To be annoyed with the hospital for making me wait again?

[newmama2018]

I have been on the waiting list for fertility surgery for nearly two years now and finally we got the call to say next month was my date. Whilst I was nervous it's has been heartbreaking ttc for three years and not getting anywhere so was pinning my hopes on this.

Today however I got a call to say there has been an emergency booking and they have had to give my place away. She said unfortunately I'll have to go back on the waiting list and I've lost my place so will have to wait again. As a kindness she has put me down as a cancellation possibility for the 2019 list.

I'm really really upset now and quite annoyed that it was December 2015 we started asking for help and now I'm back at the beginning again. Can I complain to anyone?

You can write to PALS and to your MP.
I suggest you do that today.
I am afraid this is the state of the NHS now.
I have a serious progressive condition. I am supposed to be assessed every 6 months.
The hospital keeps cancelling my appointments. My GP doesn't know enough about my condition so has actually told me not to bother making an appointment.
I am left to try and manage my symptoms and medication dose on my own.
It is only going to get worse.
My MP was very helpful when I needed an urgent brain scan and the hospital appointment person just kept saying there were no appointments.
She got me my appointment within a week.

I also gave in and went privately for a separate condition that was causing me great pain and I couldn't leave the house.
Cost me most of my savings though.

Hang on, you get cancelled for an emergency and then go back to the bottom of the waiting list?? That’s ridiculous. Definitely complain to PALS, if the hospital is treating cancellations in that way it needs to be stopped. Back on the waiting list yes but at the top.

That makes absolutely no sense! How can they cancel your appointment and put you back at the bottom of the list?

Definitely complain this sounds outrageous....surely you’d only be nudged down one place for this emergency not have to start again?

Is crowd funding for private treatment an option? Selling things? Personal loan? Remortgage? Could you sell your eggs to fund part of the cost of treatment? I realise may not be possible, I only ask as a friend did it.

If they cancel you should go back to the top of the list. I would complain about that bit

It sounds very unfair and very unusual to go to the bottom of the waiting list for that reason. I would follow up with the hospital to ensure that this is normal procedure.

If you are cancelled you should be rebooked for the next available theatre date. What you have said makes no sense at all. Ring PALS and clarify/complain

Yes this makes no sense, maybe they have to cancel but they get in the next available spot, not stick you back on the list.

Definitely contact pals and complain about this. There is no way you should go on the bottom of the list!

Double and triple check that you haven’t got this wrong in the stress of the moment because ‘losing your place’ just isn’t what happens when elective surgery is delayed. You usually get priority for the next available slot.

If this is correct then email PALs and copy in your MP and the hospital chief executive.

So sorry, how stressful. If your call came from admissions I suggest calling the consultant’s secretary and ask for help and clarification.

Best wishes.

That can't be right. Whoever phoned you must have made a mistake. They cannot cancel your appointment then put you at the bottom of the waiting list again. You should be on top of the waiting list.

Call again- maybe she is new at booking these things.

Surely if your slot is cancelled you should then go to the top of the list for the next slot? I'd speak to PALs. x

Agree it sounds nonsensical that you go to the bottom of the list. You should get the next available slot and everyone else on the list nudges down one place.

Definitely shouldn't go to the bottom of the list if you reached the top and they cancelled. Ring them to clarify your position on the list and if they have done that then complain to PALS.

My op next month has been cancelled so an emergency patient with cancer can have it (I completely understand they take precedence) but I have been rebooked to the next list available - it's ridiculous to go back to the bottom of the waiting list! Speak to PALS first!

Are you sure you haven't misunderstood what they said?

I think you need to call up and clarify what was said, and then if correct insist on that in writing.

Also contact your MP and write to PAS.

I found contacting my MP very helpful and they relay should know the problems that we all face, so do that regardless.

Let us know if they clarify what was said. I would also suggest asking for someone senior to discuss your complaint to. I think give what you said you have a very firm case for a complaint and this situation should be handled completely separately.

Differently not separately.

I think being cancelled for an emergency is annoying but completely understandable; however, going to the bottom of the list is very unfair. Hopefully there has been some confusion but I agree with PP about contacting PALS and seeing what they can do.

I'd speak to PALS urgently if I was you. If they cancel you should not lose your place. Where I am if you cancel you go to the bottom of the waiting list, but if they cancel you that should not apply.

Don’t let them tell you it will be 2019- that’s ridiculous! Surely it’s top of the list, not at the bottom again. If they say anything like that then definitely go straight to PALS.

YANBU. You definitely shouldn't be going back to the bottom of the list. You should be down for a cancellation as well as the next available appointment. That's what's happened to every hospital appointment that's ever been cancelled in our household (granted a different issue)

Call them back to clarify and contact PALS and your MP of needed.

That's definitely not ok

Echo what others have said... clarify if you have indeed gone to the bottom of the list and if this is the case PALs, the chief exec and your MP are the go to. Local paper if you don't get anywhere???

OP are you waiting to have Ovarian Drilling done by any chance? If so I can suggest that you double check that it is in fact the case that you have been placed at the bottom of the list again. Most hospitals perform this procedure on the same day each week, I’m told. When I had mine done I recovered on a ward with about 4 other ladies who had all had it done on the same day.