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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think This is B***dy Ridiculous???? & Want to Complain??

33 replies

rockinhippy · 19/01/2011 16:58

Starting to feel the NHS have got it in for me at the momentHmm (tongue firmly in cheek)& the reforms might be the kick up the backside some of them need

I've just got off the phone to a Hospital Dept I was meant to have an appointment with.....taken me all week to finally get through & left a message yesterday explaining I CANNOT (for the 2nd time) Make a 9.30 am appointment in another Town, when I have to get DD to School HERE

!st letter after referral... offered me a 9.30 appointment with a Doctor that I have seen before & have no faith in at all, didn't like the Guy & he is behind the times in his field Hmm..........no "choice" offered just told to be there & this is the Dr I would see........I rang & said I couldn't make any appointment before 10.45 am, due to DD, & didn't want to see this Doctor & asked for another I know to be good. This was given ^ sent out.

Unfortunately on the day, we were all ill, & even though I intended to push myself to make the appointment, I was up ill all night & had to ring early on the day of the appointment to say I just couldn't make it as in too much of a state....found out later, we "may" of had swine flu, so probably did THEM a favour too.

So this appointment, that I have had NO say in, & could never make, has been my 3rd.....so they are treating my calling & saying I can't make it, & ALL other times, as my Canceling appointmentsHmm......

& its 3 strikes & your outConfused because they have targets to meet, & giving me another appointment I CAN make will take me outside of that time scale, so they've struck me off Shock & its back to the Specialist for a re-referral Angry

FUMING at the stupidity of the system & the inflexibility of this DepartmentAngry

OP posts:
mutznutz · 19/01/2011 17:01

To be fair if you want more choice on appointment times you'd have to go private.

Is there no breakfast club at the school or a friend/family member who could take her?

Original poster
rockinhippy · 19/01/2011 17:01

should of read...I rang & said I couldn't make any appointment before 10.45 am, due to DD & getting her to School HERE,....lost textBlush

OP posts:
Original poster
rockinhippy · 19/01/2011 17:04

NO, & with every other Hospital department I've dealt with you DO get that choice, you get a letter to ring the "appointments line" & discuss what suits you, this is the first 1 I've had in YEARS that hasn't done that

OP posts:
Chil1234 · 19/01/2011 17:07

YANBU... someone probably ought to reform the way the NHS works. Oh, wait a minute...

bubblewrapped · 19/01/2011 17:11

Sounds to me like they were trying to be quite flexible but you were not willing to see the doctor. How on earth do you know that a doctor you havent seen is "behind in his field"????

If you want to pick and choose which doctor you see, then go private.

As for the times.. then make arrangements for someone else to take your child to school that day.

JumpOnIt · 19/01/2011 17:12

I have to admit that you don't get a choice where I live. They made it very clear in the letter that if I missed three I would have to go back to my GP for another referral. Obviously I know sometimes things happen and it can't be avoided. I have to admit as a general rule, I don't think it's unreasonable but I can understand why it would be so frustrating for you.

bubblewrapped · 19/01/2011 17:12

sorry I misread, you had seen the doctor before, but how do you know he is behind in his field.. thats the bit I dont understand at all..

Original poster
rockinhippy · 19/01/2011 17:17

because I HAVE seen him before as part of another referral a few years ago , he was quite rude & when I asked a question about something medically accepted in the US, his response was there's a load of rubbish on the internet

the NHS "Choices" Scheme means we ARE meant to get a choice these days

& sorry, but not everyone has the option of "making arrangements for someone else to take your Child to School that day"...I don't

OP posts:
Original poster
rockinhippy · 19/01/2011 17:22

sorry X post bubblewrap .....because he rudely put down my questions on up to the minute research & treatments & " a "load of rubbish on the internet", yet a couple of years later, the same clinic now avocates similar treatments & his colleague who I also saw at the time knew about it back then :)..... he also made it clear he didn't believe in ME & FM as medical conditions..... not very reassuring when I suffer from both & his Bosses (the NHS DO believe in themHmm

OP posts:
GypsyMoth · 19/01/2011 17:30

Take your child with you??

There's ways round everything.

friedtoacrisp · 19/01/2011 17:32

You sound like a bit of a nightmare to be honest.

BuzzLightBeer · 19/01/2011 17:34

YABU, I'm afraid. You get free medical care, and you want to pick your doctor and what time you go and to make appointments and then cancel them with nothing happening. It just doesn't work like that. There are people around the world who would literally kill for the service you get, you can't expect gravy too.
I do sympathise though.

Original poster
rockinhippy · 19/01/2011 17:38

Okay, seems maybe I'm more informed than some of the replies so far, & know the NHS is meant to work WITH Patients

(& not really sure why Taking DD out of School So I can make a hospital appointment is a way around ANYTHING Hmm

C&P from the NHS Choices...Choose & Book site....

What does Choose and Book mean for me?

As well as giving you a choice of hospital, date and time for your appointment, Choose and Book will also give you the ability to:

* plan and manage around your existing appointments, if you are currently undergoing treatment
* fit your treatment in with your other commitments, at home and at work
* choose appointments that fit with your carer's schedule
* check the status of your referral and to change or cancel your appointments easily over the phone or on the internet.
OP posts:
LadyTremaine · 19/01/2011 17:43

Sorry but as much as I can see this is annoying, you just need to plan for it. Get a local child minder to take your child to school that day, or a friend, or parent in his class, or send him to school club... Every single person who uses the NHS has a different 'ideal' time to be seen. My preference would be 6.30pm as that's the time I have finished work and collected my DD from her child minder... or 12.30pm so I can go in my lunch break. someone else's might be 2pm because they work mornings and could therefore go to the appointment on route to fetch their children from school.. You can't make these sorts of demands. You get what youre given.

EvilTwins · 19/01/2011 17:43

There is a difference between you being offered a choice, and you choosing a time to suit you.

YABU.

LadyTremaine · 19/01/2011 17:44

buzzlightyear not sure it's 'free' pretty expensive from where I'm sat!

Unless OP doesnt pay taxes.

JumpOnIt · 19/01/2011 17:45

Clearly you should have a very good system going in your area. I don't think there is anything like that where I live. I think that perhaps a couple of the replies are a little blunt however you've asked a question and you have been given answers as we see them. If you just want people to agree with you or you want to educate us, why ask in the first place?

YABU. You are very lucky that there is anything like choose and book in your area. I had to take my child with me for an ultrasound and blood test because I needed to go and my DH was abroad. In short, you do what you gotta do.

LadyTremaine · 19/01/2011 17:46

Have we missed some information about why you don't have any way of getting someone else to take your child to school?

Lonnie · 19/01/2011 17:48

YANBU to not wish to see a doctor you dont get on with YABU to want to dictate what time you can make it.

Either ask arround for someont that can take your child (yes most of us can get someone to do so if we ask it is just that most of us wont ask) or take your child with you to the appointment.

I have never had an appointment suggesting I phone in to discuss what is needed I get what you have and then Phone if I cant make it From what I can see you cancelled 2 appointments and they are doing their best

Original poster
rockinhippy · 19/01/2011 17:57

jumpOnIt I wasn't responding to your reply there, but the "blunt" ones you mention....your reply has only just shown up on my feedConfused .....seems thats happening on here ATM as I've seen other posters mention it too...replies not showing, & then showing later ABOVE a further reply Confused

& no not expecting everyone to agree...& an eye opener there, as until your reply I had no idea it wasn't a country wide schemeShock Also not expecting to tell them a time, but need a time I can make, so ANYTHING after 10.45 is okay, possibly a bit, but 9.30 is just impossible & I had already explained that too them with my first appointment :(

& NO LadyT you've not missed anything, any reasons are just irrelevant to the thread,

OP posts:
JaneS · 19/01/2011 18:01

It must be hard if you're a cutting-edge medic, to be offered treatment from someone who is 'behind in his field'.

I'm assuming that's your situation?

Might it be, though, that he has something helpful to say for this specific appointment, even if you've found you knew better previously?

BuzzLightBeer · 19/01/2011 18:06

its not really that expensive at all. Many countries pay similar taxes to you but don;t have the NHS. And few people here will have paid more in that they have got out, by a very large chunk!

Junction3 · 19/01/2011 18:11

I think the way Choose and Book is portrayed is misleading. I used to do a job where I had to book patients into clinics. They had to choice of 4 appointments in a clinic held for an hour on a Tuesday. There was no other doctor that they could opt to see.

I do think though that now the appointment system at our local hospital is automated, it makes it very difficult to re-arrange an appointment. I was offered one when I was going to be on holiday, so rang to try and put it back a fortnight but was only able to get through to an automated system with no facility to tell them that the appointment would need to be after a certain date because of my holiday. I ended up getting an appointment the following week, which again I had to cancel.

I think it's entirely reasonable to ask to see someone else, if there is an alternative doctor, if you don't have a great relationship with the one you've been seeing.

Is there really no-one else that could take your child to school? Not another mum from the class? What about breakfast club at school? I have to be at work

Junction3 · 19/01/2011 18:12

... oh knickers, pressed enter too soon! Can't even remember what I was going to say!!

maryz · 19/01/2011 18:19

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

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