Complaining about consultant.

[NortheyPole]

I was referred for infertility a year ago and the hospital has tried various things to make me ovulate, with differing degrees of success.

At yesterday's regular appointment, the consultant who saw me had not only failed even to skim my file, and therefore was ignorant of the basic history and plan of my treatment, but did not even know what I had been referred for in the first place until I told her. I was mildly grumpy about it yesterday but feel so pissed off this morning that I really want to let the hospital know. I don't particularly object to the next stages she proposed for the treatment plan. Am i overreacting about this?

You know Northey, a similar thing happened to me recently and I'd love to complain but I am not sure if consultants are exempt from normal rules of good practice and courtesy oh hang on - yes, they are - but anyway, what I am getting at is that they may be self-employed? Like GPs? I have made a complaint about a GP and a hospital and a Primary Care Trust before now, and they are expert shruggers so don't expect much joy. Seriously though, why not ask the PALS (patient liaison) team at the hospital concerned what they think. They may have had this consultant's manner drawn to their attention before.

Youonly see the notes just before the patient comes in, so either you spend time looking trough beforehand[which I prefer] or you invitr thr patient in and go through it together[less waiting for the patient but might make you look a bit silly]
In any case it is fine as long as, obviously, the cons gets to grips with the problem with you while you are in there.
I don't think its a complainable problem but I can see how it might not look too inspiring

through, invite,the, sorry

Thanks, both of you.

I completely appreciate that medical professionals have limited time and memory space for patients' details, and of course I don't mind going through details in the meeting. It just seemed like she didn't even know what I was there for in the first place, which I would have thought would be the least that you would check before the patient came in.

I might ring PALS and have a chat about it, in an exploratory rather than a complaining way.

maybe, but equally a lot of doctors like the patient to say what the referring problem is, to sort of get the story from the right person, from their perspective and also to gather how much they know/ understand.
Think its a bit different with infertility issues and can see your point of view.
From the opposite perspective, what happens a lot is Drs often say "What has been the problem to bring you to hospital today ?"[in A&E say] to which the patient will often reply..It should all be in my notes Dr, or It should be in my own Drs letter Dr, or even in exasperated tone,Itold them all this in the ambulance!

Its a way of getting all the information, but at the same time it should be about skilled communication

It is normal to want to hear the story from the patient. Just relying on what is in the notes could perpetuate inaccuracy, as it misses an opportunity to check your symptoms and if anything has changed since referral.

Unless you have concerns about your appointment beyond what you wrote in your OP, then personally I wouldnt complain - your consultant took the time to establish from you what the problem was, which is entirely accepted practice, and then produced a treatment plan that you are happy with.

Cats, she didn't try to establish from me what the appointment was for. She started talking about something else, and it was only halfway through the appointment that I realised she didn't seem to know why I was there, at which point I clarified that I DIDN'T need to look through the pictures of my ectopic removal operation, as that had been done last time. I needed to talk about the next stage of infertility treatment, to which she responded "oh, so you didn't conceive naturally, then". I have been undergoing infertility treatment with them for a year.

That sounds a bit different then. Did she have someone elses notes in front of her?

No, it was definitely the photos from my operation. I wonder if she had just looked at the top sheets (the ones dealing with the ectopic) and assumed that that was what we were talking about, without looking back to see that actually I was brought under hospital care originally for something quite different. And had in fact already had an appointment to go through the ectopic bit anyway.

I feel less ragey about it today though. I think I might put it down as a learning experience and make sure in future I don't assume that the doctor and I are on the same page to start with.