I received a letter saying that, we are sorry but, your Rheumatology appointment on 25 October has had to be cancelled.
In the same envelope, a letter signed by the Trust Group Medical Officer saying,
"Unfortunately we need to reschedule your appointment. We sincerely apologise for this. Please be assured, although the letter you have received along with this one states that your appointment has been 'cancelled'. this is not the case. You have been placed on a waiting list to receive a new appointment and we will be in touch with a new time and date as soon as this is possible. We know that this will be disappointing news to you and it is a difficult decision we have had to make. We thank you for your understanding and support during this time".
Is it just me who finds this ludicrous?
Written by
DAW28
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I think that the second letter is making that point in a roundabout way, but they could surely have cobbled together a single letter explaining the situation, rather than have one letter with the error and a second letter correcting it.
Well to be fair, the two letters were in the same envelope, so it only took one stamp. However it kind of makes the whole situation even more laughable/sickening...
Me. I actually asked for a virtual to be rescheduled and on the date the Rhuematologist rang me on my landline knowing full well i lip read. He proceeded to discuss me with my OH and told me to look it up on the net. I was really angry
Only complained to my GP who didn’t say to much. Have experience of complaining about doctors and being asked to find another practice, although the complaint was against the NHS. And we were right to complain and won
I was asked, very rudely, why I didn't leave the practice once - OH was being treated for cancer at the time, my older daughter had been discharged far too soon from the paediatric psychology service over anorexia and then she deteriorated again but the dear GP didn't agree she was clinically depressed. I pointed out that I hadn't felt I could as OH didn't want to change under the circumstances despite it having been a constant fight to get his treatment from the oncology department prescribed by them as needed. The rest of us didn't count at all - never asked me how I was!
I left the practice after he refused to treat my daughter and drove 20 miles to the psychiatric hospital she'd been under to find her former doctor - who very kindly saw us, she didn't have to. Agreed she was depressed and told me to go to the practice in the other village and sign on with them. I filled out the forms for me and the girls - and asked when could I make an appointment: you'll be seen next once the details are filled in!! We got as long as we needed and what we needed. If you wanted in-depth and thorough you saw Hamish, if you wanted a quick prescription you saw his shy and retiring partner. Whenever he was in our village he would drop in to ask how we ALL were, including OH. And within a few months OH had switched too which was something of a relief.
Fantastic. I know you should never have been in that position, but you had a great outcome. Why oh why do we have to fight so hard for what we should just get regardless. All that stress, and all that lack of empathy
Exactly - I had had about 7 or 6 months by then of total disinterest in me and the girls. There wasn't a lot of interest in OH either - mainly because it was me who had to go to hand in the script and get the meds. He couldn't swallow tablets (still can't) so I asked for all the stuff that came as liquid - and you know me well enough to know I would have checked in BNF first! They told me none of them came as liquids - he was on about 5 or 6, only one only came only as a tablet and it was only once a day, I could cope with grinding it up and mixing it with honey! It was the rest ... Two weeks later he had another week of chemo and I told the team about the tablet problem - no worries, they'd switch to liquid versions and that was what they sent home. And so the practice had to replace what the hospital sent! That was when the nastiness started. Then the one decent male doctor was caught having an affair with the senior partner's wife and he left. You couldn't make it up!!!!!
Now that just makes me even more worked up. That they behaved like spoilt brats that lost the argument. And your daughter was young, if you don't save them while they are young, what chance do they have. You are strong and knowledgeable, what happens to the other families who don't know how to fight. Makes my blood boil.
My practice failed my sister's dental nurse which lead to her death. Kept telling her that blood in your urine is fine. Fine!!!! Consequently by the time she got her bladder cancer diagnosis it was too late and she died within the month at 52
The only saving grace is that the practice met and discussed what they can do next time to avoid anything like that happening. But you never forget that arrogance. The doctor in question is one I have always avoided in the past, and now will absolutely not go and see. She is arrogant and dismissive.
That's what I say again and again - I struggle, I know the system, what about poor Joe Public who doesn't even know what is wrong with them and what needs to be done? And no, I DON'T want money - I want an acknowledgement of the fact something needs to be done and asap and not treated like a nuisance who knows nothing,
Happened again with OH here - the local hospital had him for 11 days and did nothing, he came home no different from when he went in except they had managed to rehydrate him - not that they tried very hard, when they couldn't get a line in or it blocked they gave up. Put 2 kg on in under a week and a doctor tried to tell me it was "substance", i.e. fat and muscle. Er, no sweetheart, it was fluid. A couple of weeks later, thanks to a new nurse contact, he went into the palliative care unit in the regional capital and 28 hours after admission he rang me, perky and full of beans, mentally at least back to normal. What had they done? Within 3 hours of admission they had put him on dexamethasone and a bit later they gave him a pint of blood! His Hb had been 7.8 - no wonder he was weak and peely-wally and out of breath! For the first time in 50 years I'm providing 3 meals a day, usually 3 courses at lunchtime and sometimes 3 courses in the evening! Hasn't eaten puddings for YEARS - they are the indispensible item! Eating yoghurts, asks for them - never eaten them in his life! Eating lettuce. Even veggies - in the form of soup. It is unbelievable.
The GP was here yesterday - I'd asked her about putting him on pred months ago - now she can see why. And made very sure I told her about the fight with the doctor in A&E/on medicine and that I would have the new palliative care doc as being in charge of him if he goes in again. She knows us and treats as as equals in management - that is all I ask. She even apologises when she feels he needs to be admitted!
But the situation is SO similar to mine, albeit my outcome was different in that he died 4 weeks later.
But, everyday I would go in and say - have you given him any fluid? Any food (all by tube I may add), and then, have you even cleaned his teeth!!!
Every time I asked, it happened, BUT, I ALWAYS had to ask.
They even left him with dirty mittens on.... utterly vile ... when he was flailing all over the place and putting those disgusting gloves on his face.
And I come from a medical family, had my doctor niece (Royal Free) with me AND my cousin who was the Senior Nurse running Outpatients in that hospital.
They didn't even ring me on my home phone in the night. I got up to a message on my mobile that was left at 2.00am telling me to come straight away as he had arrested!
What?????
Funny how the other hospital they sent him to by ambulance could ring me on my home phone at midnight to ask his medical history as he was incapable of speaking.
I despair. If you don't fight you get nothing, and it's bloody exhausting.
Wow. Similar to us. My 7 yr old daughter had a Brodie’s abscess on her lower leg. Took 2 years to diagnose by a trainee dr. The rudeness and sarcasm we had to put up with was unbelievable. She sued a d won over negligence when really all she wanted was an apology for the pain and disbelief. Cost them dearly. The GPs were told her primary care was at fault too hence we were ask to leave I wish they were all like that 2nd village dr you moved to, don’t you. They only in it for the cash today
And that is it isn't it. All you want is an apology, everyone is too scared to admit anything for fear of the consequences. And look at that, you sued and won. So that didn't help them at all did it!
btw, my practice trains new GPs. I always opt for them as they are extremely thorough and put in a lot of tests to eliminate.Once they are jaded, I avoid them.
Hamish probably was a one-off though there were fairly good ones too.
Then there was the A&E doctor who saw my younger daughter with all the signs of appendix - had had the same problem with her sister, it grumbled for years, just as mine had done. The GP was fairly sure, uni hospital missed it and sent her home on Friday, "definitely not appendix, abdominal migraine". Saturday morning I took her to the district hospital in the other direcction - who were also suspicious and sent her to surgery on Sunday morning. They removed an apparently normal appendix and sent it for histology which found it was about to perforate, one more episode of inflammation would have done it. Bit of a narrow squeak that. I watched the young man in A&E write "anxious mother" on the notes as he summarily dismissed me. So I went round the corner to see my friend who worked in medicine and she examined F - she found guarding, she felt it was something and took her to the department and found the boss who agreed. He took her to the examination room and called all the juniors for a teaching opportunity. The bunny from A&E was there and I watched him blanche as they were warned never to dismiss this sort of patient and ALWAYS listen to mum. It was even more satisfying as he passed me looking a bit shamefaced - and I told him to be VERY careful what he wrote on patient's notes in future. Some of us can read upside down ...
I agree , the whole system is crazy right now ! I was in urgent need of a blood test last week! Was told i had to be on a waiting list. I finally got to have it done yesterday.I mentioned it to the nurse , she said this was wrong as they have plenty of apps if needed !! The surgery is just following Covid rules that has eased off now but not been updated !! Fuming is putting it lightly !
I receive text messages telling me I have been given an appointment and every time, ten seconds later, I get a text message saying it has been cancelled and then a couple of minutes later I get a message saying I have a rescheduled appointment and this happens at least three times before I actually get to have the telephone appointment (they also send me three text messages reminding me I have an appointment, during the week before my appointment). During the long awaited appointment I tell the rheumatologist how I am feeling and what I am doing about it and she writes this in a letter to my doctor!…. and then the whole messaging process starts again! You have to laugh 😆otherwise you would cry😢!
and so it goes on. Question is why? In truth I know most of them really want to make us better. I suspect that the not knowing what's wrong upsets their sense of supposed to know status as the professional. They fall back on covering for this and that develops into a manner and way of approaching patients with a caveat. They develop a shell and cover themselves so that they won't be sued. The ones who are rude or offhand simply lost it a while back and are full of their own importance. Some specialists it seems operate in a rarified atmosphere of their own little interest in a field where they all take a particular line and then dismiss other options. These occurrences are all too common. I think it just requires us to all be firmer in insisting on being a real active part of the process. In this we have a responsibility to genuinely know something of what we ask and expect of them and try to be concise as we know they are hassled and suffer from a lot of people who want their time for minor things that they shouldn't have to deal with. Nonetheless it doesn't include them being ansty just because they think they are the important ones. As I have said numerous times. They only have a function if people are ill. There is no other point in their being in the profession.
An Appointment is classed as Cancelled if another Appointment cannot be offered at the time.A Rescheduled Appointment would offer you another Appointment in the same Letter.
The additional Letter from Trust Group Medical Officer was explaining further (to a point) what was happening.
Appointment Letters for Cancelled, Rescheduled or Reminders are Computer Generated & generally can’t be modified, hence the extra letter.
The Codings for these Changes also go on to STATS for the NHS 🤦🏻
MrsN
Former Out Patient Clinic Co-Ordinator in a Previous Life 😉
Thank you for the insider knowledge MrsNails, that is very helpful. It is so frustrating when an appointment is cancelled especially as the reason for the cancellation is never given.
It’s particularly difficult at the moment l imagine, my Son has just had a Face to Face Rescheduled following a Phone Call Appointment as the Dr had to Self Isolate, which l imagine is happening quite a lot at the moment…..I always found if you explained why - people were much more understanding.
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