Always the unexpected!

[Shonkie]

I recently had to have surgery on my face for Basal Cell Carcinomas (a not too drastic skin problem from sun damage). As I have multiple health issues the surgeon decided on a general anaesthetic to do skin grafts. I checked in and when the anaesthetist saw me I asked if he had seen the letter from cardiology about my leaking heart valve. He then beetled off, came back to say I couldn’t have a general as the hospital didn’t have a theatre if anything went wrong with my heart during the operation. We then came to a compromise with the surgeon using local anaesthetic and doing less drastic treatment. Is it unreasonable to expect medics to check someone’s records before treatment? Nil points!

[Amnesiac3637]

Nil points indeed! A very good job you managed to have anything done at all with that kind of basic incompetence. Good job one of you -you- was on the ball! I know they’re short staffed and rushed but that could have been a much worse outcome. Whatever happened to stringent pre-op checks?? Hope you eventually had a successful outcome with your bcc op.

[AgedCrone]

If you look on the NHS website & check your medical history..you will quite likely find it is recorded you have had both drugs & procedures …that you have not had!

The laugh of it is…those entries..apparently cannot be corrected.

[wilbertjellyfish]

Assume they know nothing is the best policy but tell them everything. These people are busy and the safeguard is they come and talk to you before the procedure. They definitely don't talk to each other and tend to know lots about their little area so it's really important to always speak up.

[sylvi]

That is not good enough to think the drs hadn't read your records. xxxxx

[greynot]

I always work on the basis that I need to tell anyone everything. To be fair, at age 73 there's an awful lot in my med notes, so you'd have to spend a while trawling through.Wouldn't it be clever if there was a summary of the significant stuff as well as the reams of individual entries.

Though a pre op should pick up important things like yours.

[Shonkie in reply to greynot]

Thanks for your comment. I have produced my own synopsis of my health issues as follows:

Name, address, next of kin, phone and health numbers

All health issues with medication. dosages and consultant name

GP name

I give this to every medic as it saves time and makes sure I don’t miss anything out. Very useful.

[Deeb1764 in reply to Shonkie]

I have done o e of these when I had a few am i lance call outs they loved it made it so simple for them 🥰

[greynot]

That's great, and very thorough