Writing to my local MP next step

[Craig53]

I have not gone in to two much detail I about matters has IAM scring the surfac take yesterday has a for a average day I was waiting all morning for the district nurse to take blood so I no what dose of medication to take this week nurse never called or turned up so had to ring doctors up neighbour rushed me down to doctors who didn't take enough blood so new doctor my own has retired.so now I've got a appointment for this afternoon but IAM refusing IAM ill lve been up all night coffing my chest and trout really hurt so all the stress is really kicking in now enough is enough IAM going to find out the name of my local MP and have a chat about how helpful at the surgery have been so helpful and at the hospital don't seem to care either

[sturon]

Hi Craig. You are at the end of you tether by the sound of your posts. You need to take control.

Three very practical suggestions. You can make three phone calls.

First you can call the BHF cardiac nurse and ask for help. They can give you advise about how to take control of your situation.

The second one, phone your GP surgery and ask for the practice manager. Tell them what you expect to receive from the surgery and ask for their help.

The third call is your hospital. Ask to talk to the PALs service. This service is available in all hospital tell them what you expect from the cardiology department and about your problems and ask for help.

None of these are a quick fix but at least you will have asked for help and hopefully one of these will get you back to feeling better. Take control don't expect them to know what you expect unless you tell them, but always remain polite and ask for advise and help.

Not sure your MP will be able to help that much but of course the more you 'complain' the more action may be taken.

Good luck.

[Craig53 in reply to sturon]

Thanks I've been what seems he'll and back when a time I just want recover without no fuss or stress IAM going to look into all my options thank you for your advise

[Blearyeyed in reply to Craig53]

Craig, your treatment has been awful.Writing to your MP may be a good option , but you also need to have things sorted out fast.

This can be done in these ways for both the hospital and GP surgery.

For your GP. Ring and ask to speak to the Practice Manager . Make sure you write down everything you want to say to help you remember everything and keep polite but firm.

Tell them that if things do not improve you will have no choice but to put in a complaint with your Integrated Care Board ( ICB).

The ICB is the external board in charge of dealing with GP, Dentist and Pharmacy complaints and if they receive these complaints it does end up on the Surgery's records and the are often forced to get retraining which does not necessarily happen with an In House complaint to the Practice Manager.

9 times out of 10 the Practice Manager will try to do everything they can to improve your care straight away if they can to prevent you moving forward with an ICB complaint.

You can also point out how bad you are feeling, especially after this morning treatment and request a Home Visit for your blood test and a proper GP appointment this afternoon. This is still available in the current system if the patient is severe and unable to come for tests at the surgery.

If you want to make a complaint about the hospital, forget about PALS if you want something decisive done.

Speaking to PALS can be ineffective much like speaking to the Practice Manager alone.

In the case of hospital complaints you are better contacting your Cardiology Department and request to speak to the Secretary of your named Cardiologist or Cardiac Helpline.

As before , write down what you want to complain about and what you want to request.

As with the surgery , point out that you will have no choice but to put in a complaint to the Chief Executives Office if something isn't resolved that day.

If nothing is done follow through with a written complaint to the Chief Executive Office and ask someone to take it to their Secretary in person if possible. You can find the details of the Chief Executive for your local hospital or Trust on the hospital website.

As with the GP and ICB , no hospital staff member or department wants a complaint going direct to the Chief Exec so they will usually do all they can to arrange help for you .

The CE does not like to receive complaints because they must add them into hospital record . These complaints also show up on the record of the department or doctor you are complaining about . The CE acts quickly because they don't want a lack of response to look badly on Senior Management.

They ensure that things are dealt with and you receive a response quickly and arrange retraining if necessary.

The MP can be useful as a last resort. Although it can take more time and you need help fast.

I don't know which region of the UK you are in .

If it's England. Then the MP is the political option.

But , if you are in Wales , Northern Ireland or Scotland you need to make complaints to your Assembly Minister because the Health Service is devolved and the AMs are those with the strength to do something about regions health services, your MP is not the one whom oversees the system.

All this can be a lot to take on though especially when you are already in a lot of pain and stress so if it's possible find a family member or friend that you trust to make these calls or take in your letters as your health advocate, or support.

Hope things improve for you soon both in terms of your treatment and your symptoms, take care , Bee

[Craig53 in reply to Blearyeyed]

Thank you for all your advise slowly things seem to be moving in a better direction I must admit it's the last thing I needed but surgery seems to admit that they were wrong blood samples done I be glad when is all over for today IAM trying to chill out abit because I didn't sleep again with all the stress thank you again I will resume later when I feel a bit better

[Blearyeyed in reply to Craig53]

Rest and sleeping when you can will help at the moment while you sleep is so disturbed.And chilling out with something that can distract you is a really good thing to help reduce the tension you are feeling in your body which makes everything else feel worse.

Have you got your bed well sorted with firm comfortable pillows to keep your head and chest elevated ?

You've probably done that already but if not it does help reduce the night time coughing.

Take care , Bee

[Craig53 in reply to Blearyeyed]

Thanks taking your advice thanks for your help

[BeKind28- in reply to Craig53]

Hello

This is positive the surgery has admitted they were wrong hope that has helped a little and glad to read you have had your blood tests done

Now have a well deserved rest and hope you feel better after it x

[Craig53 in reply to Blearyeyed]

Yes thanks will look into everything just trying to rest has much has I can it's really taken alot out me thanks for your help

[Boohbette17]

Dear Craig53,

the feed with your post made me take notice & although I could not see what type of surgery you've been thru,I feel for you

My father was a cardiac patient & we were left to learn as we go (so to speak) I was 18 when his first heart attack & 30 when he had quadruple by pass.

I am 2 years older than you so in essence we grew up at basically the same time.

I can imagine pain & weird feelings in your body so first I too TOTALLY agree with sturon. GRAB the reigns!

Next do what you can do & help your body too by what you eat.

You describe your throat hurting you, I hope this pain goes away and I certainly hope it's not something like Covid but regardless ,

remember always remember you MUST sustain your body with good nutrition to help it fight anything and also to HEAL

I found a doctor who is in another state from me ( I am in Ohio) but the fact that he had a heart attack at 41 on his info page made me want to send this to you .

Although eating well is important supplementation is also because we cannot possibly eat the volume that we need to extract every nutrient every time -I hope I make sense.

One suggestion I am passionate about is using magnesium bisglycinate . It's great to help you with so many things including sleep which is critical for healing .And it helps the heart work too

PLEASE READ the link on this magnesium if nothing else .

Warmly,

Boohbette( Stefi)

I wish you a lot of good healing and good times ahead!!! 🙏🙏👍👍💗💗😊😊

austinmdclinic.com/heart-he...

austinmdclinic.com/austinmd...

healthline.com/health/magne...

[BeKind28-]

Hello

This is a step in the right direction contacting your MP I know ours are very helpful if you Google who yours is in your area their details should come up

I know you were let down yesterday and feel you do not want to see a Nurse /Doctor today but please do for you as these blood tests are important and if you have a cough you need to make sure your chest is clear do it for you despite what happened yesterday

Let us know how you get on x

[Craig53 in reply to BeKind28-]

Thanks have to rest now so tired from lack of sleep thank you

[BeKind28- in reply to Craig53]

Hello

Resting is good will give your mind time to wind down and while you are resting it will help your body to heal from your op

Take Care x

[Anon2023]

hi Craig, you have had a truly awful time and I have personal experience of some of the things you are describing. Bee has given some really good advice and I would encourage you to follow it. Good luck.

[Lowerfield_no_more]

There been several helpful suggestions above providing ways of resolving your short term problems with your primary provider (your GP) and your secondary provider (as in your local hospital). And so I hope with this help and your own determination you get something sorted to your advantage soonest. On the whole the NHS does a good job of caring for those of us that qualify, but unfortunately some parts don't function at all well, and if you have reasonable grounds to complain about poor service you should do so. For if we, the customers, don't complain, poor performance will accepted as the norm and nothing will change. So when you have had the time to reflect I suggest you complain about your experiences. In your case through your local ICB which I believe is as below, which gives details of who your need to contact

sussex.ics.nhs.uk/nhs-susse...

And don't be discouraged from involving your local MP. One of our members did just that in view of the poor treatment she had received, and recently was able to report that things had finally been resolved to her advantage although it had taken some time to do so.