Healthwatch Survey

[Lucybird]

Hi everyone,

Came across these healthwatch surveys on twitter about improving local NHS services. The surveys are being conducted on behalf of the NHS so thought people might want to fill them in

healthwatch.co.uk/what-woul...

[Hidden]

Thank you so much Lucybird. I have completed both surveys. I do urge everybody to do so. This is your chance to describe your experiences and express your opinions. We can only hope that they actually act on them

[LINDA70]

DONE.

LINDA

[katieoxo60]

Thank you we've been pushing hard copies in our city and the online ones have only started in the last few weeks. I myself have filled them in and got a few others to do so on the hard copies

[christina1947]

Just experienced NHS at its very best my husband went to GP 12 days ago suspected melanoma 2 days to see consultant 2days mole removed sent for biopsy today back for results from consultant. Thank god it’s been caught in time called melanoma in situ means it’s stayed on top of skin only treatment needed is more to be taken away from site appointment make for next week. Well done NHS

[flicky1 in reply to christina1947]

My experience was the NHS at it's worst. I went to see my GP with a suspicious mole in the autumn of 2017. She thought it looked ok but said to come back in six weeks. This appointment was cancelled and it was more like twelve weeks when I saw her again. She said if it was a malignant melanoma it would have more quickly and that it was absolutely OK. I kept an eye on it as best as I could, which is difficult when it is on your back and you have nobody to check for you.

In November 2018 I had become really worried by it and tried to make an appointment to see a GP, and even though I told the receptionist that it was for a very suspicious mole, she said the first appointment available would be in 3 weeks. I then decided to pay £150 to go privately and got an appointment within a week on a Thursday. The doctor I saw was the lead dermatologist in our local NHS hospital, she took one look and send that it definitely had to come off. She did not need to do a biopsy to know that it was a malignant melanoma. She said that the only thing that had been stopping it from growing rapidly was my own immune system. She also spotted a less dangerous cancerous spot on my face which has been treated with cream. The melanoma was removed under her supervision the following Tuesday at our local hospital under the NHS. Luckily for me it seems to have been caught in time and I have had the second cut last month. I am checking lymph nodes monthly and having them checked at the hospital every 3 months.

This was the same surgery who also failed to make an early diagnosis of COPD. It was only after several serious lung infections and when I had lost weight that a new, young doctor sent me to the hospital a couple of years a later in order to rule out cancer, which was quickly ruled out. However, under the doctor at the hospital, it took another 9 months for me to receive a diagnosis, in which time I suffered yet a very bad lung infection which caused more damage.