NHS mess up

[Tangled18]

I have an autoimmune disease (Ankylosing Spondylitis) and have to have regular blood tests. Back in April I had a blood test which showed I had TB and I was referred to a respiratory clinic. This meant I could no longer have the medication i needed for my illness and couldn’t start it again until I was treated. I heard absolutely nothing from them until about a month ago and was called in for an appointment to discuss treatment. I have absolutely no symptoms and repeatedly told the doctor this and asked if it could be a false positive (which I’d already been told it could be) but the doctor completely dismissed this and said I needed a CT scan of my chest before I started medication. When I received a copy of the letter regarding the appointment he had wrote that I’d told him I had every symptom and needed to start treatment as soon as I’d had the scan. This was absolutely not true! I spoke to a TB nurse and explained and she ordered a repeat blood test. Anyway I go for the ct scan as requested and have another blood test done. 2 days after the scan I received an appointment in the post with a surgeon so I called to find out and was told over the phone I had a tumour. This was the first I’d heard, I was in utter shock and scared to death. I contacted my nurse to see what was happening as the clinic dealing with the tumour said the letter had her name on it and she had no idea what was going on and would chase it up. I cried all night, I barely slept and when I did I was sleep walking and unsettled. I was absolutely terrified. The following morning I got a phone call from the hospital to say oops sorry it’s not you with a tumour it’s someone else. Like that made all that stress and worry ok. And then was told I never even had TB in the first place! I’m so angry! If they’d just given me a second blood test back in April none of this would have happened, I wouldn’t of been convinced I was going to die and I wouldn’t have been in absolute agony without the correct treatment I needed. I feel like I’ve been completely let down by the people who should be caring. Everyone around me is saying I need to go to pals or try to get compensation but I feel like I’ll just be dismissed and don’t know what to do?
Sorry this is such a long post I just needed to put it all down somewhere and get other peoples opinions.
YABU: just let it go
YANBU: take it further

All you can do is complain to PALS

That is horrendous and the very least needed is some accountability so no one else suffers what you have

I think your first step is not PALS but a meet with your MP who has the authority to hold them to account

Thank you this gives me something to think about

I agree it's utterly terrible. I needed a TB test before starting medication for a different auto-immune condition and I remember how terrifying it was when I got called back for repeat x rays because they saw 'something' which turned out to be nothing but that was all sorted within a matter of weeks.

PALS is your first stop though. Not because they'd necessarily do anything - I have no idea either way - but because you normally have to demonstrate that you've gone that route first before you can think about other types of action.

It's worth bobbing a note to PALS but that'll likely be the end of the matter I would think, other than the template apology they send out.

It's worth doing though as it builds a case for either hiring more staff or reducing the patient volume in a day - it's so overloaded at the moment that you end up with 4 different patients records open jostling back and forth as new tasks/calls/referrals come through. It's pushed beyond capacity and it's openly acknowledged that this will lead to more mistakes occurring but nothing changes.

@mynameiscalypso i think what I’m finding the hardest is that my ct scan was completely clear and I never even needed it in the first place so there wasn’t any reason at for them to have me mistaken with someone else. I feel like from start to finish it’s been one massive cock up!