Who to speak to in NHS hospital about when operation will take place

[Maternityleavelady]

MIL was admitted to hospital 10 days ago as her pain was so bad that she needs to have levels of pain relief which she can’t self-administer. The origin of her pain is broken vertebrae in her spine, which they plan to operate on. Still in lots of pain and going down hill mentally from it.

Visiting hours are only 2 hours per day. We never see the same doctor twice. The nurses don’t know what the plan is for her. We have no idea whether this operation is days/weeks/months away and have no idea who might be able to give us some idea. Who can we speak to to try to get clarity on next steps and timeframes? We haven’t had much experience of caring for elderly parents until now. Thanks

Contact PALs in the hospital. They will get you the information you need.

The doctors on the ward should be the first port of call, but I appreciate you’ve tried that already and not got the answers you want! She will be under a named consultant, who has ultimate responsibility for her care. If the doctors aren’t able to give a timescale, ask if they can arrange for the consultant to come and update you.

Yes, the consultant is the starting point and they will have a secretary. Call the hospital switchboard and ask for Mr/Miss (convention for addressing surgeons) X's secretary.

Communication when someone is an inpatient is woeful in my experience. The doctors are never there during visiting hours and the nurses will either say they are too busy to speak, or that they don't know anything.

I hope you get some information OP, but it really shouldn't be this hard.

Call the consultants secretary and ask to speak to the consultant or their registrar. If that fails to get answers then contact the hospital PALs team. I had to do this recently for an issue with a relative who was an in patient and I got a very prompt response from PALs themselves, and the issue was magically resolved later that day.

i hope your MIL is on the mend soon op💐

-there will be one consultant who's in overall charge of her care - have you tried contacting them via their secretary?
-just a thought though, it may be that they don't know yet when the operation might be, particularly if there's any other 'medical stuff' that needs to be optimised first or if it's something that a trial of conservative management might fix. Back surgery in older folk can be incredibly physiologically challenging, so it does sometimes take a bit of time to decide if it's really the right thing to do.
-while MIL's waiting for a definite plan, it may be worth asking if she's had any input from the acute pain team (she probably has, but it is worth double checking). And it's probably worth asking how much orthogeriatric input (assuming a little bit about her age and that she's under orthopaedic care rather than neuro) there's been if there are medical issues that need looking at.

There will be a consultant surgeon overseeing her care. You need to speak to him/her.

Ask ward sister/Matron if they can arrange for the consultant in charge of her care, or his registrar, to come and speak to you next time you visit so you can get an idea of the timescales for treatment and ongoing care. They may say you need to wait for their next ward round day but hopefully it will be in the next couple of days.

Thank you everyone. Spoke to the consultant’s secretary today but this particular back surgery is a bit niche and has to be done at a hospital far away and the waiting list there is long.

We would see about getting it done privately but we can’t move her to take her to see anyone private (2 hour drive away) due to her pain and needing to stay on the pain relief drugs in hospital. Would a private consultation come and do the consultation in this hospital if we covered their travel time by booking 5 appointments in a row?! Or can we pay for a private ambulance to take her to see the private doctor (but still not really sure we can move her!)

She is also meant to be starting chemo for blood cancer any day so also reluctant to take her away from the hospital that should be doing that.

Essentially she is still in limbo and her back is much more urgent than her cancer due to the pain. Hard to navigate with 2 issues and tricky logistics.

This is just intolerable and makes my blood boil. My elderly dad was in hospital, discharged none the wiser regarding a care plan and the only way to find out what was going on was to call the consultant’s secretary and make a private appointment.

Speak to the team about it; and speak to the private consultant - they may have an agreement with patients needing this procedure that they will liaise with the local team, get copies of all records and scans and arrange a remote appointment initially due to the distance.

And, if they say she has to go there, yes you should be able to arrange for a private ambulance to take her - but may need to pay for a nurse to travel with her to administer the medications depending on whether they are able to be given orally or if IV; if not requiring iv you may find one of the family may have to travel with her to give the medications - and then get private prescriptions arranged for the medications for the day away from the ward.