100 redials the other morning to get a phone-back from a GP). There are 6 GP's who are excellent, once you can wheedle your way past the gatekeepers.
I have had only one brush with the Welsh NHS when I broke my wrist on holiday. We travelled for an hour and a half to get to the nearest hospital and found nowhere to park when we got there. and were moved on rudely. I eventually found the A&E where they simply bound up my wrist, not even bothering to give me a cast. Very unimpressed. I'm sorry you have been let down yet again. Is there a chance of crossing the border into England for this? Best of luck x
Oh my goodness where was that? That's awful. Parking at hospitals near me here in West Wales has always been bad. Although parking is free - if you can find a space. You need to get in at 8am whatever time your appointment is to get a parking place. One hospital is close to a shopping centre so we often park there but one or other of us have to go and move the car if there is a long wait! This has been so since the "new" hospitals opened back in the mid to late 70's according to my wife who lived here at the time and she can remember her Dad taking her to one of the hospitals to visit an Aunt and he had to sit in the car all the time as he had to park on double yellow lines on the main road whilst her and her gran could go in and visit his sister and he couldn't as gran couldn't drive and wife too young only in her early teens then so he stayed there an moved the car around and in the 2 hours they were there never found a parking space in the hospital.
That was Aberystwyth!
Oh that doesn't surprise me. It was the worst NHS Trust in the country and still is one of them now in company with a couple of others including ours.
We cannot go to any other area - even within Wales if the treatment, scan, test we need is provided in our healthcare area - it's annoying. I live close to a large major hospital 11 Miles from it to be precise but because it is not in my health care area for some scans I have been sent 55 miles away in the other direction and waited much longer than I would have if I had been able to go there
If you think Welsh NHS is bad try the Scottish version,it's next to hopeless.I reckon they want to get rid of us oldies to ease the congestion,you literally can get nothing done these days,and not just health issues either.
Hi Ronnie, you’re so right. Never get to see a GP, surgery always empty, and with rare exceptions the staff not interested or engaged. We moved here 5 months ago, but my mitral valve suddenly prolapsed. The treatment I received in Oban was good, in Golden Jubilee acceptable, in Paisley Hospital- disgusting if not downright harmful. Filthy toilets, uncaring staff… I could go on, just terrible. My partner and I have decided to sell up and move back; we both feel frightened by the medical system here, so much so that we cannot risk staying. This is a shame because the Scottish people are mostly wonderful, kind and caring. Our neighbours are brilliant. The health service is RUBBISH. Even free (healthcare) is useless if it is broken.
A good friend of mine in Aberdeenshire suddenly sounded very tired on the phone ,this was in June 2021,so I drove many miles from London at the time to see what was wrong .I was shocked to see her condition she was completely unaware of what's happening around her, very thin ,could hardly walk,so I called the local medical people who ,after considerable talking said Eugene had an appointment to see her GP but failed to turn up,I said she never turned up because she physically couldn't, she hasn't even the strength to go to the bathroom,anyway they eventually came out and said she has to go to Aberdeen royal infirmary immediately, but Eugene refused to go , because mentally she wasn't in a condition to make the right decision,so they just left her, 2 more times this happened before in the end I drove her there my self, by this time she's seriously ill,she died a few weeks later of kidney failure.Even in hospital they wouldn't allow me even to visit because of covid restrictions, she died alone and unloved,they couldn't give a toss about her.
An English NHS story, my neighbour's uncle was in his late 90's, he went into hospital to have two toes removed because of his diabetes and while there he caught covid. What did they do - send him home where he lived alone. He died a week or so afterwards. The whole of the UK NHS claims it looks after the elderly, but I don't believe it for one minute.
I think you could be right, all the UK Governments care only about individual MP's and friends. The Welsh government lost £155 million during covid their reply at least we didn't have the fraud the rest of the uk had! Why not pump it into something valuable (health service) sorry that is not sensible
They were so good there at Morriston Cardiac Unit before Covid. I was due to have my ablation within 3 months of referral and attended a 6 week class run by the cardiac and arrythmia nurses and was really well looked after. Then of course Covid happened and I didn't have my ablation as planned in the April after the start of lockdown and then couldn't have it because of family problems and eventually when I could have had it - which would then have been just under a year since referral in the October of 2020 the unit had Covid and I think 15 staff and 10 patients went down with Covid so the unit was closed. In the end as things had gone on so long - nearly 2 years since scansand tests had to have all new scans and found my heart had remodelled itself so an ablation would not be likely to help.
I would say a letter to your Assembly Member and MP is definitely called for here. Complain to the PALS at the hospital and push through your GP for some movement on this also.
I agree with you before covid I had my right knee and hip replaced within 9 months of going on the waiting list.
Sorry to hear your bad experiences Desanthony and TikaTora . I have to speak as I find here, I had my EP consultation in September and was told approx 4 months for cryoablation with sedation. Had the counselling session with the EP nurses in October and my date came through for early November, that was cancelled the day before which was disappointing but I was well aware it could have been cancelled on the morning as in the information pack. I then had my ablation early December so well ahead of my original expectations and was looked after really well before, during and after. I feel very fortunate to have that facility and expertise almost on my doorstep.
I believe resources for ablation with General Anaesthetic may be more challenging there and the waiting could be longer.
I’m sure they will be doing all they can to reschedule and maybe you could ask for an afternoon slot to allow more time for travelling after the early morning call. I rang at 6am and was told to come by 10am but was only 20mins away.
My reply is of no consolation to your awful experiences and I wish you well going forward.
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