to feel like I want to punch the highly incompetent individual.....

[Overtiredmum]

who booked in my dad's appointment at Kings College Hospital in London to assess my dad's brain tumour?????????????

He was diagnosed two months ago, and referred to see a specialist as the consultant at our local hospital wasn't sure the best course of treatment. They requested an urgent assessment, it took 2 months to get an appointment, which was today. I spent £50 getting a private car and driver to get us there, taking into account London rush hour, my husband took a days holiday to look after the kids, we got to Kings, sat there for an hour before we were ushered into a room to be told: "We are very sorry but your consultant is on holiday, and since there is no management here today, we are unable to rebook your appointment"!!

My poor mum spent the entire train journey home crying, my dad just looked shocked and said "Is it cos I'm 65, they don't care about me now?"!!! What do you say to that???

I understand the need for cancelling appointments for various reasons, but the hospital have openly admitted that it was down to "human admin error" and we now have to wait at least another month before we can be seen again.

So, AIBU that I just want someone to help my poor daddy???

Of course it is, they are our parents and we want to look after them. It seems to be the older we get, the less consideration we can expect to receive, which is appalling.

I lost my brother-in-law last year to motor neurones, which is a horrible debilitating illness. Consultants kept promising to put him on different trials, but making him wait too long in-between appointments, where he was told that because of the wait, and the change of symptoms, he could no longer do such trial.......... he was 44 and it killed him 6 months after diagnosis.

My sister works at King's and deals with the fallout of these types of cockups, people turning up at her desk thinking they have appointments, and it is heartbreaking when they find out someone has fucked up and so upsetting to deal with (my sister doesn't make the appointments, she just books in people who arrive, but obviously it is her that has to deal with it and take responsibility.

Definitely complain. Things only happen in hospitals when people shout, and shout loudly.

that is dreadful, OP . I am quite aghast that they think it is acceptable to make you all wait another month, but I'm not very sure what you can do about it, as I do get the impression that the NHS doesn't really seem to care about individual patients. I would be very angry too.

I am adding notes to my letter, just can't piece it together right now. Your poor sister Sal, must be awful to be in that situation. Must admit I was very calm, and requested that every patient that was being turned away should at the very least expect a phone call within 24 hours with a new date. The sister just said i will make a note of your request, but of course, the call didn't happen.

I had a similar problem myself last year with a spinal problem I have - it is a rare condition so I had to weight for the right specialist then notes got lost and all sorts - it took ages to get the surgery I needed.

My advice would be to ask your dad's original doctor for all his scans on disk so you can physically have them with you for the appointment in a month, if they are slotting you in then I can be almost certain they will forget to request the scans and the appointment will be a further waste of your time.

In the mean time, if your dad gets any symptoms that you think need urgent attention then don't hesitate in getting him to A&E, if possible then the A&E at Kings.

Oh Christ, thats awful

I've worked in hospitals several times as a temp (mostly in London) and the level of responsibility I was given, with little or no training scared the hell out of me. I had to answer calls for the consultant, had to book appointments, had to send out letters to patients, on my first day. NOBODY checked up on me, luckily I knew what I was doing, but the temp next to me certainly didn't - i'm sure appts got missed

I was horrified that hospitals charge new temps with this kind of important work, I was basically given the basics and told to get on with it...

Terrifying when you think about it

Hope your Dad gets his appt soon - Please get on the phone tomorrow, and if you get fobbed off, please ask to speak to someone else...

Hi
I wrote a really long post which got lost when I pressed post.
Essentially I suggested you try and speak to the consultants secretary at Kings, explain what happened and ask if she can help you. Can you bring scans with you, can you see him privately, can you see a junior on the ward to be discussed with the consultant. You should be able to get a copy of scans done allready from your current consultant rather than have to buy new ones

If you can't get anywhere go back to PALS and ask them how not being seen for a month is complying with the 6 weeks to treatment rule (an extension of the 2 week wait), if that gets you nowhere ask your Fathers GP if he can get you seen under the 6 week wait thing.

Good luck and all the best to your Dad