To think there is no point in complaining about the NHS

[B1llBen]

Done PALS and now doing the Ombudsman. Had a search to read of the experience of others going though the process and there are pages and pages of shocking 1star reviews re quite serious complaints some with damning evidence,all not upheld.

if the PALs and Ombudsman process is so shit and pointless where does that leave patients?

I want recognition of bad practise and the treatment for my son that he should have had .

Which one? and how would pay for its introduction, whilst also maintaining current provision?

How would any change conjure up 100s of 1000s of health care professionals that simply don't want to work in healthcare anymore or are not available to do so?

@B1llBen I know how you feel, I have an outstanding PALS complaint which is over six months ago. I just keep getting emails saying they haven't had a response from the department 😐. I joke to my GP that I'd be dead by now (it's not a life threatening issue) she said at lest I had a sense of humour still.

I've had to pay for private treatment instead.

There's absolutely no point trying to reason with people like this I know that much.

Fucking "truth bombs" honestly have you heard yourself 😂😂😂

I’d like a robust and fair complaint procedure that doesn’t consistently whitewash and err on the side of the nhs first.

Yep so have we. Money we don’t have.

This hence me ignoring him/her.

I actually don’t want to completely trash the nhs. We are lucky to have it and there are pockets of good and many people trying to improve the bad.

Its the complaints process that concerns me.

I think you need a recharge and your racist bullshit settings to be recalibrated. I'm really not convinced.

I complained and ended up having a meeting with the consultant I’d complained about. He then went on to say it had marked his name but I got an apology and the treatment I needed so I accepted that. I still see him years later and probably do regret complaining but at the time I felt it was my only option.

I was chatting with colleagues in the staffroom at school yesterday and the two Indian ones routinely travel home for medical and dental care and prescriptions. Yes they have to pay but they said it is cheap and the quality and service is great. These were support staff, not highly paid by any means.

I thought it was such an indictment of our medical system.

Oh no, come back!!!! I need more of your 'truth bombs'. I've never heard anything like it before and it is most enlightening. I feel trully 'awake' after your post.

You know I do have a set of eyes? I'm also educated too and can make my own decisions about complex issues, but judging by the fact that you have just parroted the same bullshit as other right wing weirdos without any supporting evidence, I'm not sure you can make your own decisions yourself. You're just 'spreading the word' but about what exactly? The NHS is being held up by immigrants at the moment due to staffing issues and always has been.

I agree that in most organisations complaints are not taken seriously, but that's because our country has been decaying for years without investment. I'm baffled as to why it's immigration that caused it.

Is that what your echo chamber twatter feed told you?

Same. Pals and ombudsman. Useless.

@B1llBen

I work in the NHS and it is very much not fit for purpose. Designed in the 40/50s for a world that doesn’t exist anymore. I’ve treated the generation that remember it not being around and we’re thankful for it (not that they should have been) and tried at times not to use it.

Currently and noticeably worse since COVID the general demands and disregard for any form order is awful. The non attendance rates alone are shocking the expectation to turn up an hour late and still be seen is incredible.

It does apear that PALS deals with these people well. Getting them reappointed ahead of others waiting to be seen whose wait though no fault of their own wait is longer.quick fixes off the managers desk.

Then you have your issue that I would imagine has happened before in the department and they are aware of. incompetent staff who are consistently poor who seem to have a cast iron contract to not get fired and there are many.

Unfortunately my advice to you is to now be completely unreasonable. You have done what a good citizen would do. The system you trusted has now let you down. It pains me to say that you now need to go ballistic if you want an outcome.

I am very sorry you have been let down. X

I lived in zone 2 London from 1980 until 2015. I still work there. Absolutely fabulous. Now I live in a super posh gated private road in Surrey.

There are ten houses: four Asian families, one black family, one gay couple, one German family, three British families. Marvellous community and unless retired everyone works: Accountant, two judges, a barrister, a pharmacist (string of shops), a dentist, a surgeon, a professor, of the aforementioned list all the people are British and two are white.

Not sure how much the combined tax bill is. Nobody costs the state a penny.

I have had to complain four times (over a long period of time) and to be fair to PALS and the various managers involved, they all responded helpfully. I am good at complaining effectively though - partly as I once did an NHS complaints course...

One time it was just such a simple problem to fix - just not telling patients how long they'd be waiting approximately (I had to wait all day and was hungry, worried about a parking ticket and had to get someone else to collect my daughter from school).

PALS made them buy a whiteboard and write approx wait times on it!

We need a social insurance system and I guess if it were me I'd see if I could base it on the French system with some elements of the Swiss one.

We're paying anyway, in time and money - might as well be paying into something.

All my complaints were about very poor communication. They were all fixable with manners, communication and information systems. I didn't want money, I wanted:

To.be sent the correct information so that I wouldn't have been put at risk of aspiration
Not to be shouted at for not having been sent the information
Staff not to be eating Quality Street around the nil by mouth patients
Staff to communicate with distressed elderly patients
Staff to communicate how long the wait time was approximately
Staff not to make us negotiate between two departments while limping about long distances on crutches
Information about MRI to be provided suitable for children (I sent them a link to another hospital's website they could have just copied)
To.be updated on a years long wait for a paediatrician appointment

That was four different things but as can be seen, it was all communication.

Another complaint I made - about a consultant cardiologist who was rude and aggressive to me - was picked up instantly. I had hardly pressed the button on the email before I had a call from the head of cardiology services asking me for details. I am guessing they had had trouble with this guy before. She said that she would be calling him to get him in to talk about it. I said I was concerned that this might negatively influence the service I might get from the department and she assured me this would not happen and contacted the secretaires in the department to say they were not to make me any appointments with this man.

The NHS is fucked. They failed my mother who died horribly in their care. Pals were beyond useless and the hospital couldn't care less even though they had no idea she even needed oxygen to breathe!

Is that same consultant still at the hospital? My gut tells me he still is .

When I received treatment when taking my history the consultant denied I was telling the truth and said my mother must have lied to me about my condition nursing assistant looked upset for me!

Absolutely outrageous I didn’t complain as I knew what the outcome would be.

After some really disturbing and traumatic experiences I record all my medical appointments on my phone.

This is not illegal and is admissible in court.

I have a medical negligence claim going against my NHS hospital trust. It’s historic, but because many other people have come forward since the surgeon has been struck off, it’s been resurrected.

Well my last few visits to hospital has assured me that if it wasn’t for the immigrant staff we wouldn’t have a hospital. Also every one of the staff in the department were so kind and reassuring that I was really impressed. So before blaming immigrants for the state of the NHS take a look and imagine only indigenous staff in attendance. Also the birth rate is going down and some schools are closing. Yet we are overcrowded ? Can’t understand that.

He still is at the hospital - but they are desperate for staff in the department so probably need to hang on to him. I hope others complain about him so they can keep him in check.

The other patients in the bay I was in were also upset and shocked. He basically accused me of going to A&E with my chest pain and shortness of breath as a ploy to jump the waiting list for my treatment (pacemaker/ablation). I stayed as calm as I could and asked him what I should have done - he said that with those symptoms I had to go to A&E! Hmmmm .... He spoke loudly and aggressively.

I held it together till he went and was then in tears - I had had 2 nights awake with chest pain -and faulty heart rhythm - one of them sitting in A&E - and had no reserves left to cope with his rudeness.

I later discovered that he seems to be in some sort of dispute with the A&E doctors over their decisions - but that is not my problem.

However, I have since seen a very kind cardiologist who has taken over my care. I am still waiting for the treatment.

@Mischance

Sorry that happened to you there are some lovely staff as you explain who really care.

I just wish that the bad eggs were dealt with and or removed for the benefit of patients and staff.

That would improve the NHS within its current funding