Contact PALs..........or just leave it?

[JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff]

I have a long-term kidney condition and have been under consultant care for c. 10 years, multiple surgeries etc but little impact on day to day life.

I am supposed to have scans every 6-12 months and follow-up appts to see if the condition is stable/ deteriorating/ what have you.

In August 2018 I had a scan. It took till March 2019 to be offered an appt. I had to ring and chase many times before this appt. That got cancelled, and they offered me another in May - which got cancelled - then another this month - which got cancelled - then a SECOND this month, also cancelled - and now the latest is for Oct 2019.

So 14 month wait from scan to getting the results.

However in the meantime the consultant has written to me saying that the scan results, which he has obviously had for ages 'show some decline and warrant discussion'. But that was more than a year ago!

Should I take this up with PALS or similar.......or is this just how it is now, because of pressures on the NHS?

bloody hell , this is your health , yes take it further

may I suggest the next time you ring consultants secretary as they may be able to get you earlier appointment & yes do contact PALS

The consultant's sec doesn't answer the phone.

That is one reason this took so long: I rang his no every day multiple times for literally weeks, even months. My GP surgery also helped out, ringing multiple times and emailing.

The sec didn't respond. It's definitely the right line as the hospital switchboard confirmed it.

I only got the initial appt in March when I rang a generic 'outpatient clinic' number and a very kind lady took pity on me and messaged the sec on some internal messaging system - voila, the next week I had an appt letter in the post..........

It is due to the pressures on the NHS but you should still complain because it's not good enough and everyone providing your care needs to know when the acre provides isn't meeting minimum standards. I'm a doctor in the NHS and I encourage anyone/everyone to complain when there's reason to! I hope you get an appointment soon.

I wouldn't leave it. Get your complaint logged with PALS. It's completely unacceptable.

Ha, I've just rung PALS at the hospital and they are not answering and my GP surgery who can offer me an appt at 5pm on the 21st.

!

Definitely contact PALs. I understand there are pressures on the NHS but that is a long time to wait. If you had to wait an extra month or two, you could half understand, but that is an awful long time overdue.

Email PALs. They normally respond within 2 or 3 working days.

Erm okay so I contacted PALS for advice. The woman on the phone was quite abrupt (very "yes yes, fine, bye"). I am glad I wasn't calling with a complaint about something upsetting!

Anyhow she contacted the consultant's sec and said I had made a complaint. I feel happy something is being sorted but also pretty mortified as really, I just wanted to know if they could do a phone appt or something.

The consultant is lovely and I hope he doesn't think I made a complaint about him .

Don’t feel bad for putting in a complaint. It was the right thing to do, it’s ridiculous that you couldn’t get an appointment, and unless patients complain nothing will change. God knows they don’t listen to the staff who flag this sort of stuff up!