Surgery cancelled again. WIBU to turn up to the hospital regardless?

[Wndof]

I've been waiting over a year for life saving surgery. I was finally given a date for 31st August then they changed the date twice, switching my appointment with somebody else and then telling me they'd made a mistake with dates. Finally, 14th September (so tomorrow) was confirmed and I've undergone all of the pre operative tests and assessments, made arrangements for the children, XP secured the time off work.. only for them to text me just now and say the surgery has been cancelled due to a bed issue.

I called the admissions coordinator who has been absolutely terrible throughout and told him that I plan on turning up tomorrow morning and won't be leaving.

I read on here thats what somebody's father did in the same situation and he got his operation.

WIBU to give it a go?

Sorry if I seem dramatic, I just cannot endure this utter shit any longer 😭

@Wndof sorry that anyone on the thread has dismissed how shot you are feeling as an aneurysm is terrifying. Unfortunately with neurosurgery most of it is emergency, like bleeds or head injuries and they don’t build in the capacity for “non life saving that instant”. I hope you get an answer tomorrow or ask for a review to try and control your blood pressure more and see if someone does something that way.

My DH went for surgery, had seen anaesthetics and his cannula was in ready and his gown was on waiting on the trolley outside theatre.
He phoned me to pick him up…., surgeon was on holiday! Surgeon had booked annual leave as correct but this hadn’t translated to not booking patients in for theatre. No one ever called or wrote to apologise.

The poster you are being rude about insinuated nothing.

They pointed out that your surgery is not as high priority as others. As in some poor soul has it worse than you.

You're very self centered. Go and sit in the waiting room, vent on here. Or go to bed and follow up in the morning.

It's frustrating, I've been there, still am, but yes, after reading all of your posts, you are coming across a little immature.

Do you think they're ignoring a brain tumor and the specialist brain surgeons are removing an appendix?

Let us know how you get on in the waiting room 🙄

when there's no bed There's no bed There's so much delay in discharging from hospital though... from waiting for pharmacy, to waiting for a junior doctor to come out of a meeting and tick one bloody box on the system....

This! in a nutshell! There is someone sicker who needs the bed right now .ICU beds are for the sickest of the sick , and although your surgery is urgent, the way bed managers look at it is risk of life in the next 48 hours .
As shit as that is, and I do sympathize as my DS was cancelled twice once in the lift on the way down to theatre for avm surgery, due to an emergency that had just come in.
Don't go to the hospital tomorrow! Phone the consultants secretary,and the bed manager, log a complaint with pals ,but don't be that person that takes up the nurses valuable time ,as they can't change the outcome.
I have my fingers and toes crossed for you that you get another date soon .

Aye I'm sure you are, JanglingJack.

Respectfully, sod off.

Hi,

I'm so sorry you are suffering. My suggestion is to use your frustration and create some noise. This is not a ward/surgeon/hospital issue. This is political. Write to your mp.

As a doctor I can tell you we are insanely stretched, the nhs is on the verge of collapse and needs reform. There isn't enough staff. More managers walking around with clipboards getting paid shitloads than doctors....

It's absolutely dreadful, I hope you get help soon. I had major surgery cancelled twice, plus covid which was another cancellation because of cours e no GA was possible. My GP looked me in the face and said 'This is what the NHS has come to, we paid for my father to be treated privately last week.' So that's what I did. I am over 55 and had a small private pension put away. I had to cash it all in. There first thing you see when you go to a private hospital is an offer of how to get a loan. They're even in the car park. I am not proud of what I did but could not endure, or expect my family to endure, another winter as disabled as I was.
It's true that if you need ICU unexpectedly they have to transfer you to NHS. I was warned about that.
I have lost my whole private pension, after paying tax and NI for nearly 4 decades. It wasn't much, but it would have helped.
I am not recommending it, but if I were you I would look at taking one of those loans. Just to get it over and to be able to get on with your life.
I hope so much that you get treated soon.

A private neurosurgery would cost OP over 100k. This is not your normal 10-15k surgery that some people can fork out by credit cards, using savings or help from family. This is an insanely expensive surgery that no one (unless you’re a millionaire) can afford to do privately.

Good luck OP. I feel for you x

For want of anything else I would spend another £300 for an appoint with the private neurosurgeon again.

So I could email his private secretary and complain and know that the complaint is going straight to the senior neurosurgeon overseeing your case. The stress you're under knowing you shouldn't be under any stress must make you absolutely demented!

I am so sorry. I had no idea. Yes, that is beyond anything I could ever get together. I didn't have to find a quarter of that.
OP I apologize and I hope you are treated very soon, and very well.

I'm not going to the hospital tomorrow. I have taken on board all of the very good reasons reasons why it's not the right thing to do. I'm going to call the consultants P.A in the morning and go from there.

I think a couple of people are being quite unkind here. Why do I sound immature? how am I supposed to sound whilst in an emotional state? Should I not vent here?

I'm not made of stone. It's an incredibly important surgery for me.

Yep outside of neuro we don't operate after 2am unless truly life or limb saving as its well known that its higher risk to operate when everyone's tired...in neuro we pretty much operate all night for things that aren't necc truly life saving...because pretty much all of neuro is lifesaving and we are so aware that the emergency list cant bounce into elective theatres in the day time as that involves cancelling brain tumours etc

God so many people being utterly horrible on here.

I can't imagine what it's like knowing that's in your brain everyday OP. You must be beside yourself at this being cancelled.

Hope they sort this quickly. Ring everyday and be a nuisance.

@Wndof it is probably of no consolation but depending on the hospital, there may be many patients competing for the same ICU beds. I worked in ICU and there would be days when they had to weigh up the needs of the neuro patient, the cardiac patient, the vascular patient, etc. No winners. Each surgeon advocating for the needs of their patient, but ultimately if there is only 1 bed, 4 patients get cancelled. You can't increase capacity in an ICU because you need oxygen wall ports, monitoring equipment, etc., as well as staffing.

No advice I am afraid @Wndof , but YANBU to rant as much as you want! It is terrible what is happening to you. If start a govenment petition, along the lines of demanding the NHS needs fixing ASAP, I will definitely sign it.

Not necessarily. They are dealing with two different work streams - elective and emergency. Emergency always trumps elective obviously but they will book the elective program according to theatre capacity. However it’s the non movement from ward and critical areas areas due to bed blocking (social care problems) and instability/ deterioration of existing patients that means the flow from theatres can’t happen. It would be worse if theatres had half filled lists and then it was a good day for critical care access. Theatre time would be wasted.

After a recent surgery I was put into an 'emergency bed space'. Basically my bed was wheeled into the middle of a ward, directly under the strip lights and against the fire escape door. No curtains, no space, no privacy.

Sorry OP, it really is shit. 10 years ago my brother had a major op cancelled on the morning, having fasted etc and arrived at the hospital with his case, waited for ages then got told it wasn't happening. A lot to have to deal with after psyching yourself up. And his condition wasn't as serious as yours at the time.

I had surgery planned, postponed twice. The third time I got a text message postponing it again and a week later got a letter saying I hadn't turned up and was being taken off the waiting list and my GP was being informed! Luckily I still had the messages so sorted things out with the GP so it wasn't on my record that I was blacklisted. However, I had to go to the back of the queue and start the waiting again so in the end I sold some things and paid to go privately

Oh OP. I've read all your replies. Just another voice of support it sounds like you've already done a lot to get yourself heard.

Its so upsetting reading your story, one that is no doubt being repeated across the NHS.

Do update us if you can. Wishing you all the best.

Oh God you poor thing! It's terrifying what things have come to. You have my utmost sympathy and I hope your surgery goes ahead in the very near future.

I completely understand that you’re upset and scared. I would be terrified in your situation.

My adult son went into a life threatening arrhythmia, which A and E dealt with before transferring him to cardiology. He was told that he needed an emergency cardiac ablation and that he needed to stay in hospital with constant monitoring until it was done in case they had to restart his heart again. He was told every morning that he should be transferred that day by ambulance to the national hospital for the ablation, but then was told that he couldn’t be taken as other more immediately life threatening cases had come in. He was eventually transferred five days after the incident.

Perhaps it’s actually reassuring that you’ve been “allowed”, for want of a better word, to stay at home while waiting for the operation.

I think that you were just venting because of your frustration and fear and have done the right thing in contacting the people you have. I hope you get a new date soon and it all goes smoothly.

I would go in case someone else doesn’t go or make it etc

I have been waiting since March for an urgent cardiology appointment - I am going to emailing and phoning every single day from this Friday onwards as it will be 6 months which is well over the 18 weeks and a bloody joke

This!!!! Do this!!!