what are the government guidelines for operating waiting lists

[Welsh-1]

awaiting knee operations, spinal operation, ankle operation

[Bananas5]

Hello casoria,

Do you live in Scotland or England\\\\\\\/

Pat x

[Welsh-1 in reply to Bananas5]

England

[Welsh-1 in reply to Welsh-1]

Had first distectomy on lower spine in 1999, lasted for 5 years and been having nerwve root blockers ever since. Now it is so bad that I cant stand for longer than 5 minutes before the pain kicks in and walking about 20 yards and down both legs. Saw consultant last week and told me 40 week waiting list!!!!!!

Cartlidge gone in both knees and already had a double arothscopy to remove most of the arthritis and now awaiting double femeral patela replacement. Was told the waiting list was 4 months in December but still waiting.

Foot bones are fracturing and been under a consultant for 3 years, been having injections in the ankle for 2 years but now they dont do anything. In 3 years had never seen the actual consultant so demanded to see him this time and now been put on waiting list which is 4 months. That was Janauary still waiting

[Hidden]

Hello

What guidline do you want.

GOVERNMENT GUIDELINES POLITICAL

OR MANAGEMENT

OR SURGEON

You may find it can be difficult to square a circle hear,

Mostly it can come down to quality of life,and will the surgery be of benefit, and worth spending money on the operation. That is why if you are overweight, they may put the operation back so they can get a better result later, the patient may have to jump hoops to get it done

Sometimes it can come down to the patient and their attitude to the procedure.

There are many ways you can look at this, I suppose if it is immediate, life threatening will the prospect be worth the operation. will the patient benefit, it can be a matter of risk.

You can have two patients in same ward with same complaint, brought in at the same time one will get done on Monday, the other Wednesday. That how I look at it as it happened to me.

You seem to have a list of problems so this may take a long time to complete as they will deal with one problem before starting the next. So you may start getting stuck on lists.

Sorry I really cannot help here it, depends on actual waiting times, as lists change change daily or their may be a long list for that operation

Good LUCK

All the best

BOB

[Hidden]

Not sure about guidelines. I waited 8 months to see one Consultant, they referred me to another, so that took 7 months. That Consultant then referred me to another Consultant. So went onto another waiting list which was 11 months. That's just to see the Consultant. By the time I actually saw the correct Consultant it was too late. There had been a treatment available which could have cured me, and in fact my Consultant wrote a stinking letter to my GP and copied me on the letter - stating if he'd referred me earlier - I could have been treated

Don't know about the actual surgery side of things i.e. waiting lists.

Another Consultant I also see which took 9 months to see - over the course of 11 months - the hospital cancelled my appointment 3 times. So again I was supposed to see him 3 months after first consultation but took 11 months. Was told at last consultation another appointment would be made for 6 months. I'm on month 9 and still waiting.

[Welsh-1 in reply to Hidden]

Had first distectomy on lower spine in 1999, lasted for 5 years and been having nerwve root blockers ever since. Now it is so bad that I cant stand for longer than 5 minutes before the pain kicks in and walking about 20 yards and down both legs. Saw consultant last week and told me 40 week waiting list!!!!!!

[Hidden]

The "18 weeks" rule always was a lot or drivel, with plenty of reasons easy to find why they should not meet it, but now there isn't even a pretence that it will be met, so your guess is as good as mine on that, all you can do is remember in the future as a person in need of medical treatment what happens when you have a Tory Government when it comes to putting your X in the box next time; however my impression is that you need to move on from just speaking to people about it as that has got you no further on after some time, it looks like the time to get something on paper - all those involved: GP, Consultants and the hospitals too. MPs are sometimes of help, and there is an NHS complaints system, although again I have had "wins" in this respect, but not a lot of real results.

I have been in contact with PALS before, and found them less than useless, but some people seem to find they get good results, so perhaps it can't harm.

Seeing as so many Doctors are involved in your case, I am wondering if there is also a lack of "joined up thinking" (always a problem!) and without knowing your personal case in much detail, would also ask the question whether or not you are suitable for such Orthopaedic surgery anyway, and might this be a complicating factor in the delays?... if your "Foot bones are fracturing" presumably there is some sort of Osteopaenia or Osteoporosis going on, or Rheumatoid arthritis? So is this under good control and treatment, and are joint replacements a suitable option in your current fracturing state?

As someone who was dramatically worsened (life changing!) by what was actually only a *very* minor spinal procedure, have you also looked into the options in this respect too.... one problem with seeing Surgeons is, they only want to do either surgery or nothing, and there are times other options might be better ones, so speaking online to patients with similar situations as yourself is something I would definitely recommend looking for before ANY procedure, but spinal procedures in particular.

As to the long-term situation with joint replacement, they are not the miracle cure for everyone, I have personally met great numbers of great successes and many miserable failures. My own mother has had knee replacements, with very limited success... the first one was useless within a matter of 3 months, and caused a lot of pain and misery before it was replaced after a total time of 3.5 years. Since, they haven't been what I would call a great success either, she has never really walked any better than before, although my Father had far better results with hip replacements, one was much better than the other although I rather suspect his pre-existing fitness and wirey muscular build with light weight being a big factor in this!

[Welsh-1 in reply to Hidden]

WOW!!!! Many thanks for your reply and you have given me much to think about. I have osteoarthritis which has been brought on early through an accident I had in 1986. I used to be very fit and up until 3 years ago was very active in the gym participating in body pump, circuit training and swimming. However, I am now unable to to any of this due to the pain and as a result have put on 3 stone due to lack of exercise. I am constantly monitoring what I eat and do not go over my limits.

[Hidden in reply to Welsh-1]

I am a member of that particular club too... the accident club (1983) as well as a gym, although disabled long before that too I was weight training 3x a week before my minor (almost trivial!) back procedure in 2003... I ended up in a right state at 156kg some time after!

First of all, to go with the gym activity, I KNOW that means you have been eating low fat/low calorie... I was too, but all that did was made me a carb junkie and I ultimately ended up eating ANYTHING as long as it was carbs and the result was metabolic syndrome and reactive hypoglycaemia. Been low carb (Low Glycaemic Load) for 3.5 years and I am 52kg lighter now, and that's without ANY of the exercise which I can't do now. If only I had known sooner! It's not fat you need to cut, (odds one you need MORE of the right sort) it's carbs - if you don't produce much Insulin from eating carbs, you don't store up the fat you eat, the trick is to use it not dump it in your arteries!

By the sound of your bones, your calcium levels (and therefore vitamin D) could do with a looking at, (blood tests) as to whether or not you need to supplement one or all (plus vitamin K2 if you do need to supplement D3)

Have you had a thyroid function test too (also associated with weight gain) although getting that right is work all of it's own!

Come to think of it, with your problems, have you had a DEXA (bone) scan?

[bonniebluebird in reply to Welsh-1]

Hi Casoria - I had a total knee replacement in December. Prior to that I was more or less housebound for 18 months, couldn't drive, couldn't walk, every step was agony so exercise was out of the question. However, I decided to change my eating habits and help support my health by taking up the acid-alkaline diet. I lost weight as a result. I went down two dress sizes without any exercise at all! This isn't a fad weight reducing diet, it's a lifestyle change, but weight loss is an inevitable bonus as your body is detoxing itself from acidic wastes which are stored in body fat. It's very healthy but quite a big change to make & at first I did get a few detox symptoms, but it's been SO worth it. I love my food and I eat like a horse, always have (which is why I was overweight) but now I eat the right foods and drink lots of alkaline water. It may even help with your pain levels (cos where there's pain, there's inflammation, and where there's inflammation there will be acids). This way of eating will help flush them out. It couldn't cure my arthritis cos it was too advanced, there was no cartilage left, just bone on bone, but it will hopefully prevent it spreading elsewhere and support my general body health during recovery and beyond, not to mention keep my body weight down! Here's a couple of links:

water-for-health.co.uk/arti...

rense.com/1.mpicons/acidalk...

Good luck! Btw my knee op was very successful - the main challenge is my back having to readjust to the new posture which will take time.

[Hidden in reply to Welsh-1]

Ask your gp about counterweight. Its a tailored weightloss programme that looks at you holistically. It lasdts a year and has a 97% sucess rate of steady weightloss at 6 & 12 months and right into the following year. You eat your normal food but in different ratios and quantities. Its run by a lifestyle advisor.

Try and see a sports physio, they can often manipulate (very gentle) the muscles to loosen them up and ease a bit of the pain. They will also give you exercises to strengthen and support your joints.

I agree with Picton, surgery does not always give you the result you want, and may make you worse off. The knees are very complicated to replace and I've seen some very cool external knee splints that may help more.