Reply To: NHS – will it survive?

[ellen]

A lot of the systems in the NHS seem broken to me. Yesterday, my OH was booked in at short notice for minor surgery after an appointment the previous day highlighted an issue.

He spoke to the surgeon before we left on Monday evening and we duly arrived at 10am yesterday. He was then told that surgeon was not working that day but someone else would deal with him.

We sat around for four hours before he was told the original surgeon was working and was now out of theatre and would see him and sort the issue, which he duly did but said that he was very cross because he had arranged for another surgeon to see OH at 10am.

Meanwhile, I spent some of the time at the hospital trying to rearrange another appointment for OH who had two booked on the same afternoon but at hospitals 20 miles apart and with no chance of being able to attend both, although both organized by the same NHS Trust.

I was massively frustrated because I am the bread-winner and self-employed so lost a days work because I had driven him to what I thought was going to be a shortish appointment. We could have used patient transport, at the additional cost to the NHS, or I could have dropped him off and gone back later.

I have no criticism of the staff who saw him or the ones I spoke to to try to unpick various arrangements but it is clear that the systems in place don’t work and there is a massive knock-on effect for staff, patients and relatives.

I know money is needed for clinical care but I do see time wasted like this every time we visit the hospital (which is frequent at present) and I think a bit more investment in “systems” might help ease the workload for many by reducing the number of mares’ nests they have to untangle on a daily basis.

Rant over…