HELP! How do you arrange for admission into hospital following an accident abroad?

[prettybird]

I started a thread here about the accident my Mum had while cycling in India.

She is now sufficiently imporved that she can be flown back next week, and my Dad has asked me to contact her GP's practice to organise her admission, as they need to know WHICH hopsital she should go to (ie is it the neuroligical specialist one or the orthopaedic specialist one?) and they don't want the ambualnce to be sent between them, nor do they want her to be left in A&E.

The GP has not been very helpful and has said that the hosptial should be contacted direct. He said he THOUGHT it would be the neurological hospital, given the description that my dad had given me to pass on. Whe I asked who I should contact at the hopsital, he said "the neurosurgeon on call".

Anyway, the hospital switch board (understandably) refused to put me through to the neurosurgeon on call and put me thorugh to the neuorurgery secratary instead. She has told me I need to contact the Health Board..... but who in the Health Board (in fact the number for Acute Services part of the Haalth Board is the same number as the neroligical hospital, so I'd be back to square 1)?

My question is: has anyone had any experience of arranging a hosptial to hopsital NHS admission following an accident aborad? What do I do? Who do I contact?

Fot anyone of a medical bent: she has a signficant head injury which is resolving. Although it doesn't require surgical intervention, she will requiere neurological assessment and rehabilitation, but the Indian doctors project good prospects. Her medical care problem relate to muiltiple fractures of the pelvis which have been stabilised with external pins and an external fixator. She will be a stretcher case and requieres a hospital to hopsital transfer. The air rescue people need to know which hposital she will be admitted to - they dpn't want to be shuttling between hopsitals in the ambulance. It must be an admission - she should not have to go via A&E.

I hope someone can help me!

Anyone?

I think I would ring the neuro secretary back and ask her who at the Health Board you need to speak to.

I did ask her - she didn't know! I really feel like I am going from pillar to post!

I'd have thought this is the kind of thing their insurance should be taking care of tbh. What have they said?

I thought it would be the insurance who dealt with it to is that really not the case?

Hope Hospital in Manchester have a neurosurgical department I think.

Would Headway be able to give you any advice?

Speak to your local Nuffield Hospital, and see if they can give you some names of neurosurgeons.

Contact their secretaries, see if they can help point you in the right direction. If you can get a med. sec. feeling for you, they will normally really try to help.

I think it's just lots and lots of phone calls.

Take care.

Yes, the insurers should help. But the fact is that it's not their mum, and they don't care so much.

Some insurers excepted, I'm sure .

I've asked Dad about whether the insurance/air rescue should be dealing with it, and he said that becasue it was NHS, they just needed to know WHICH hopsital would have the bed - hence my first approach via the GP practice (aka chocolate teapot).

Prettybird - this is awful! I'm fairly sure your mum's gp should be doing this phoning for you.

There should be some sort of patient liason service at the hospital which might help? Headway sounds like a good next call though.

Bloody gp though

Prettybird, I am so sorry to hear this.
Try the PALS office for the hospital in question, perhaps?
No experience I'm afraid. I do hope she makes a full recovery.

Or try to speak to someone very senior at the health board and threaten them with the local media if they don't get it sorted out...

Good story that, local woman stuck in India seriously injured because the NHS keeps passing her daughter between departments.

I hope your mum makes a full recovery. This must be so stressful for you.

Well, I've made progrss: going via the ward of the orthpeadic hopstial, I talked to the on-call orthopod, who was very helpful, but thought it would be the neurological hopsital. Managed to speak to the on-call neurosurgeon by using the same technique (getting the ward to give me the pager number) and she said that as mum had been stabilised enought to fly, it should be her local (ie the orthopaedic) hopsital - although they would probably be involved in her care and assessment (they are only, oooh, 2 miles apart).

So I went back to the nice on-call orthopod and he is now going to talk to the general surgeon (as the head injury would mean she would go into that ward) and will get back to me to confirm how her admission needs to be orgnaised.

My brother in the mean time has chekced out with his own GP and with Admissions at the neurology hospital, who have both said to him that the GP should be organising this.

prettybird, sorry to hear about your mum. When a family member had to be hospitalised after an accident abroad, the insurance company arranged everything, including the ambulance to meet her at the UK airport and admission to the appropriate local hospital. Have you spoken to your mum's insurers about this? They may want to speak to/fax your dad first to get his permission to deal direct with you.

Shonaspurtle - I have asked my ex-SIL, who works for part of the health board, who I should talk to in the Heathl Board.......

I'm more pissed off at the GP for abdicating responsibility.

NurseryJo - there are two different sets of specialists who have been dealing with her. They are less worried about her pelvic injuries than her head injuries, but it depends on the the hospitals here prioritise. The neurology hsopital have now told me that if she was stabilised enough to fly, then she would probably be being transferred away from them to her local hopsital in simialr circumstances here, so she probably wouldn't be admitted there.

I have been told that the ongoing rehabilitation is best done from the local hospital.

I have to say she could do worse than stay in the hospital in India - its facilites put the NHS to shame! It only opened last uear and focuses on providing state-of-the-art care in the areas of neuroscience, orthopaedics (ie the two specialities she needs), minimally invasive spine surgery (MISS) and paediatrics. It even has an MRI scanner in the theatre, to allow real time imaging during surgery (which fortunately she didn't need).

But it is normal to want to be home - and I am sure the inurance company want her back!

Thnaks foxtrot. I did ask my dad abut this and he said they just needed clarity as to which hosptial woulld want to admit her. They are orgnaising the ambulance etc - and seem to think that the GP should be doing the admittance bit thing.

I think I am now getting there. I'll get Dad to talk again to the insurance company when I next ring (can't at the moment as I'm at work, with a work mobile)

I think the complication is that she has two separate medical needs - which are normally dealt with by two different hospitals (unless you get into a super duper state of the art hposital in India which just happens to specialise in both of them! ). Even though the head injuries are more serious, the fact they have been stabilised and no surgical internvtion is requiered means, according to thier protocols, that she should not be admitted to the nerological centre of excellence.

I think I have now got it all sorted: I've talked to the insurance company and they were under the impression that my father was orgnaising the admission "becaseu he was a doctor" He may have givne them a misleading impression, becasue he's asked me to get the GP to sort it out . Anyway, I've told them to talk to the hospital direct and told them which one it is. I've also e-mailed the GP and told him what is happening and asked him if there is anything else he can c do to faci,itate the porcess, as I don't want any last minute glitches.

Anyway, my very helpful on-call orthopaedic surgeon has talked to the general surgeon and to A&E and has sadi he'll make sure my Mum's name is on the A&E Board for Teusday (when she is now due home) and that she should then be processed straghit thrgouh to the general surgery ward (which is the best place to manage her head injuries).

He's even said he hopes to get to meet her, as with her orthopaedic injuries, the orthopods will have some involvement. Even if he doesn't, I'm going to make a point of going and seeking him out to thank him (and if he drinks, get him a nice bottle of wine)

Mum is being flown from Delhi next Teusday to Machester, from where she wil be transferred to Glasgow in an ambulance. SHe is taking up 6 seats for the stretcher, plus an accompanying doctr and two nurses - plus my dad of course. Dad is going to have to follow the ambulance in a taxi, as there won't be room for him plus thier luggage.

Goes to show the value of good insurance!

glad the organisation seems to have got in hand..you must be worn out

best wishes for her safe return and that the journey is as comfortable as possible

Well, my mum is back now now and in hopsital. despite all my preparaotry work (and the contact that the insrance company supposedly made with the hospital after I itld them that they were the nes supposed to be making contact, not me), it still took them 6 and a half hours to admit her through A&E.

The doctor and nurse from India who had accompanied her ended up having to leave to go and get their flights home, leaving Dad to supply her history to the hospital. Just as well he is medical - although what would happend if you weren't?

Dad says it was embarassing while the Indian doctor was still there, compared to the efficiency of the India hospital. There, it had taken them 40 minutes to admit her - and that included giving her a CT scan.

Here, because she wasn't an emergency, she wasn't a priority and none of the relevant doctors were around to "triage" her - so she just had to wait.

Dad says that they did seem to be aware that she was coming in - but that "the system" couldn't cope with how to admit soemone who had already been assessed/treated eslewhere and still needed to the normal "triage" (assessment) - which Dad saisd he didn't have an issue with per se - but did they have to take 6.5 hours!

I've still not seen her yet - I'm hoping to see her tongiht (was away yesterday and in meetings today and away again tomorrow) - but Dad says that although she will be delighted to see me, she won't remember that she hasn't seen me when I see her next.