My mother is a geriatric and has a series of medical issues. Therefore I need to organise her appointments etc. for her.
Without any political axe to grind here’s what’s happened over one day in my involvement with either the NHS itself or organisations it subcontracts to.
One.
Continence nurse arrives 20mins late. Actually about four months late we requested a referral in May but the GP surgery failed to pass the referral on.
Consequently we’ve struggled on since May managing the condition on our own with occasional non-effective chase-ups of the practice.
Two.
Letter arrives from subcontracted provider. They want to do an ophthalmologist appointment by telephone. How they’ll be able to spot anything wrong with her eyes by hearing her voice is a mystery.
The letter also insufficiently explains the reason for the appointment and why it’s been requested. Half an hour on hold waiting to speak to the provider to establish need and purpose of appointment.
Three.
Her medication is delivered from the pharmacy.
This is after calling yesterday and being told they don’t accept repeat prescription orders on a Sunday. Guess what? That’s right. Not all medication has been delivered.
Call to pharmacy. Surgery has stopped the repeats on a vital tablet she takes three times a day.
Call to surgery. 40th in queue. They can’t understand why the tablet has been taken off repeat prescription but should be able to get her some more. By Wednesday.
Four.
She’s due a hospital out patient appointment tomorrow but this has been cancelled around 3.30 today. Have to then also cancel patient transport booked one week ago, which was a 45min call on its own.
Ring the hospital as the message was left with my mother who didn’t get all the details needed.
First few times it rings for a while then cuts off. This is standard for the hospital we deal with. Then get through to the wrong person who transfers me back to switchboard.
Finally get transferred to the right department. They clearly don’t like speaking to the public as there’s a voice message encouraging you to email them on an address no pensioner would be able to take down in time or likely spell correctly. Therefore still none the wiser about why the appointment has been cancelled or what happens next. No call back received.
Time taken overall: 3hrs
Cock-up’s occurred: Arguably 3-4
Patience: Exhausted
It’s the poor or non-existent communication that I find most irritating. That the patient’s representative or carer is left to chase up everything as nothing is explained in advance nor are the reasons for things happening. The experience of the NHS is therefore that you suffer the error first, then need to chase it up long before you gain the benefit of any service provided.
Legal Babble 