To walk out the hospital before seeing the consultant

so pleased to hear you're doing so well lalaa. i have very curly hair so am poised to give you product advice .

Hello Tamum

I've been doing a lot of lurking and not posting!

Am fine. Finished herceptin, no evidence of disease, got my 2 year mammogram and ultrasound in mid August. Working too hard and am in the process of doing something about that!

The last six months have been a real sea-change for me - I feel back to my old self now and having work has helped enormously with my self-confidence. My hair is still curly (straight prior to chemo) which is really annoying because I just don't know how to handle it, but frankly that's a very minor issue!

Thanks for asking.

but lalaa, how are you? I haven't see you on here for ages, how are things?

To the OP:
RE: 'I keep telling myself if its vital then they'll get in touch with me and if I don't hear anything then its ok.... '

Not the case. Make the call. Do it today.

If you don't want to speak to receptionist, ask whether you can speak to one of the Breast Care nurses - explain how stressed out you feel about your appointment and why you walked out of the last one. My experience is that the breast care nurses are hugely understanding.

Please please ring. And please post to say you've rung.

I've been very involved for the past three years with the NHS as my DD has been very ill. I've attended numerous clinics with her and often waited for a long time, but I have never walked out of a clinic because I want her to get better.

Do you think that you became extra anxious because of the extended wait and that made you go? It would be very understandable if that was the case - you must be feeling very scared. I have waited for the results of serious tests myself and have to say that probably would have bolted given the smallest excuse.

Please call them back and get rescheduled as soon as possible - you were left feeling vulnerable at a very anxious time, so they should give you a cancellation.

I hope that you get to see a consultant soon.

Mojo

Exactly, Rantmum. It's because we 'expect' bad treatment because bad treatment is the norm, are constantly told 'how lucky we are' to get any free healthcare at all (it's not free, we pay for it). No-one likes to sound ungrateful, so no-one dares to argue. And that's how the healthcare system has got in this mess.

The end user is willing to put up with virtually anything rather than risk being labelled as the oh so socially unacceptable 'difficult' or 'ungrateful' (and it happens - have seen people described as 'difficult' in their medical notes for daring to question their consultant's management of their condition).

This doesn't happen abroad, where people expect (and get) more in many cases. Not everywhere, of course - we are far luckier than many many places in what we do have - but that doesn't mean we should put up with a second rate system. If you paid Waitrose prices and got Netto quality, you'd be a bit pissed off wouldn't you?

What will happen, eventually, is that healthcare will all be privatised, and then the Government won't have to fund it any more..and we're already well down that route. It's a deliberate plan IMO.

(Sorry again OP for an NHS ranty reply )

I am constantly amazed that one of the wealthiest countries in the world has such a mess of a health system. I don't understand it, at all. I have family in northern Europe and they never seem to have these problems!

When I worked for a rheumatologist we regularly over-booked the clinics. It was the only way we could make sure everyone was seen when they should be. She'd fit in 3 new patients into 2 slots, then the rest would be follow ups and we'd start at the first slot and work from there.

There are almost always some patients who don't turn up, and we'd bank on that happening to get the clinic timings back on track, but it didn't always happen.

The alternative would have been that we just filled the slots we had, and if anyone else needed seeing they would have had to wait until the next free appointment, maybe in a month's time or longer.

I know a lot of our "regulars" preferred waiting in a clinic room with a book, and being seen eventually, than having to wait another 4-6 weeks in pain.

"NHS secretaries are another abused faction of the NHS. Their workload is shockingly huge, yet they're one of the most poorly paid sections." Well said Highlander.

DH regularly has his clinics over booked by the dimwits in OP booking. He must have written to them a million times saying that new patients need 30 mins and returners 10 mins. These are elderly people who often have travelled miles to see him - of course they can't be sent off again.

Write to hospital management - they're the ones who make staffing decisions. Believe me, docotrs and nurses have very little input into this and don't get taken seriously when they complain.

NHS secretaries are another abused faction of the NHS. Their workload is shockingly huge, yet they're one of the most poorly paid sections.

You are lucky to have got as far as a mammogram, I got sent an appointment which I had to change as it was at 3.30 and I have young children to collect from school, and I can't actually manage to get another appointment as they are booked up for the next four weeks, and are not allowed to make appointments for after that time. They then move out of the area and do not come back for about three years.

the trouble wih clinics is that they have 20 slots and always 30 patients in them. thats why you end up waiting, not fair no, but its hospital staff desperate to see to patients

The NHS costs every man woman and child in this country over £1,100 a year. For that, you should get a bit of communication.

hippi - you don't have to "dignify" with a response.

I don't agree with your comment "Yes, but tax and NI contributions is a minor payment isn't it - compared to what you would pay in other countries."

A minor payment to you perhaps but not to everyone.

That's true, all those of us that pay NI, part of that is used to pay current pensioner's state pension. It is not like you pay your NI and that goes into your own special pensions account.

No matter how much money is thrown at the NHS though, it will never be enough. However, it would be nice to work somewhere where post-it notes aren't banned ('luxury' stationery items y'see), where staff don't have to bring in their own pens from home, and where we are only ever allowed one ream of paper in the office at a time...

And that's just the non-patient stuff...I could go on but I'd probably just get (more) boring

not a comment on the OP or how good or not the NHS is but on the assertion that we pay hardly anything for the health service. We (or companies) pay for all of the health service - it a public body. There isn't a magic fairy who makes money specially to give to hospitals! National insurance is not to fund the health service - its just another tax which once upon a time was conceived to provide a basic level of healthcare for all. The govt doesn't add up all your NI contributions and share it out amongst various hospitals and GP's etc. The amount the NHS costs bears no relation to individual NI contributions.

Just thought I'd get that off my chest... phew.

Me too! Have sent it to colleagues x

(Poptot, loved jack and jill, btw, have sent to various docs of my acquaintance!)

I do sympathise with you, horrible, humiliating way to be treated. Sometimes professionals just don't think about it from the patient's POV and realise when something that is routine day to day practice for them is actually terribly upsetting to the person on the receiving end.

I've been treated badly by doctors who just don't think or care about the way they communicate. I doubt they were deliberately trying to be cruel, just completely thoughtless. And it's hard when you are in that vulnerable situation to take charge and do all the rational, reasonable stuff - running away is a very human reaction.

Agree with lalaa, though, you do need to rearrange the appointment ASAP. Maybe next time be very clear with receptionists and nurses that you'd like to be kept informed of waiting times and you aren't undressing until the consultant arrives? Can you take someone with you for support (sending them out of the room for the undressing bit if you prefer)?

I totally agree with you hippi that the NHS generally does very well, and that we are fortunate to have it. I lived in the US for a year and really resented having to pay over $100 per month for my prescriptions because my insurance wouldn't cover a pre-existing condition. The NHS has been invaluable to me with my shopping list of illnesses, so I wasn't disagreeing that they do a good job and we're fortunate to have them, simply disagreeing with your statement that we don't pay anything to see a doctor. I know it's arguably a minimal amount, but nonetheless, we do pay, and have a right to expect certain levels of service. Personally I have always found the level of service more than adequate, with the exception of my post-natal ward, but I do think people need to complain when things aren't acceptable to them, otherwise nothing will improve.

To OP: Please rearrange this appointment asap. Without meaning to alarm you, there must be a reason they've called you back. It could be something as innocent as we've seen something that we're not sure what it is and we want to keep an eye on it so are going to recall you for another mammogram in x months, or it could be something else. You need to find out.

My experience is that you need to be responsible for your own care - the medical professionals are so overstretched, they don't have time to be responsible for you, so there is no guarantee that they will contact you again.

My experience of breast cancer tells me that if it is the worst possible news, it's better to get it early rather than later.

Phone today!

It's ok, I can see where people are coming from. But having lived in Holland and Germany, and paying heavily for healthcare there, I don't think the NHS is doing too badly. At the end of the day, I have had positive experiences with the NHS on all 4 occasions I had to go to the breast clinic. The nurses go above and beyond trying to comfort you, help you, make you feel at ease. And the stories my SIL and MIL tell me about their day makes me want to applaud those nurses who do their best for a largely ungrateful public.
I do agree the OP should not have been made to wait topless, but do not agree to her walking out.
I won't dignify Maisy with a response as I am not sure which bit of my post 'rubbish' was directed at. Not exactly conducive to a good discussion.

I am going to bow out now, I have said my bit, personally I have only ever found the NHS to be good. (and my local hospital was one of the named and shamed ones )

Sorry to address that all to you Hippi - it was more of a generalised rant!

Hippi, Having come from a country where health care is indirectly means tested (Aus) I find the system of the NHS trying to cater to everyone to be ridiculous. I would much rather there was a decent range of private health insurance available (I paid about £30 per month in Aus and that covered pretty much everything from private GPs to private maternity care) rather than burdening a system that should IMO only be there to look after those that simply can't pay anything.
examples like the OPs are evidence that it is simply not workable.
In Aus, if you earn over a certain amount there are tax implications if you don't take out private health insurance, so about 40% of the population are privately insured - this makes private health insurance cheaper. The government still subsidises your health care (regardless of whether you use private or public) but because so many people don't rely on the public system it is less over run. I'm not saying it's perfect, but to say that patients shouldn't complain about poor service beacuse the system is overrun is crazy. People should complain loud and clear.