Very good experience tonight. My daughter was polishing a wine glass at work, it broke and cut her forearm very deeply and her finger not so badly. She was at the hospital by 10pm, and we were home by 1am (40 minute drive) and she had been triaged, x-rayed for any broken glass and been stitched in that short time frame. Very happy with that. (Although I have to say that I have a complaint about the same hospital being taken forward with the ombudsman about my mother's care while she was dieing, but that's a different story)
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Daughter (27) went for a routine eye test at Boots last week( Thursday) ...she'd noticed her eyesight had deteriorated since her previous check up couple of years ago but wasn't too concerned....however optometrist picked up a potentially worrying discrepancy in her eyes and potential papilloedema and said she'd refer her to ophthalmology department at local hospital .
She got phone call this Monday to ask her to attend department this Thursday for appointment! ( husband and I both health care professionals and aware of poss conditions causing swelling of optic disc- MS/ brain tumours - sometimes a bit of knowledge can be a curse) ....didn't show our concerns but sooo glad she was seen so quickly as it can be a huge red flag requiring urgent assessment
Thankfully after a barrage of tests and 3 hours in clinic , she got a clean bill of eye health and turns out she has a rare condition called 'drusen of the optic disc' ( tiny calcium deposits on / around her optic disc) - cause unknown but not serious, but something she needs to be aware of when shes seen for eye checks!
they're following her up in 4-6 months to check there's been no change - thankfully doesn't require any treatment and it wont affect her eyesight- just needs a change to her prescription which was inevitable as she's short sighted
Just a public health announcement to keep up to date with eye checkups to avoid any potentially serious situations
She got phone call this Monday to ask her to attend department this Thursday for appointment! ( husband and I both health care professionals and aware of poss conditions causing swelling of optic disc- MS/ brain tumours - sometimes a bit of knowledge can be a curse) ....didn't show our concerns but sooo glad she was seen so quickly as it can be a huge red flag requiring urgent assessment
Thankfully after a barrage of tests and 3 hours in clinic , she got a clean bill of eye health and turns out she has a rare condition called 'drusen of the optic disc' ( tiny calcium deposits on / around her optic disc) - cause unknown but not serious, but something she needs to be aware of when shes seen for eye checks!
they're following her up in 4-6 months to check there's been no change - thankfully doesn't require any treatment and it wont affect her eyesight- just needs a change to her prescription which was inevitable as she's short sighted
Just a public health announcement to keep up to date with eye checkups to avoid any potentially serious situations
I have worked in the NHS now for nearly 15 years. I started in Medical Records Services - dealing with requests from Solicitors, Police, Patients, Hospitals etc for copies of patients notes. I then moved to a different hospital and worked on Day Services as a Ward Admin. I was then moved to Main Outpatients, and finally I got a job as an ENT Support Secretary, moving to ENT Medical Secretary once I came back from maternity leave. I've been here for nearly 11 years now and I LOVE my job.
However, every single system is flawed. There is nowhere near enough support for us towards the lower bands. Management (just based here within this hospital - I know every place is different) have no clue what we do. They don't care about us as a person, just about the work. Hitting targets. Ticking all the boxes. That sort of thing. I'll give you an example:
The girl I share an office with text me on Sunday morning to tell me that her daughter had Covid (the team as a whole are pretty close) She text our team leader in the morning to ask for his advice as to whether she should be coming into work, or working from home. Our team leader didn't reply until gone 6pm, and he didn't know. On Monday afternoon he text her (despite her contacting other members of our management team in the mean time) asking her to come to work to pick up a laptop - it's a 2 hour round trip. Our service manager was annoyed that she hadn't done any work.
They never gave us laptops at the start of the pandemic to work from home. We were always told they were "on order" or "with IT". Hence the scrabble for her to try and get one on Monday - which was not her fault.
Work wise, I've never suggested to anyone that they work for the NHS as it's on its knees and can't seem to cope with the basics of anything. You get no thanks for the work that you do, even though you go above and beyond. I stay because I like my job - the work, I like my team, and I like my surgeon.
On the other side as a patient and parent, I have had nothing but positive experiences. From maternity services, through to my son being admitted at 18 months old for a burn injury requiring 2 skin grafts, to myself being referred to adult services for, ironically, my ears/hearing. Every doctor, nurse, clinician, clinic admin, A&E staff, and paramedic I've encountered have all been amazing, the care we all received has been faultless.
However, every single system is flawed. There is nowhere near enough support for us towards the lower bands. Management (just based here within this hospital - I know every place is different) have no clue what we do. They don't care about us as a person, just about the work. Hitting targets. Ticking all the boxes. That sort of thing. I'll give you an example:
The girl I share an office with text me on Sunday morning to tell me that her daughter had Covid (the team as a whole are pretty close) She text our team leader in the morning to ask for his advice as to whether she should be coming into work, or working from home. Our team leader didn't reply until gone 6pm, and he didn't know. On Monday afternoon he text her (despite her contacting other members of our management team in the mean time) asking her to come to work to pick up a laptop - it's a 2 hour round trip. Our service manager was annoyed that she hadn't done any work.
They never gave us laptops at the start of the pandemic to work from home. We were always told they were "on order" or "with IT". Hence the scrabble for her to try and get one on Monday - which was not her fault.
Work wise, I've never suggested to anyone that they work for the NHS as it's on its knees and can't seem to cope with the basics of anything. You get no thanks for the work that you do, even though you go above and beyond. I stay because I like my job - the work, I like my team, and I like my surgeon.
On the other side as a patient and parent, I have had nothing but positive experiences. From maternity services, through to my son being admitted at 18 months old for a burn injury requiring 2 skin grafts, to myself being referred to adult services for, ironically, my ears/hearing. Every doctor, nurse, clinician, clinic admin, A&E staff, and paramedic I've encountered have all been amazing, the care we all received has been faultless.
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I've usually had good experiences with the NHS but recently it's not been so good.
I noticed signs on PND appearing when my baby was 5 weeks old (she's almost 8 months now) and spoke up and was taken on by a team to help me.
I'd been having weekly appointments with them to ensure I was receiving the right support as they were aware I couldn't really keep myself safe.
My appointments are all online because of covid (surprise surprise), I logged on and then got a call from a nurse saying my CPN has been held up on her last appointment so we need to reschedule. Fine, stuff happens, appointments run over. Only, this was 9 weeks ago and she's still not bothered calling me, no one has to make sure I'm OK or to apologise for not being back in contact with me. I get a letter posted out saying my next appointment is just before Christmas which means it'll be over 10 weeks since my last appointment (which were weekly....)
I totally get stuff happens, they run over, sickness, annual leave, might not have had enough staff. But is it really that difficult to call patients to ensure they're OK and apologise for them not being in contact but make them aware they've not been forgotten about?
Because I do feel forgotten about. Now I'm for one glad I've felt that I can keep myself safe enough in this time, and I know before anyone says that I could call them to chase up, but why should I need to be the one when I was logged in already waiting for my appointment and then received a call saying "we can see you're waiting but they've been held up and running over but don't worry she will call to rearrange a new appointment with you as soon as."
I noticed signs on PND appearing when my baby was 5 weeks old (she's almost 8 months now) and spoke up and was taken on by a team to help me.
I'd been having weekly appointments with them to ensure I was receiving the right support as they were aware I couldn't really keep myself safe.
My appointments are all online because of covid (surprise surprise), I logged on and then got a call from a nurse saying my CPN has been held up on her last appointment so we need to reschedule. Fine, stuff happens, appointments run over. Only, this was 9 weeks ago and she's still not bothered calling me, no one has to make sure I'm OK or to apologise for not being back in contact with me. I get a letter posted out saying my next appointment is just before Christmas which means it'll be over 10 weeks since my last appointment (which were weekly....)
I totally get stuff happens, they run over, sickness, annual leave, might not have had enough staff. But is it really that difficult to call patients to ensure they're OK and apologise for them not being in contact but make them aware they've not been forgotten about?
Because I do feel forgotten about. Now I'm for one glad I've felt that I can keep myself safe enough in this time, and I know before anyone says that I could call them to chase up, but why should I need to be the one when I was logged in already waiting for my appointment and then received a call saying "we can see you're waiting but they've been held up and running over but don't worry she will call to rearrange a new appointment with you as soon as."
My own experiences have always been good but sadly my elderly mother was on a geriatric ward (4 patients, 3 nurses and 2 HCAs) in May and died because they didn't give her medication that had kept her alive for years. We kept on and on asking why they'd stopped her medication and no one had an answer and we were constantly told 'she will start it again tomorrow' but it was too late. She was treated appallingly, neglected and was shown no kindness. I witnessed awful things on that ward - nurses arguing with confused patients, nurses being so rude, unkind and name calling. This ward was in the press 6 years because of patients dying of neglect and being humiliated and nothing has changed. The staff showed my mum no respect,.compassion or empathy and it's breaks my heart. My sister was a nurse and she was disgusted by what happened that she quit her job. It made her feel ashamed of profession and she could no longer do it.
I'm so sorry @Dishes. Similar experience with my mother - appalling care, lack of pain relief, abuse etc etc. We have a complaint in with the Ombudsman who has taken it up on our behalf.
I'm sorry about your mother too. It's just awful.
We had a meeting with nurses, doctors and a manager and they showed us a plan of how they are going to make changes. Naively, I took it at face value and really believed them but due to my sister's former job she knows a lot of people and the same things are happening and one member of staff has been suspended pending an investigation over her slapping a patient.
My mother was elderly and with health conditions, her death should have be sad but they've made it so traumatic and it's majorly impacted my life.
I really hope you get somewhere with your complaint.
And now to make this even better, today he gets a letter saying because he hasn't booked, his referral has been passed back to his GP
The NHS is such a shower of tit sometimes
How frustrating, and trying to speak to someone to correct the issue is pretty impossible in my experience. I hope it can get sorted, left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing springs to mind.And now to make this even better, today he gets a letter saying because he hasn't booked, his referral has been passed back to his GP
The NHS is such a shower of tit sometimes
He called the booking line again and spoke to the original woman (she had a distinctive voice) who kept saying he must have missed the message to call and they will make an exception this time
. He told her several times he didn't miss it and that he had spoken to her and she said she would call back but hadn't. Nevertheless is it now booked for 18th Jan.
My (horrible) uncle was admitted to care of the elderly ward from sheltered housing when he was in his 70s. He had leg ulcers. He was mobile when he went in - could walk but needed supervision. They knew he could walk too. He was a big man. They didn’t get him out if bed for 4 days as didn't have any available physios. When they tried to mobilise him they couldn’t. He never walked again. Not only that but he contracted MRSA in his wounds. They hadn’t been infected when he was admitted. He died a few months later. Never shifted the mrsa and his immobility contributed greatly to his ill health abd subsequent death. Obviously had to go into a nursing home on discharge too.
My mum - his sister, tried to get an investigation into the neglect. They blocked her at every point. Tried to say they couldn’t find the notes. Then delayed over handing them over. Doctors wouldn’t talk to her. she gave up in the end.
Sad story @Bloody orange Hell. Funnily enough, the hospital we are complaining about lost the notes too... or they claimed they had. We too had a big meeting with consultants, matron, managers etc, and a 4 page letter about actions they were planning to take. My brother and I decided that they hadn't answered the key issues so we took it forward. Reluctantly, because of course it drags everything up again (she died 3 years ago), but we felt that we owed it to her as well as to other people. Brother and I are both white, educated, middle class, articulate - and he worked for the NHS for 40 years. We both felt that it would have been so much harder for people with less confidence (arrogance?!), those who still believe doctors are god, and of course those who have no one to advocate for them... The ombudsman person we are dealing with is very good, and I just hope we get a ruling or something that the hospital HAS to actually deliver on.
If you don't already do so i would recommend to always do a subject access request before any complaint is made. It really does help you make your complaint and can stop things getting lost.....
What is this? Is it a request to see the notes?
We didnt do that @inkypinkyponky but what we did have was that I had kept notes ever since her first admission (well not the first, but the ones that put events in train). It came to 11 pages....the only people who came out of it well were the paramedics - bloody brilliant every time - and a rehab home she was sent to - wasnt suitable because she was past it by then, but they were the loveliest, kindest people.
Ok, so despite my dad not getting a bed for his cancer operation and being told to go home last Tues, he's heard from the hospital and has a new date, which is 4th of Jan. I think that's pretty good to be fair, at least they didn't leave it and leave it, so I'm grateful for that. Just annoying he had to be sent home last week because of lack of a bed.
But thankfully he has a new date and it's not long to wait. As I said before, his hospital has been on top of his issues and he generally hasn't waited, apart from last week which was the first time. I know this isn't the case for other people around the country though.
But thankfully he has a new date and it's not long to wait. As I said before, his hospital has been on top of his issues and he generally hasn't waited, apart from last week which was the first time. I know this isn't the case for other people around the country though.
I’m an ICU nurse. I have worked in the NHS since 2007; I started as a kitchen girl, then a cleaner, then a healthcare, then a nurse. Being a nurse is the entire core of my being and I am so proud. However last week my Grandpa was admitted to my A&E in my hospital and discharged home with stomach flu. He died 24hrs later.
I’ve lodged a huge complaint against my Trust, the GMC and the NMC. I was with him and asked for XYZ, and said was it ABC. Was told I was worrying. Turned out I wasn’t.
I handed in my notice today. Granted I’m moving from the area, but I can’t work for them anymore.
I’ve lodged a huge complaint against my Trust, the GMC and the NMC. I was with him and asked for XYZ, and said was it ABC. Was told I was worrying. Turned out I wasn’t.
I handed in my notice today. Granted I’m moving from the area, but I can’t work for them anymore.
oh @nurseren I am so sorry for your loss, and that it is compounded by tit practice. That's the most frustrating thing, you know there are good people working there, but there are also bad ones, and the system is designed to confound us. But you are in a strong position to follow through your complaint, because you know the ins and outs (like my brother) and I hope you do. xxx
A few years ago I was pregnant. I was bleeding like I was miscarrying every day, but the baby was still there. Was in and out of hospital for most of my pregnancy. Nothing worse than putting a woman who's at risk of losing her baby on a ward with all the mums and their new babies. Whilst on that ward, listening to the new mums soothing their babies, my waters went. I went downstairs in the labour wards to be started off as my contractions had stopped. I gave birth to my daughter at 21 weeks and she was alive for 44 minutes. I had 2 midwives with me who were lovely. There was a locum on at the time - he came in to see that I had had her, and that she was breathing, and then he came in again when she had died. Then he wrote on a form that she was born dead. The midwives couldnt understand why he had wrote that she werent breathing when she infact was. So because of this, she had to go and have an autopsy. But there was a backlog so she was in the fridges for about 3 weeks. Autopsy said she was born alive and then died so I got a birth certificate and a death certificate. Her death was logged as extreme prematurity instead of late miscarriage. Then there was a little backlog at the funeral home which couldnt be helped as it was easter weekend at the time. I went to see her at the chapel of rest and it was grim. The lady at the funeral home was nice and was trying to warn me but in a nice way saying you know, she really needs to have her funeral now. She had started to decompose. I couldnt wait to cremate her. The thought of her rotting away in them fridges because 1 doctor made a mistake and said she was born dead when she clearly wasnt.
Any other experience I have had with the NHS has been good though. I've never had to wait too long and always been seen on time. Their mental health services is a bit tit but i've learned to bury that. If I have ever gone with the kids, which is hardly ever, we've always been seen pretty quickly.
Any other experience I have had with the NHS has been good though. I've never had to wait too long and always been seen on time. Their mental health services is a bit tit but i've learned to bury that. If I have ever gone with the kids, which is hardly ever, we've always been seen pretty quickly.
I’m slightly biased but I do find the nursing and midwives (and assistants) are more helpful and understanding that doctors who just see it as a job in some cases. When I lost my daughter the midwives were incredible. Angels in fact and I hate that analogy. The doctor was very clinical.