Our glorious NHS

[andy]

***Serious rant alert***

As some of you may know, my wife had a stroke back in January which kept her in hospital for 3 days. Well everything was pretty ok on that occasion although they did manage to lose her notes.

A month ago, my wife started having similar, but not so severe, symptoms....numbness down one side, cold feet, tingling arms etc. She went to our GP and said you better go to hospital as a precaution.

Off we trundled and we got there at 6pm on the monday night. The medical assessment until (called MASU) was full so we had to go back to A&E with all the winos, sprains, breaks and general dossers.

At 11.30pm, my mrs was eventually seen and told to go to MASU where they have a bed. I had to go at this point as i had our 9 year old daughter with us and she was getting very tired.

So the next day, i turn up at midday expecting the emergency scan to have been done and hopefully she's be allowed to go home....not a chance. There was at least 12 "nurses" (i use that in the loosest possible term) on duty, all sitting behind the counter looking at websites and/or pictures of cars.

The lady in the bed next to my mrs was about 300 years old. There's no way on this planet that she could look after and feed herself. She kept pulling her tube out of her nose and puting it in her ear because she thought it was her hearing aid. On 3 occasions i had to get a nurse to help her.

This old lady was given some dinner....it was just left on a trolly beside her bed along with a drink of some description. Again, twice i had to go and tell someone that she might actually need someone to sit down and feed the poor lady....but it never happened and eventually they took the cold dinner away.

Next day (wednesday) i arrive at midday.....still no EMERGENCY scan. The nurses looked as useless as ever and still didn't know what was going on.
They then moved her to a ward. This ward had an alcoholic one side of her and a middle aged bloke on the other who insisted on farting every 3 minutes....i'm sure he could fart trumpet voluntary given 5 minutes practice !!!

And then...at 5 pm...2 days after going to the hospital, she was taken for her scan. Whilst down there, my wife happened to comment if she would know the results straight after the scan ?

"oh no" came the reply "all the people who read the scans go home at 5pm....you'll have to wait until the morning"

With this being the final straw, she discharged herself.

Now my wife had a 6 monthly scan booked for the 2nd June but because she'd just had one done, she wouldn't need to keep this appointment.

So you can imagine our horror when last night, we had a phone call from our GP (who is excellent BTW). The hospital had written to her asking why my wife hadn't kept her appointment for June 2nd. My wife explained what had happened to the GP who rang the hospital back.

An hour later, GP rings back saying the hospital have absolutely no record of the "emergency" scan. What's more, They have completely lost her notes and it could take up to 2 weeks to get them sorted before they can book us in with a consultant.

Now i have dealt with some complete bafoons in my time but never have i had the misfortune to have dealt with a bunch of clowns that call themselves the NHS. I appreciate they're not all bad....intensive care and childrens units are always top notch but that's about it !!!

We all harp on about our wonderful nurses and how they're under paid and over worked but from what i've seen in the past 6 months has been shocking....unhelpful, rude, lazy, incompetent to name a few.

So that's where we stand....we don't know what happened to my wife a month ago and i doubt we ever will. I will certainly be forwarding these comments to anyone who gives a toss within the NHS. Unfortunetaly, i don't seem to be the only one who's noticed and almost every one i speak to now has their own shocking tales of woe to tell about the NHS and our "precious" angels.

Rant over, thank you for reading.

[Tig]

What a shambolic tale Andy

You could contact the Hospitals Patient Advice and Liaison Services (PALS), or you could make a formal complaint to the Chief Executive. Often people don't want to complain because they think that any future care requirements they have may be compromised because of their actions, this shouldn't be the case. The Chief Executive is the person within the NHS Trust (all hospitals are managed by these Trusts at a local level) who has ultimate responsiblility for your wifes health records. No doubt this is delegated to an administrative team, however in my experience, when patient casenotes have gone missing they are usually found with a junior doctor or waiting for medical input (discharge summary in your missus case) in a medical secretarys office! There are strict timescales for dealing with complaints.

If people don't complain nothing ever changes, bosses often sit in their ivory towers oblivious to the problems faced by those who use the service, you will be doing other potential patients in your area a service by bringing the issues you encountered to their attention.

x Tig

[thecleaninglady]

Sorry to hear of the problems that you have been having with the NHS. Fortunately, not every hospital is bad - I have been attending 3 hospitals (as inpatient and outpatient) for treatment since last October, and I have nothing but praise for the staff and the way I have been treated. But I know that is not always the case.

I too would advise you to contact the Patients Advice and Liason Services (PALS) with your complaint

www.dh.gov.uk/en/index.htm

Hope your wife is feeling OK now
Love and hugs to you both xx

[Barbara]

sorry to hear of your probs andy, hope your wife is feeling a little better,
we had a problem when our grandson was in hospital, we wrote to cpmplain, but never even got a reply, i think they file them under bin.

B

[Plocket]

What a nightmare for you and your family. I can only hope that you experienced a glitch and that if and when you use the NHS you will have a better experience. It's bad enough having to worry about your wife, but worrying about how she's going to be treated is unacceptable. I hope you do take your complaint forward, and get some answers.

[Shrubrose]

Oh Andy, that does sound a dreadful tale of a basic lack of interest in patients on a number of counts, not least your wife's experience.

Please complain.

There is a formal procedure and the PALS service that both Tig and TCL have identified will help you with this if you wish. Given your wife's history I can understand why you would be so concerned - I would have been too.

[Amo]

I have been private for a number of years because of my own experiance of the incompetance of the NHS.

As some of you are aware, my son has just come out of hospital from a broken ankle and has sworn to go private as soon as he is back at work. This is the second serious break he's had in 4 years and both times he has ended up 'nursing' the older patients around him himself.

Don't get me started!!!

Go for the jugular Andy and Mrs Andy!

[nightowl]

Oh Andy that's a terrible tale Funnily enough I heard today about someone with a serious heart problem whose notes have disappeared

Was this, by any chance, the hospital which, very soon, is going to be the ONLY HOSPITAL for EVERYONE in Sussex (E & W)

My OH is quite concerned as he has a lot of family in W. Sussex, around Chichester, which as you must know Andy, is a helluva long way from (Haywards Heath is it?)

The whole situation is absolutely disgraceful, though I have to say I had fantastic treatment at the Royal Surrey in Guildford not long ago, where technically I should not have gone cos I live in Hampshire, but it's a lot closer than Basingstoke!

[Tig]

You can go anywhere you want for treatment now NO - another government initiative called CHOICE ;D

What is it with hospitals losing casenotes - haven't the government also spent a fortune on IT systems so that everything is on the puter?? Most of the data input is down to nursing staff which is perhaps why they don't have time to look after patients anymore

x Tig

[Deleted]

How absolutely terrifying!

A good friend of mine is a nurse, it was her lifes dream to become one & after recently becoming qualified, is totally disillusioned. She has mentioned the kind of incidents you describe & more. She has now left that job, hoping to qualify as a community nurse, where she feels she will feel happier & more of help.

I would definetely see who to complain to if I was you, taking the advice of the contacts on the previous posts.

Hope your wife continues to go from strength to strength despite the NHS.

[andy]

Thanks for your kind words everybody. My wife is much better....infact she was fine when she went into hospital apart from a bit of numbness but felt bloody awful when she came out....from lack of sleep due to the constant noise in the wards and surrounding it.

The more people i speak to, the more it paints an awful picture of the people who are responsible for our lives.

Nightowl...the hospital is the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton which, along with the East Surrey in Redhill (where i was born) has been absolutely slated by various watchdogs.

[snowowl]

Pleased your wife is feeling better Andy.Given her past medical history you would expect the scan done immidietly given her new syptoms.
Dont put up with writ a letter of complaint to the NHS we all pay our national insurance and we should get the treament we deserve.
It makes me so mad when i hear things like this.
I havent been in hospital for 11 years now but when i was last in the Nottingham city for a major op i was treated with such kindness from the nurses how things have changend.
COMPLAIN ANDY or i will be cross with you

[JennyWrenn]

I had a similar situation when I visited my elderley Aunt - food left for old people who didnt know what it was - cudnt feed themselves - left it - and was just collected and taken away - uneaten

No one cared

One day my Aunt - who had a wardrobe of lovely clothes - I bought her new nighties etc - was wearing a filthy old skirt - not hers - and a dirty brown jumper - not hers

Whilst the old lady in the bed next door was wearing my Auntys brand new nightie

I will stop there as it went from bad to worse

I dread to get old and go into an NHS hospital

My lovely Aunty who went into hospital with a broken leg died of MRSA

[Amo]

Glad things are looking a bit better Andy.

Exact same thing happened to our plumbers Nan last year Jenny. He took the call while he was with us. Partly why I was a bit freaky whilst my son was lying there with 3 open wounds in his foot for several days and the place was not exactly what I'd call 'hosptial clean'!!!

[JennyWrenn]

Have to say the Nurses were all stacked up on the Nurses station doing something but doing nothing about the elderly patients

As soon as they saw me - the patients - they screamed "Love Love Help Me Help Me - many needed the toilet
Many had wet the bed

it was dreadful - I will never forget it - never

I continually complained - no point really

[Cheerypeabrain]

I wholeheartedly apologise for the organisation I work for. It's a bloody disgrace and I'll admit to that. I went into nursing as a fresh faced 18 year old in 1975....working on a geriatric ward. The sisters there ruled the place with a rod of iron, we students were trained to care for the sick. Elderly and confused patients had to be fed by the nurses..or a visiting relative, and no matter how busy you were you had to go and help if a patient needed a bedpan...it was common sense!


I left after a year (didn't like the hours) and didn't go back until 1988 when I started training as a biomedical scientist. Altho we don't have patient contact we provide the best service we can, we have strict guidelines about turnaround times for results and for the most part we meet our targets.

Our main problem is staffing, young people just don't want to come to work for the NHS because of the hours (we work BHs including Xmas, shifts and <shudder> nights) the pay (when the government & the general public talk about the NHS they only think of the nurses and doctors..altho these people are vital, there are loads of other health care professionals all involved in caring for the patients...the pay's cr&p...period) I hear that, particularly at night, most wards are run on skeleton staffing...there might be several staff on the ward...but how many were qualified nurses?

There is NO excuse for the failure of the hospital your wife went to Andy, the nurse in charge should be managing her staff to LOOK AFTER THE PATIENTS! they are NOT supposed to be logging onto the internet, chatting about their social lives etc...they are professionals (supposedly) and should be doing their job, they have a duty of care.... I was incredibly angry about that poor old lady who couldn't feed herself...how do they expect people to get well if they don't eat! (mind you...the standard of hospital food, now they're all contracted out is dreadful...I wouldn't eat it myself)

I'd write to the Patient complaints department AND directly to the Chief Executive of the hospital
Tell them what you told us...and you could write to the local paper as well. It's shocking. Awful. And it's been allowed to go on for far too long...the NHS is a sacred cow it seems, and every new government that comes along tries to sort it out (and fails...usually just ends up adding another layer of bureaucracy) but it's horrendously expensive whilst being very inefficient...

I'm proud of my job, I work hard to provide the best service that I can, but unfortunately it's staff like the ones you have encountered who give us all a bad name.

[Deleted]

I work for the Government but not the NHS. Unfortunately it's the way of the world in civil and public service organisations. Our motto in recent years has become "you must do more for less". They are currently slashing the number of staff employed by HMRC and closing huge numbers of local tax offices (including mine ). Bugger the customer service, it's all about doing it on the cheap (and I wish they would be honest about that. They bang on and on about "putting the customer at the heart of everything we do" but that's a huge pile of horse shite and the staff know it. It's all about "how can we do it cheaper"). Staff morale is at an all-time low and yet the top brass of HMRC still insist that "it's a great place to work" ! The stupid thing is, they want to cut huge numbers of staff but are offering overtime to the clerical side because of huge backlogs of post that they don't officially recognise exist.

I don't know the story for the NHS but I would guess it's likely to be the same - cost cutting is all important and bugger the fact that MRSA is rife, people don't get looked after and old folk don't even get taken to the loo. As long as it's being done on the cheap, that's all that matters. Well, as far as I'm concerned, you get what you pay for.

What is inexcusable in this case is that the staff that were there do not seem to have acted very professionally. I would suggest a complaint, although how far it would get you is questionable. You might just end up being treated even worse next time

On the positive side, I'm glad to hear that Sharon is fine and continuing her recovery. It must have been very worrying for you all.

Cheers

FA x

[nightowl]

Sadly, all our hospitals are now caught in a downward spiral due to the "compensation culture". They have had to pay out so much in recent years that they can't afford to run their hospitals properly, leading to more mistakes and hence more compensation claims

Surely things can only get worse The shortages of staff due to the job having become so hard and unrewarding has led to more agency nurses ( very expensive and often foreign)

What with all that plus the "managers" who think that patients need modern sculpture at the front of the building more than they need decent treatment .......

[Amo]

I'm affraid that when my son was in the hospital, there didn't seem to be shortage of staff. They were all there, they just couldn't give a fig.

There was other urgent things to do like checking what was on at the cinema on the computer and yacking outside his room about who they got off with the night before. That's not trained patient care.

I just wish them a spell in hospital where they can be given the same shi**ty treament they deserve.

[Biggles]

I have just had my Cateract removed (Monday 16th)-This was my experience--
Appointment time--1pm.Taken to the Patients waiting room (approx 10'x10')- Over the next half hour 9 other patients arrived for the same operation and we were in the same room.

We all waited over 4 hours to be 'seen to' by the Nurse.

We all waited, Waited with no contact with the Staff-all wondering what was the next procedure--

Eventually --I was third in the queue I was seen to at 5pm!!
We were all Bored Stiff--no refreshments (cup of tea)
Eventually left the hospital at 7pm--with my daughter who was 'waiting' in the Waiting Room and couldn't get any information either!

The removal of a Cateract takes approx.20 minutes. so we were there for a Total of 6 hours.

We were told that Private patients received Priority and we were just NHS !!

[Biggles]

I have just had my Cateract removed (Monday 16th)-This was my experience--
Appointment time--1pm.Taken to the Patients waiting room (approx 10'x10')- Over the next half hour 9 other patients arrived for the same operation and we were in the same room.

We all waited over 4 hours to be 'seen to' by the Nurse.

We all waited, Waited with no contact with the Staff-all wondering what was the next procedure--

Eventually --I was third in the queue I was seen to at 5pm!!
We were all Bored Stiff--no refreshments (cup of tea)
Eventually left the hospital at 7pm--with my daughter who was 'waiting' in the Waiting Room and couldn't get any information either!

The removal of a Cateract takes approx.20 minutes. so we were there for a Total of 6 hours.

We were told that Private patients received Priority and we were just NHS !!

[nightowl]

OOOO!!!! So angry she said it twice!!

Don't blame you Biggs, that's disgraceful!!

[thecleaninglady]

That is terrible Biggles. Having an op or any procedure is stressful enough without all the waiting around and not being kept informed.

Hope that the op went well and that you are doing OK xx

[Biggles]

Sorry about Posting twice--(my excuse--couldn't see Preview/Reply properly so clicked twice!!)
TCL/N.O.--Yes I am much better now--Thanks
I still have to wear my glasses for now.

On the first day (Tuesday) I wondered if it was all worth it because I really couldn't see any difference if anything the vision was worse!.----BUT today it is marvellous--
I hadn't realized what I had been missing with colours and sharpness of vision so it was definately worth getting done.
I return in about 6 weeks to get the other eye seen to-so whether I have the same experience or not it will be worth the waiting.

Andy--I do hope you get better treatment for your OH and things go well for her--my thoughts are with you--Bigs

[Amo]

Glad you're feeling better Biggs!!

[magrich]

If you don't complain the powers that be can always say they didn't know there were any problems.
The only way things will improve is if everyone complains every time they have reason to ... and you certainly have reason to.
Glad to hear your wife is feeling better, but it is no thanks to the hospital that she is
COMPLAIN !!!!!!

[purplejulia]

A friend of mine has just sent me his letter of complaint toWhipps Cross Hospital for me to look at before he sends it off. He had a hernia operation that went wrong. They pierced his bladder and left him in excruciating pain for two days cos it was a weekend and they didn't want to bother the consultant. It was supposed to be keyhole surgery in and out in a day but he ended up in hospital 2 weeks. He was asked to drink as much fluid as possible but as his blader was piercded all the water welled up in his tummy. They brought him meals to eat when he wasn't supposed to eat. The physiotherapist told hm to do strong exercises and lift his hands above his head when he had staples in his stomach and catheters and various leadsgoing in and out of his body. Of course the wound started weeping. He asked 3 times - are you sure it's OK to exercise. Later on the physiotherapist denied she had asked to do them. A young man in the bed opposite had a similar operation go wrong by the same surgeon just 3 days later. I could go on. My friend is going to sue the hospital.

I still believe in the NHS and would not go private but what I witnessed in my local hospital - I just hope I never get ill.

PJ

[nightowl]

That's diabolical PJ and your friend deserves compensation for his ordeal

But then that money must come out of hospital funds...... Maybe if they didn't keep having to pay compensation they could afford a decent surgeon!

[Tig]

It comes out of NHS funds rather than specific hospital funds NO. Every NHS Trust, whether they manage hospital, community, mental health or GP services pay into a 'pooled' scheme for clinical negligence litigation (and other litigation) if you google NHSLA you will get their home page. The overall NHS budget is affected by litigious claims, rather than individual hospitals, and although not every case of litigation is legit, overall I think the health service does need to get its house in order and sometimes the big stick approach is the only way to shock the management out of complacency. x Tig