Doctors ORDERS

[gus3049]

Oh good grief,

This sort of stuff makes my blood boil. Every time I hear some twerp say that the UK has the best health system in the world, I curl up.

If you have a scan here, you wait outside for about half and hour and then go in to see the doctor in charge who gives you the results - good bad or indifferent. If necessary you are then referred to the right specialist.

When I had my brain scan, I knew in 30 minutes that I would need a major operation and it was scheduled for the next morning at 8am. No messing about.

Now you have to wait dammit. Enjoy the beer, and the wine and the brandy. Might make the time go a little quicker.

Forgot to mention that we keep all our own medical records here too, so there is no chance of the NHS not being able to find the file. Makes the patient responsible too and means we can see what's going on all the time. We get copies of all correspondence.

 

[Richard Findley]

Hi allen

Only just picked up on this thread. Worrying stuff. I hope all works out for the best.

Cheers

Richard

 

[Mike.C]

Hi allen

Only just picked up on this thread. Worrying stuff. I hope all works out for the best.

Cheers

Richard

Me too.

I really do hope you receive good news.

Cheers

Mike

 

[jimi43]

I don't frequent the whirley section much Allen so I missed this until your PM to me.

So sorry to hear the problems that you have...I do hope it's not something serious too.

I have seen your filter/extraction system in the video and with a Trend mask...seems to me you are taking all the precautions you can to prevent inhalation of the dust.

Let's see what they say and go from there....hopefully keeping turning!

Jim

 

[Noel]

All the best Allen.

 

[Jonzjob]

Good luck from me too Allen!! I hope that your results are good for you mate!

They ain't bullet proof here Gordon. When I went in to Toulouse for my hand op 10 weaks back (no, not a smelling mastike :mrgreen: ) I took my X-rays in and when we got back home we realised that one of them was missing, along with a blood test result. We managed to get the blood test result, but they lost the X-ray!

Apart from that I can't fault them at all.

 

[Blister]

So 17 days later I have had no updates from the hospital

Phoned the unit I was seen at and was told NO you need to ring the CT unit

Ring the CT unit and was told NO you need to ring your treatment unit

Ring the treatment unit and was told No you don't ring us as a letter should have been sent to your GP

I now start getting a bit LOUD on the phone and am put through to a Nurse who says you will get a letter from the hospital consultant and a copy will also be sent to your GP , you should get it soon :roll:

Time will tell

 

[Jonzjob]

Allen, that is a disgraceful attitude and I don't wonder you were starting to get peed off!

Goog luck!

 

[Blister]

I now have the letter , and a appointment to see the consultant on 11th September :roll:

No hurry then :roll:

48 days from the scan to getting my results :? :?

 

[gus3049]

I now have the letter , and a appointment to see the consultant on 11th September :roll:

No hurry then :roll:

48 days from the scan to getting my results :? :?

Hopefully this means they don't see it as urgent. However, when its clearly something that is going to worry you, the patient, one might expect that the odd word or two to put your mind at rest would be in order.

The famous 'Bedside Manor' is still with us.

 

[Jacob]

.... Every time I hear some twerp say that the UK has the best health system in the world, I curl up.

I think the UK has the best health system in the world. Start curling!
Blister can console himself that his ailment is being seen as non urgent. The few times we have needed the best treatment immediately we have both received it - twice thanks to NHS and once in France (emergency op for my wife). The french system seems good but I gather it is more expensive than ours.
Interestingly my current condition has a forum
http://www.epicski.com/t/66016/quadrice ... -and-rehab
and it's possible for me to compare my treatment with what the yanks and the canadians get. There are some terrible stories about misdiagnosis and neglect due to insurance problems - delay being really bad for this injury.
Everything done for me so far has been spot on, except the hospital food which was appalling.

Get well soon Blister!

 

[CHJ]

Hopefully as has been said Allen the problem whatever it is, is seen as non urgent, your response times although annoying/worrying bode better than the 48 hr and in the operating theatre timescale that one of our friends has just experienced.

 

[woodyturner]

I think a lot of it is pot luck or should I say post code luck When I lived in Dagenham NHS ended up almost non existent moved to Lincolnshire just a little better but it took a month to see your GP now I live in Nottinghamshire and the NHS is fantastic GP appointments the next day hospitals appointments the next week so now I cant complain

 

[12345Peter]

I think a lot of it is pot luck or should I say post code luck When I lived in Dagenham NHS ended up almost non existent moved to Lincolnshire just a little better but it took a month to see your GP now I live in Nottinghamshire and the NHS is fantastic GP appointments the next day hospitals appointments the next week so now I cant complain

It's really shameful that there is such a difference around the country. At my surgery, if you phone between 8-10am you are guaranteed an appointment that morning, a friend who lives 3 miles away in a different council controlled area has to wait a week for a doctors appointment.

Regards
Peter

 

[Harbo]

Blister get back to your GP and ask him for the results or at least if it is something you should worry about?

Rod

 

[Mike.C]

Oh good grief,
This sort of stuff makes my blood boil. Every time I hear some twerp say that the UK has the best health system in the world, I curl up.

With what I have just been pulled through explanation-for-my-absence-t62887.html without the treatment I received from the Nurses and Doctors in the ICU to the aftercare in CCU of Aberdeen Royal Infirmary I would not be here today. I live 45 miles from the hospital and my wife and I had talked on a number of occassions whether an ambulance would get either one or the other of us there in time if we had a heart attack. Well we certainly know the answer to that now. There was a police escort clearing the way and they had to stop twice to zap me back to life, but I arrived alive. In other countries where insurance is an issue I am sure the outcome for some other unfortunate people has/will be death, so in my eyes the NHS is very good. Even the food in ARI is nice, much better then down south. Mind you they have their own kitchen/s

I know that some hospitals are along way short of par and that as in Blister's case the staff that deal with letters and phone calls can do with a few lessons in how to treat people, but all in all we are pretty lucky to have the NHS and the medical staff that work within it.

Blister good luck on the 11th. I have a few coming up to, one on the 10th

Cheers

Mike

 

[gus3049]

Oh good grief,
This sort of stuff makes my blood boil. Every time I hear some twerp say that the UK has the best health system in the world, I curl up.

I know that some hospitals are along way short of par and that as in Blister's case the staff that deal with letters and phone calls can do with a few lessons in how to treat people, but all in all we are pretty lucky to have the NHS and the medical staff that work within it.

Blister good luck on the 11th. I have a few coming up to, one on the 10th

Cheers

Mike

Of course there will be good and bad examples everywhere.

I'm glad its been had positive outcome for you. I had the reverse experience in the UK, ten years of shilley shallying around the problem, bad advice, having to drag myself to various hospitals in agony because my problem wasn't immediately life threatening etc etc. Here in France they just asked the right questions, and got the problem fixed. Within two days of an MRI scan I was having brain surgery. I also have the right to see the specialist that I choose if I'm not 100% happy with my treatment. My experiences here have made the NHS look shabby. The wards are spotless and the food is great.

The insurance aspect is just a matter of making sure you have the right cover in force. It would be like diving without insurance not to have health cover here. In an emergency though, they fix first and ask about insurance afterwards.

 

[dickm]

Aberdeen Royal Infirmary

.... and now it's "by appointment to the Dook of Edinburgh"!

What really worries me is that the current bunch of politicians is clearly determined to follow their admiration of all things 'murrican, and shift us to an insurance only scheme. Which is possibly OK if it keeps standards high, as in France, but in the USA, it means that if you have a chronic condition and lose your occupational insurance, you're on your own. This has happened to several of daughter's colleagues as a result of a shakeout in employment.

 

[gus3049]

Aberdeen Royal Infirmary

.... and now it's "by appointment to the Dook of Edinburgh"!

What really worries me is that the current bunch of politicians is clearly determined to follow their admiration of all things 'murrican, and shift us to an insurance only scheme. Which is possibly OK if it keeps standards high, as in France, but in the USA, it means that if you have a chronic condition and lose your occupational insurance, you're on your own. This has happened to several of daughter's colleagues as a result of a shakeout in employment.

In France, its half and half. The state pays one bit and you get top up insurance for the balance. However, if your income falls below a certain level, the state pays it all. Seems a sensible system and obviously works very well.

I do feel for Allen, having to wait such a long time to get his results.

 

[Lons]

I think the UK has the best health system in the world. Start curling!

No it hasn't!

It did once but it's now still way too top heavy with management rather than front line staff, underfunded, though it wouldn't be if it wasn't such a lumbering mismanaged giant extremely wasteul of both material and personnel resources. Mismanagement which leaves all but the most dedicated professionals somewhat demotivated and undervalued.

There are as in all things, areas of excellence and individual good and bad experiences but it can be pot luck whether your particular ailment fits into that cubbyhole in your part of the country, or if you're lucky enough on the day to see a specialist who is astute enough to pick it up.
your postcode can determine whether you receive life prolonging medication which is more than unfair if you need to move house to an authority who doesn't consider it too expensive.

A number of my close family work for the NHS not only in different disciplines but in several areas in the UK, one worked in New Zealand as a hospital doc and is now a GP in the UK and I have personal experience of the Ozzie system in Sydney. I also have a number of very close friends including several GPs, two consultants and a surgeon along with numerous nursing staff of various grades and both sexes. Conversations at some of our get togethers and even on the bl**dy golf course can be a bit one sided :roll:

Don't get me wrong - I have great affection for our NHS but we can't afford the waste and however much I wish it wasn't, it is unfortunately now a long way down the road to privatisation or at least in part as full transition is too much of a hot potato for the politicians to handle. I don't know the answer to prevention of its demise but chucking money at it certainly isn't the cure.

I met my wife in a hospital when she was a student nurse (happy days :lol: ) and we have examples of both good and bad. My back probems were misdiagnosed years ago and only picked up and sorted when I went private. My wife could easily have died due to a medical mistake, I was told I had TB in my knee (eh?) - until after loads of tests it was discovered that someone else's results had been acredited to me :roll: (don't know what happened to the other patient - poor bu**er). I have a close friend dying of cancer because tumors on her spine were missed and for 18 months she was treated for a condition she didn't have.
On the other hand, my daughters life was saved after a car accident by very skillfull staff, my son was admitted to hospital very ill but was diagnosed immediately with Chrons because luckily the registrar on duty had the week previously been studying the disease (I know someone else who wasn't diagnosed for 2 years). Both my mother and father were well cared for as was my father in law before they died and I know many others who offer nothing but praise.

Bob