Hospital won’t rebook cancelled appointment, but I can’t complain

As I have said elsewhere, working for the NHS doesn't make people angels, or honest or even nice and I agree such things do happen and as NHS staff myself, I have experienced bad behaviour. I am glad you got a good outcome and sorry you had to fight for it.

Some doctors / consultants do respond very negatively to complaints, and even if the complaint is not on the patients notes the staff are aware of it from whatever follow up investigations take place.

I am happy to name the hospital, Trust and the consultant, though I suspect MNHQ would rather I didn't, against which my late husband had cause to complain. The result of the complaint was that my late husband was found to be entirely justified in complaining about negligent treatment. The consultant then chose in a medically unjustified but vindictive move to report my late husband to the DVLA as being unfit to drive, for entirely spurious and made-up reasons. This resulted in the suspension of his driving licence.

My late husband then had to take the DVLA to the Magistrates Court to get the licence reinstated, which took several months and resulted in the DVLA admitting that there were no genuine grounds for the suspension and reinstating his licence because the consultant in question did not respond to any of their correspondence, and his medical notes provided no grounds for the report made. We then had to take the NHS Trust in question to court for reimbursement of costs incurred because of the wilfully misleading actions of their employee. These included legal costs, taxi / train costs, compensation for inconvenience etc. The Trust chose to settle this action before court, though not before trying to defend their employees' action, as they soon realised they didn't have a leg to stand on. But, even then the Trusts initial angle of defence was to attack - and I think that was a deliberate attempt to intimidate. But, we were not easily intimidated, and had deep pockets. They ended up with a low-to-mid five figure bill for our costs, plus whatever they wasted on advice to try and weasel out it. We then reported the consultant to the GMC. After that, my late husband was seen by a different consultant, and I have to say they were very responsive ;)

I am sorry, I did not see your post. So I went onto the national website and I quote, "You can speak up about anything that gets in the way of patient care, or that affects your working life.

That could be something which doesn’t feel right, for example a way of working or a process which isn’t being followed, or behaviours of others which you feel is having an impact on the well-being of you, the people you work with, or patients."

Go onto your hospital website and look up Freedom to Speak up Guardian (FtSu) and contact them, every hospital has them, they are independent of the hospital but usually know it really well.

Great news!

That's good news . I fear you may be in for more delays but hopefully some progress will be made.

As you slowly move forward try to pick up some direct dials - hopefully you will be given them as a staff member.

As a long term wonky walker I have the radiologists and consultants phone contacts - so it is easier to contact them than my GP. Having said that I never like to use the numbers so I try for days on the general line first so I am not seen as a nuisance

There must have been a reason for the cancellation and a rebooking will surely come through. Alternatively, could you ask your GP to refer you to a different hospital?

This is incorrect, surely? PALS should respond within 5-working days at every Trust I’ve worked at. If they don’t and believe they can drag it out, escalate to a Trust complaint (your Trust with have a complaints policy on the intranet - this is not PALS). If that doesn’t work reach a satisfactory conclusion, there is the Parliamentary and Health Ombudsman.

no timeline for who to respond?

" If you are going to Europe as a presumably UK resident then you can apply for an EHIC card which will give you the same level of cover in EU countries as citizens of that country have."

Well, yes and no. I think it mainly gives you access to emergency care, but anything further you'd have to pay for, as local citizens might have to, but those local people will be able to claim back on their compulsory health insurance. I also don't think it covers things like having to be flown back home.

I have annual travel insurance and I don't remember any questions about health conditions. I would also think that you only have to declare them after a formal diagnosis.

but she hasn't yet tried PALS

its not actually right

I think you should talk to your insurance co, or get an online quote before jumping to conclusions. You've not given the figures, so you presumably don't have them.

Maybe deal with it in a practical way like visiting the place where they make the appts, getting insurance quotes and doing something to move it all on. Lots of posters have said forget making a formal complaint and just turn up where you can talk to someone.

Have you considered talking to your Freedom to Speak up Guardian? They are very good at dealing with slightly off kilter issues. I totally understand your dilemma, but my concern is if you are being treated like this (where usually there would be professional courtesy) what happens to someone with nobody to advocate for them.

I don't find it weird.

I think many staff don't realise how bad many NHS systems are and how unreponsive opaque and confusings huge parts of the system are for patients.

Once they are facing that as patients- they probably don't want collegues to know their medical information and it's also probably hard because they feel like they are criticizing their employer and may be aware how petty NHS can sometimes be about any complaints.

Pals requesting help with information would be first point of call - how helpful they are depends on your area - after that you may well have to go down complaint route.

IME this situation isnt uncommon at all - departments not answering phone e-mails and with apparently no-way to contact to cancel - sometime they clash with other NHS appointments or life which seems to offen many but does happen- or reschedul appointments they may have canceled last minute. It always seem to be pointed back to the patients fault IME never the actual system if they can help it.

Go in in person.

Pretend you can't handle on-line booking.

Don't leave until they have booked another appointment that doesn't interfere with your holiday.

Are you at QMC or are other hospitals shipping their admin staff offsite thesr days?

I would go and speak to the department directly.

Whilst they may not book the appiibtments they are absolutely in contact with the admin staff to manage diaries etc.