Once more on the subject of the efficiency (or not) of the NHS...

[emkana]

... because I still can't get over this:

I saw the lung specialist on the 29th Nov

Today it turns out that due to an admin backlog the letter outlining all the tests ds should have has not been written yet.

Am I naive to be aghast by that? Is this normal?

unfortunately it sounds quite normal to me

I am so shocked by this! Ds is not even seven months. This wait of seven weeks means more and more AB's have been pumped into his poor little body...

that kind of puts ds' 18 month wait for an OT assessment into perspective. Apparently our PCT (one of the worst for overspending) don't replace those on Maternity Leave so the backlog just increases ... efficient ? NOT !

Has the consultant actually dictated it and it just not been typed yet ?

I'm not sure.

I'm bypassing the system now by seeing the consultant privately next Tuesday.

i'm afraid thats pretty normal.

dd3 was meant to have a kidney scan and hearing check when she was around 6 weeks old. the hearing check was done when she was 5months old, kidney scan was when she was 6months old.

it took 5months for my dd's to get an echocardiogram, it took 18 months to get dd1 even referred to dermotologist, then 6months for an appointment. by that point she had been on antibiotics almost continously for 6months, oral steroids, and antibitic cream.

dd2 had to wait 6months for SALT. 4months to see an OT (self referral), 6months for CDC.

DH was meant to have 6months cardiac checks. he actually ended up with annual appointments due to the waiting lists.

Not right, but I'm not surprised. Have you read the Gerry Robinson programme thread?

I'm a medical secretary. There have been times when I've been off sick or on leave for a fortnight and no-one has covered my post. Or someone has left and the post is "frozen" so I've been expected to do the work (the worst was when I was expected to cover a 37 hour per week job on top of my own 13 hour a week job ...... in the same 13 hours).

And then all we get is flack (understandably) from patients, relatives and GPs because the letters aren't done but the managers don't want to know.

Surfermum, I started that thread!

I'm still flabberghasted by it all though, esp. coming from Germany where the system is totally different.

Will going private now mean that everything will happen quickly?

misdee, that's just so WRONG!

How's your dd been with all that medication? Do you see any lasting effects?

Another frustrated mum here dealing with the nhs.
My dd (6) has been referred by our gp as he's sure she's starting puberty early.The referral appointment has taken 4 months and was for the 23rd January,then just before Xmas I received a letter bringing it forward to 16th,her symptoms have been getting steadily worse and its really affecting her emotionally( bad pmt)and I was so glad last week when she was bad that she only had afew days to wait ...then yesterday I received another letter putting it back to the 30th! I left a message on the consultant secretaries answerphone and as of yet she has'nt returned my call,they haven't even given a specific reason
It's so frustrating,my father has been mucked about with operation dates for his cancer treatment which is shocking enough but as an adult ,ok your mighty upset about it but you deal with it...children are a different matter and in my opinion should'nt have appointments changed willy nilly.Luckily my dd's illness isn't that serious but other children's are.
Something needs doing about it ....

Oh and they pay peanuts and decent secretaries leave, so they end up with muppets who can't transcribe proper English let alone spell the medical terminology, or type at snails pace, and panic at the thought of the phone ringing while they're typing.

(I'm sure there'll be a typo/grammar error in this post somewhere!)

Oh yes, Emkana, so you did ! Great thread!!

I've often had a doctor come into the office and say casually, "by the way I'm not here next Thursday". Leaving me to phone/write to all the patients and cancel and rebook. Ooh more flack for the medical secretary.

I guess it's not always the managers' faults . And I'm wondering why I've done this job for 26 years .

Not sure whether you mean the letter has not been dictated, typed or received. Dictated would be unusual someone had probably nicked the notes (did you have other appts close in time?). Typed not unheard off not enough medical secretaries I'm afraid, takes too long to get a good one, not paid enough(if in London) etc.etc. Received also poss but easy to get them to send it again. The consultants sec. should be able to tell you which (and if the notes have been taken would probably be grateful since she can them get them back and they can get on with it)