the f****n NHS

[1 Mcnamara]

Apologies 1st, this might go on and loads of spelling mistakes and faults , but im fookin raging here and would
1. like to tell all
2. hear opinion, am i over reacting ? should i take it further?.......honest opinions greatly encouraged

Last night i took my wife (42) to a+e with MEGA stomach pains. This after phoning NHS 24, should have phoned the bounce for more sense but hey we live and learn
So arrange a friend to come round for the 2 kids, wife not having me phone an ambulance (but trust me she was needing one, im a part time firefighter so have seen some shit and trained to a reasonable level in 1st aid etc. and i was getting a bit stressed) and i drove to Dunfermline hospital

On arrival some jakey prik with a burst lip , whom had ambulance delivery was in front of me and the receptionist asked him about 40 (seriously) questions about where he was, who hit him , did he know them blah blah. The kinda question the police would ask you. I tried to (and did) catch her attention to point out that i was with someone who was flagging big time. "I will get to you next sir" Ok fair enuf.

My turn , details taken , i emphasized to the lady my wife was in a bad way( i swear she was grey and doubled over) . The lady assured me she would be seen as priority

Waiting room, 5 called before us , then the jakey with the burst lip, who spent his time laughing on his phone was called , then us

Doctor , examination , much needed pain relief then tells us ,"x ray then straight to theatre for you" ...Suspected chronic/burst appendix. At last the ball is rolling , been there nearly 2 hours now

x ray , ward , then told theatre v busy pain relief , 1st thing in morning your getting done, better home Mr Tayside

My wife has been told from 1st thing this morning that she was in the Q. She was told at 10pm tonite "not today" then moved into the ward for the night. They have of course managed her pain but she is still in MUCH discomfort, and still not sure exactly what is wrong "down there"

My kids (and me) are beside themselves worrying about their Mum, and their fears are ever growing

Let me state that apart from the 1st receptionist , every person i have encountered in that hospital have appeared very caring and hard working. But the treatment and system is a fuckin disgrace.
We are decent , hard working modest people. Its not much to ask to be treated swiftly and with some dignity.
I have no proof but i would bet a pound to a penny that some jakey/junky/lowlife bastard has jumped the q a few times today. Or a private "emergency"

Yes my emotions are sky high, and yes ive had a couple o beers (no way drunk). But is this acceptable, ? or should i take it further?

Maybe seems strange asking a forum for this advice but i think i will get unemotional responses.i.e. All family and friends think its an outrage, but they have emotional ties of course

If youve had the patience to read this far , Thanks, comments appreciated....

 

[Smurf]

Put your understandable anger to one side for now dude. Wait until your wife has made a full recovery and then as a family discuss your strategy. Hope she's better ASAP.

 

[1 Mcnamara]

Put your understandable anger to one side for now dude. Wait until your wife has made a full recovery and then as a family discuss your strategy. Hope she's better ASAP.

Thanks for the kind and sensible response. But its a shite state of affairs but ....
We're not a 3rd world country..........yet

 

[BurbankHibee]

You need to take it further ASAP. The attitude of the receptionist was bang out of order.

 

[Dub]

Thanks for the kind and sensible response. But its a shite state of affairs but ....
We're not a 3rd world country..........yet

I am in the unique position of being able to empathise with you Tayside.

Four and a half weeks ago I was in severe pain, rang NHS24, got the ambulance round and was taken to the Royal Infirmary whereupon I was left for about half an hour before being told to get into a booth and get stripped, put a gown on and lie on the bed. After around another 15 minutes a nurse came in and told me I wasnt ill enough to be seen by A&E, I assured her I was whereupon I was advised that I should see their emergency doctor or I would have to wait for around 4 or 5 hours as I would be low priority. I decided to go to the Doc and although I was in serious pain [stomach and head] the Doc did a couple of tests and told me all I had was constipation and a headache, I was given an injection for the pain and some senakot.

Two days later with the pain still there I rang my GP and got an emergency appointment [The painkiller the Doc injected into me meant I slept for ages and was too late to get one the day before]. She referred me to the Western General and I was being operated on within 3 hours [I think] of entering the building.

Turned out I had peritonitis due to a perforated colon and needed an op to remove part of my colon. I was in recovery in hospital for 3 weeks and am now recuperating at Chateau Dub for approx another 2 months.

Peritonitis can kill you and there's every chance that if my Doc hadn't taken proper action I wouldn't be typing this.

I fully intend to give it to the NHS with both barrels once I get my act together to write to them and I would suggest you do the same.


Hope your Mrs is going to be ok dude

 

[Boogy]

Yes my emotions are sky high, and yes ive had a couple o beers (no way drunk). But is this acceptable, ? or should i take it further?

Maybe seems strange asking a forum for this advice but i think i will get unemotional responses.i.e. All family and friends think its an outrage, but they have emotional ties of course

If youve had the patience to read this far , Thanks, comments appreciated....

Firstly mate, hope your Mrs is OK. Never a nice journey to A&E in any respect.

(As a serial complainer) my advice would be to diarise events clearly, stating dates, times of phonecalls, names of people you spoke to and any other relevant information.

Following this - piece together an official letter of complaint that is factual and un-emotional and state exactly what you would like done about the situation. Give them a timeline to respond (i.e. 'if I do not have reply within seven working days I will have no hesitation but to seek legal action'.)

Although when emotions are running high (especially when concerning those close to you) it's easy to want to go in all guns blazing - this approach is unlikely to get you anywhere as it will be seen as an 'angry man rant' which is all too easily dismissable by NHS Admin workers (who it will have to go through first prior to your intended recipient).

Finally; prepare yourself for a sustained assault. It's highly unlikely your first letter will get you anywhere or even illicit any response, so prepare to pen three or four letters to the same person before getting any response.

Best of luck mate and hope the Mrs gets better soon.

 

[Jack]

Firstly mate, hope your Mrs is OK. Never a nice journey to A&E in any respect.

(As a serial complainer) my advice would be to diarise events clearly, stating dates, times of phonecalls, names of people you spoke to and any other relevant information.

Following this - piece together an official letter of complaint that is factual and un-emotional and state exactly what you would like done about the situation. Give them a timeline to respond (i.e. 'if I do not have reply within seven working days I will have no hesitation but to seek legal action'.)

Although when emotions are running high (especially when concerning those close to you) it's easy to want to go in all guns blazing - this approach is unlikely to get you anywhere as it will be seen as an 'angry man rant' which is all too easily dismissable by NHS Admin workers (who it will have to go through first prior to your intended recipient).

Finally; prepare yourself for a sustained assault. It's highly unlikely your first letter will get you anywhere or even illicit any response, so prepare to pen three or four letters to the same person before getting any response.

Best of luck mate and hope the Mrs gets better soon.

Hope Mrs tayside hibee gets better soon.

The bit in bold will do nothing except get their backs up and be ready for the fight but other than that the advice is sound, although you should get a response to a letter, your first letter, I think its within 21 days.

I would recommend, in the first instance, asking to speak to the manager of the unit, probably A&E, if that's where you think the problems lay. They may be in a position to explain why the service your wife was given was as it was, or explain and apologise, why it went wrong. I would advise about skipping the bit about the jakey and perhaps mention that the triage (tree aje) system failed to give your wife the expedient treatment she needed.

If you do not get satisfaction from there you can go to the complaints dept. at NHS Fife who will deal with it.

How to make a complaint HRIS What can I complain about?

IIRC it advises on how to make a complaint properly.


CAB are also very good in helping you with your complaint.

 

[emerald green]

Apologies 1st, this might go on and loads of spelling mistakes and faults , but im fookin raging here and would
1. like to tell all
2. hear opinion, am i over reacting ? should i take it further?.......honest opinions greatly encouraged

Last night i took my wife (42) to a+e with MEGA stomach pains. This after phoning NHS 24, should have phoned the bounce for more sense but hey we live and learn
So arrange a friend to come round for the 2 kids, wife not having me phone an ambulance (but trust me she was needing one, im a part time firefighter so have seen some shit and trained to a reasonable level in 1st aid etc. and i was getting a bit stressed) and i drove to Dunfermline hospital

On arrival some jakey prik with a burst lip , whom had ambulance delivery was in front of me and the receptionist asked him about 40 (seriously) questions about where he was, who hit him , did he know them blah blah. The kinda question the police would ask you. I tried to (and did) catch her attention to point out that i was with someone who was flagging big time. "I will get to you next sir" Ok fair enuf.

My turn , details taken , i emphasized to the lady my wife was in a bad way( i swear she was grey and doubled over) . The lady assured me she would be seen as priority

Waiting room, 5 called before us , then the jakey with the burst lip, who spent his time laughing on his phone was called , then us

Doctor , examination , much needed pain relief then tells us ,"x ray then straight to theatre for you" ...Suspected chronic/burst appendix. At last the ball is rolling , been there nearly 2 hours now

x ray , ward , then told theatre v busy pain relief , 1st thing in morning your getting done, better home Mr Tayside

My wife has been told from 1st thing this morning that she was in the Q. She was told at 10pm tonite "not today" then moved into the ward for the night. They have of course managed her pain but she is still in MUCH discomfort, and still not sure exactly what is wrong "down there"

My kids (and me) are beside themselves worrying about their Mum, and their fears are ever growing

Let me state that apart from the 1st receptionist , every person i have encountered in that hospital have appeared very caring and hard working. But the treatment and system is a fuckin disgrace.
We are decent , hard working modest people. Its not much to ask to be treated swiftly and with some dignity.
I have no proof but i would bet a pound to a penny that some jakey/junky/lowlife bastard has jumped the q a few times today. Or a private "emergency"

Yes my emotions are sky high, and yes ive had a couple o beers (no way drunk). But is this acceptable, ? or should i take it further?

Maybe seems strange asking a forum for this advice but i think i will get unemotional responses.i.e. All family and friends think its an outrage, but they have emotional ties of course

If youve had the patience to read this far , Thanks, comments appreciated....

Perhaps your title should have been f****n Receptionists.

To slate the nhs is ridiculous.

 

[arthurduncan]

it is crucial that emergency departments prioritise those who present, especially those injured or in extreme pain. The attitude of the receptionist did not seem to take this serious enough. I would follow up calmly with the manager of the dept.

One comment is that the issue here might be the attitude and not the system. The questions you refer to are part of a vital injury/assault surveillance system that places like NHS Fife use to gather info which they then share with the police. The info is anonymised so no names but it means the police can check up on pubs and clubs etc where people get the injuries that aren't reported to the police. I know that this can lead to up to 40% reductions in crime in an area. i think this is a great system that hopefully your complaint shouldn't single out as the problem.

 

[Bob1875]

The NHS saved my auld mans life after he was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer at 47, forever greatfull to them up at the Western General.

 

[Lexo]

The NHS saved my auld mans life after he was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer at 47, forever greatfull to them up at the Western General.

My fiance is currently being gtreated for cancer at the western.The staff and the treatment she is getting is second to none.But the angering fact is she went to the well woman clinic for two years and was dealt with by some stupid woman who did,nt take her seriously.She had bupa cover through her work, and luckily(if that is the word) managed to get to the bottom of it.On the day she found out she had cancer, she got a letter telling her she had an abnormal smear teast.
This is the kind of shit that goes on in the NHS.To much paper chasing and not enough trained staff to deal with the medical side of things.I,m not just having a go at the nhs for the sake of it, i work for them and realise the hard work that a lot of the staff do.It,s just the fact that some of the people employed forget that what they are doing is some times a matter of life or death.How they can forget it i dont know, but they do.Shit is,nt it

 

[1 Mcnamara]

Firstly and most importantly mrs T (oh fuck that the 1st time ive wrote that , better change my handle!)
is on the mend, got her op this morning
Also thanks for the good wishes from fellow bouncers, much appreciated

I managed to speak to some senior doc gadge today, and told him that leaving someone in big pain for 36 hours was unacceptable IMO. He said that they were really busy, fair enough. But when I pointed out that we wouldnt leave a dog in pain for that amount of time , he did nod in agreement. I thanked him for his time

I have no doubt at all that the vast majority of NHS workers are dedicated, talented people. Its the system that is goosed. This isnt my first bad experience of the NHS. We do all (well most of us) pay a lot of money into the scheme

Anyway lets move on, and get the mrs back. The hoose is a tip and the washing basket is a Munro

GGTTH

 

[Bob1875]

My fiance is currently being gtreated for cancer at the western.The staff and the treatment she is getting is second to none.But the angering fact is she went to the well woman clinic for two years and was dealt with by some stupid woman who did,nt take her seriously.She had bupa cover through her work, and luckily(if that is the word) managed to get to the bottom of it.On the day she found out she had cancer, she got a letter telling her she had an abnormal smear teast.
This is the kind of shit that goes on in the NHS.To much paper chasing and not enough trained staff to deal with the medical side of things.I,m not just having a go at the nhs for the sake of it, i work for them and realise the hard work that a lot of the staff do.It,s just the fact that some of the people employed forget that what they are doing is some times a matter of life or death.How they can forget it i dont know, but they do.Shit is,nt it

Good luck in her recovery mate and she is in the best of hands up there that I can say. I read stories all the time about people that went to the docs with x symptom and got sent home with aspirins then 5 days later was nearly deid. It seems in the NHS that once diagnosed then you will get good treatment etc but its actually the getting to the diagnosis that seems to be the tricky part.

 

[fishybeaver]

Thankfully I have only been to A&E on a couple of occassions, part of the problem in my opinion is that there are so many people there which are either pissed up, sleeping or wont take the fact that there sprained ankle isnt actually broken as an answer. My neigbour work for the ambulance service and he rekonds over 70% of people who call ambulances dont actually need them, they use them a free taxi's instead of makeing there own way to the hospital.

The amount of people who run to the doctors \ A&E at the slightest sniff are a large part of the reason the NHS struggles.

Glad the missus is on the mend....which is the most important factor.