In the Telegraph today there is an article that people are having their appointments cancelled up to 10 times. Apparently this is often done with a short lead time of just a day or two, so they are sending taxis with the cancellation information to the patient’s address. First I hear the NHS are still using fax machines and pagers, and now I hear they are using taxis. Am I living in a different time sphere to the NHS? So much for the electronic age.
I don’t believe it: In the Telegraph today there is... - PMRGCAuk
I don’t believe it
Written by
piglette
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61 Replies
•
What!!!!! Terrible waste.
piglette• in reply to
Perhaps we are lost in space in some sort of wormhole! Viva WhatsApp!
Today l’ve had two separate text messages, 1st for a Rheumatologist’s Appointment for tomorrow & 2nd for a Urology Appointment on Wednesday.
Both these appointments have already been rescheduled........
So here’s hoping they go ahead 🙏🏼
MrsN
piglette• in reply to
No taxi then?
Need a stagecoach in deepest darkest Dorset. 😳
Well no they don’t - get text reminders- GP surgery and hospital!
My area has not got onto texts yet or emails, but on the other hand we have had the telephone for over one hundred years. Although they still seem to be using letters.
• in reply topiglette
Not Yet! 🤞🏻
I think the taxi situation is a rarer incidence which may be happening when your appointment has been cancelled on the day and you had early admittance or a taxi booked for your transport to hospital , or have a quicker new appointment and information must be supplied before then that won't arrive by post.
This happened to my Uncle on the morning of his Pancreatic Cancer Surgery, we were disgusted both for my Uncle and for the poor taxi driver whom basically became the messenger of bad news.
When my Aunt went to the door to leave in their booked taxi , the driver told them the last minute news , but handed them a hand written message from the Consultant with his apologies as an Emergency had come in in the early hours , and it included a new printed out letter and form for the rescheduled operation , two days later.
This information clearly couldn't have got through the post in time and the pre-booked taxi was minutes from leaving for a 6am admittance when they thought to use it for this purpose.
It didn't soften the blow of preparing for an operation only to be cancelled on your doorstep.
Unfortunately, from the experience of me , and my friends and family , everyone needs to be prepared to get at least one appointment cancellations for all appointments in the near future.
At least one cancellation is becoming systematic , and a sort of " unwritten policy" to be able to offer us all appointments within NHS guidelines when they have no ability to fulfill these dates.
The system can get away with two cancellations before being flagged , and it allows upto 12 weeks extension from the time limit within NHS guidelines.
Other " unwritten policies" also in news articles in the last few years are the " One Eye Policy" for Cataract Surgery ( this is common in Wales) and refusal of ordered blood tests .
Overbooking for both Consultations and Operations has been going on for years. It is very similar in system to that on air flights with some hospitals overbooking by upto 25% in the hope that the majority of overbooked places will be removed by Patients cancellations and rescheduling. The system worked pretty smoothly for a very long time until the waiting time for initial appointment dates has also stretched out to upto 6-8 months in some areas meaning that Patients are not likely to reschedule , as the wait is bad enough!!
And last minute cancellations on the day are common practise too.
I remember (being a nosey person and conveniently in ear shot because I had been given a single room near the Ward Station) being quite shocked on the two mornings after my Gallbladder operation listening to the debate of the Doctors and Ward Sisters about whom they felt they could cancel that day from the incoming list .
The second day this included two extras , whom didn't necessarily need to be removed because of lack of theatre time but just in case they would not have ward space for emergencies later in the day.
At this point , I went to the desk , and although I was not due to leave the ward for another two days , I felt well enough to leave , and told them they only needed to cancel one extra person as I was happy to be discharged. The Gulp they made in unison was probably loud enough to wake up the rest of the ward!!
It's a terrible situation , and incredibly stressful for us all , but in some respects knowing that this is a possibility , I have spent many years expecting a cancellation rather than being disappointed , and see getting my first appointment as an added bonus.
The " I might have an appointment on..." has made the years dealing with Chronic Health Care easier to bear , even if the system itself is unacceptable.
After my latest op, they discovered there was no room in recovery, so they put me in the anaesthetics room. There was then a discussion that the next person after me who was due a general anaesthetic would have to be cancelled as I was taking up the space for his preparation and so they would do someone who just needed a local anaesthetic. It is not the medical side that is the problem but the organisation and logistics.
I like that "I might have an appointment on..." what a good way to put it.
Recovery times are shortening all the time, with a lot of responsibility being put on the family to care at home. Jeff's op in a private hospital allows 2 days recovery. The first time, on the NHS, he came home the same day. Luckily we both understand how to keep things antiseptic, but not everyone does.
It's difficult to know which is best when so many infections are aquired in hospital!
I had my follow up after my shoulder replacement cancelled 5 times, no taxi's though. By the time i did see my consultant they had missed a damaged nerve!! Its such a waste and also causes things to be missed
Here we get text reminders from GP’s and hospital, on the odd occasion the eye clinic have changed my appointment it has been a staff nurse who phoned, which has been I think three times in five years. Am I just lucky or has our local hospital got their act together? 🤞
I was scheduled for an emergency operation on a Sunday. Turned up at 7.30am, sat around all day, nil by mouth. They then said they were so busy they would have to postpone it until the next day.
• in reply topiglette
Oh Piglette
That’s awful, have they given you a date to have it done? I hope it’s nothing too serious?
Kind Regards
MrsN 💕
piglette• in reply to
It was suspected Necrotizing fasciitis. I had the op the following day as it was urgent.
So so sorry Piglette—- Hope you have a successful outcome today xxxxx
I had to have a surgical debridement (cutting away affected tissue). It now looks as if I have been attacked by a shark with a great whole in my calf!
It gives a new definition to "emergency" doesn't it. I'm so sorry you had to go through that, hope things improve for you.
OMG you couldn’t make this up, so what does EMERGENCY mean now? Urgent but only if we’re not too busy? So sorry 😐
In all fairness it was a lot faster than normal. I saw the GP on the Friday afternoon who wanted me to take an ambulance to hospital. I said I would go in on the Saturday, had lots of tests and the op was organised for the following day, the Sunday, it just did not happen until the day after. They were incredibly apologetic.
• in reply topiglette
Y I K E S. That sounds very painful. I am still waiting for the first available bed in St James hospital Leeds. This was promised in 1971.
piglette• in reply to
It was the smell from my leg that was really awful. I could not believe it was part of me! Your bed is probably still taken by some centenarian.
• in reply topiglette
It sounds a horrible experience. It's the aftercare that takes so long too. That really takes patience.
Bless 'em. I hope it's a comfy bed, but not memory foam in this weather. 🥵
Can it get any more bizarre? The NHS should tear up their present rules and start from the beginning again!🙃
Maybe if patients don't have mobile phones, a cab or a courier is the only option to guarantee delivery?
It's possible to send an SMS to a landline. The difference is that you have to listen to a robot voice reading it.
Good point. Means they could still do the sending automatically which preserves the (staff) time-saving element,
It may be the newspaper focusing on a few extreme cases and not saying the incidence of these occurrences. At my GP practice I hardly ever have to speak to a receptionist as I book all my appointments online and order my prescriptions online. The hospital uses letters but texts reminders for appointments. However, at both my recent appointments at the hospital the doctors have been totally honest about how short staffed the clinics are and how patients are getting longer gaps between appointments. The last doctor I saw was very angry that Rheumetology were so behind and said that I should write to the secretary of state for health complain about the under-staffing of the health service. I feel very sorry for them, they are really struggling to do right by their patients at my hospital.
My last letter from the hospital said " We know you are waiting for an appointment we will contact you again in the future, please don't contact us." That's one way of putting me on hold.
I had a similar one from Rheumatology, so on the advice of the ophthalmy consultant I am seeing my GP today to ask for her to demand an appointment for me.
The rheumy referred me and she's probably got more clout. She also had trouble booking my next appiontment with her because the books had been closed. My appointment was for a years time, however long are new patients having to wait?
OH has had prostate problems since January and is unable to wee. We decided to go private because treatment would not be until next year on NHS. The distress it was causing him was immeasurable, it should be worth the cost to get our lives back. My heart goes out to those who don't have the option.
I like the idea of booking appointments on line, but looking at my surgery’s online system there are two available in the next three weeks. They do make a sort of an apology and say you are better off phoning! My hairdresser was saying she knew one old lady who booked an appointment once a week just in case.
Hi. The trick with the online system is new appointments pop up when they get cancellations. I can usually get an appointment within a day or two but need to keep doing a quick check on the situation. About 10 am is good because people who want to cancel usually do so first thing because they have woken up feeling better or have found something better to do that day
We do have an increasingly very elderly population and some would not necessarily pick up a text. Hope they do try and contact people by phone before sending taxis. It does make you wonder who sits in the meetings that plan this madness
I think that is one of the problems they all sit in an awful lot of meetings.
They have to justify their big salaries. I noted the same meddling behaviour in the library system where I worked. If you take your average public library you could manage without the CAO for a couple of months. But without your lowest paid employees, the shelvers, the library would be unusable within days. These lowly ones also usually know the best, most efficient way to do their job, and the same is true all the way up through programmers, reference people, book selectors, the original tech services (stamping, covering, labelling, cataloguing). But they are seldom seriously consulted when changes are considered, nor are ideas they have for improvements often felt worthy even to be discussed. The exception seems to be the IT crew who also tend to be paid more.
So in the health care system because there probably aren't enough people available to make phone calls (an executive decision to save money) they have to use a more expensive stop gap.
When my hubby went for his last appt. at Salisbury, the Dr. said they had lost 4 specialists this year, some had retired early because of the tax on their pension pot, and some were due to retire anyway. I am waiting for a follow-up appt. for the cardiac Clinic after my Tacotsubo episode in November, I was told it would be 2-3 months. I asked the Dr to check if I had been forgotten, he said not to worry they are a bit behind!!
My last Rheumy appointment was cancelled twice before I to see him. He had wanted to see me in three months it took six. He wasn't happy about it but said that he wanted to see me in 3 months this time. However, this time, we made a contingency plan of me phoning his Secretary with the info he needed in 3 months so that he could then follow up!
I think that the NHS is under so much pressure now. He was very apologetic and mentioned his Secretary gets constant abusive phone calls from people whose appointments have been cancelled. I genuinely felt for him as he clearly wants to do things well.
I don't know what the solution is with our aging population and a government who is more interested in privatisation by stealth rather than investing in their staff and using the facilities they have efficiently.
I fear for our wonderful NHS 
Hi,
Just back from GP, she has written a strong letter to Rheumy saying three doctors want me to see Rheumy, why are Rheumy not responding, also my ESR & CRP are steadily increasing (by a small amount) at each blood test and I would like advice on Pred dosage. She said if I don't hear quickly, let her know, but also phone them and tell them I am not well and worried. She acknowledged there is a a staffing problem, my Endocrinologist and Ophthalmic consultants are both Greek and lovely, hoping for a Greek Rheumy to get the full set.
I’m very cynical about articles in the Torygraph. This article mentions think tanks but doesn’t specify which ones. One recent think tank is anti NHS and also funds the Conservative party. These think tanks can undermine the public confidence in the NHS to try to steer toward privatisation when the NHS continues to be underfunded.
Here in the States, when the conservatives want to privatize something, they defund it and do everything they can to make it completely dysfunctional. Then after the people become angry and frustrated that it doesn’t work, the privatizers come in saying government can’t do anything right...this corporation will do a much better job. After privatizing, the corporation hauls in tons of public money and things decline even further. Then people figure out that they have completely lost control (since it’s private not government) and they just have to accept it. The corporation is laughing all the way to the bank.
The trouble with the NHS is that it is the largest employer in the world next to the Red Army and the Indian railways. It is a huge monolith which was great when created in 1946 but things have changed. It needs to come into the twenty first century and start using decent computer systems that talk to each other. It also needs to sort out its admin where we have overpaid management consultants floating around t sorting it out. We have outstanding doctors in their field of medicine worrying over the number of beds available. The whole thing is ludicrous.
It needs proper funding and better management, that's for sure. I agree we have outstanding health care workers.
This is exactly what has been happening to our Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Literally threadbare despite current gov's promise to restore what previous gov had cut. 😠 death by a thousand cuts. Is it because some legislators simply forget why we have these public services in the first place? And that the average citizen is happy to pay fair taxes in order to have good services?
It is all help together by sticky tape, something doesn’t work properly just fix it with sticky tape!
That is so hard for me to read. I want to believe my neighbors to the north wouldn’t do this. I love CBC programming. We defunded our public broadcasting bit by bit many years ago, and now they are supported by corporations, wealthy people and advertising ...quality and content suffer. Also, the amount taxpayers pay for this important service is so small.
Yes..and am incensed how big cooperations avoid tax.
Today I read a comment, forget if it was FB or Twitter - If you can't afford to pay your employees a living wage, buy fewer yachts. Referring to the advice to the poor - if you can't afford your rent, buy fewer lattes.
I agree that newspapers from which ever side of the political argument will put their own bias slant on the facts.
I'm just really sad that from my own experience and that if most people I know using the NHS Hospital services that this cancellation process has become common policy over the years. ( See reply to Piglette above in replies) .
I was Sister on a Pre Op dept / Day of Surgery admission until I retired 3 years ago. Terribly stressful and frustrating. Getting patients readied for often very major surgery ( working out stopping anti coagulation tablets, changing to injections and do on) booking ITU beds etc. Patients relatives all psyched up... only to be cancelled after admission , often several times. Awful . Usually lack of beds, ITU beds ( taken up by stabbing, gun shot wounds) . Then admin errors .. letters sent to wrong addresses .. wrong dates. List is endless . I have no answers , my team and I could only do our best under a failing system
Agree we need more funding and better management or we will lose skilled dedicated workers. .
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