About to lose it with GP Practice.

[Vivienne1000]

My husband hurt his knee badly in a hit and run accident a year ago. He had physio which didn’t help. After almost having to beg, the GP agreed to refer him for an XRay. This showed a fracture within the patella and fragmentation. He was then referred for an MRI and received an appointment for one out of our health authority. 3 weeks passed and he phoned the surgery to see if the results were in. The surgery told him he needed to phone the MRI department, which he did, but they said the GP requested the scan so they need to request the results. He phoned the GP practice back and they said they can’t do this. Meanwhile the pain is worsening and seriously affecting his life. He is going to phone the practice again today, but can this really happen? I am genuinely shocked how incompetent they seem to be.

I am sorry your dh is dealing with all this.
My advice is to stop phoning.
Write a letter as clear and concise as you can with his name, date of birth, hospital number and nhs number, address.
Dates and times of injury, consultations, xray, MRI, every phonecall, names of who you spoke to and what was said. Be polite and factual.
Explain that he still has worsening pain and loss of function. Ask how to get help going forward.
One copy of the letter to GP practice manager, one copy to the diagnostic imaging dept, one copy to PALS. Write the cc list at the bottom of the letter. (Obviously type and print).
Phone calls are a waste of time and emails often vanish into a black hole.
The thing that worked for me was a copy to my MP. The nhs is a hot topic for MPs atm.
Send everything recorded delivery.

Can you afford to go private? If so, this might be his best option.

It sounds like the report may not actually be ready, has anyone actually clarified for you if it's ready or not? I know there's a massive backlog in some areas and reports are taking weeks to come through.
If he's not actually sure whether or not the report is ready, I think I would suggest he makes an appointment to discuss the worsening pain, explains that has had the MRI but so far has received no results and he tried chasing it with radiology but they said needs to be GP as they referred.

Report has been ready for 10 days.
Having seen the XRay report there is a possibility that he will need surgery, so do not want to go private. I think the suggestion of writing a letter is good advice, as we are at a standstill. He has not been to the GP for 10 years, so this is a huge disappointment. I suggested going to A&E and hope that they may be able to retrieve the report, but as he was sent to a hospital out of our district, they may not be able to. I think we need to be prepared for a battle…

If you can afford to get in front of a private consultant who also works the NHS, they may be able to refer you back to their NHS clinic for the surgery. You might need to be creative here.

It is probable that as he had the mri at an out of area hospital there is a a clash or incompatibility of communication protocols or computer systems. Your dh might have 2 different hospital numbers, or the gp practice might not be able to share info with a hospital in a different trust. You need to make sure every relevant person has all the key information.
Going private isn't likely to help. All the necessary things have been done. It just needs joining up.
You need to get an A4 folder and get copies of everything for your own records.
Have the police been involved?
Have you got legal advice included on your home insurance?
You might want to look at criminal injuries compensation.
Keep detailed records/ diary of the impact the injury is having on all aspects of life.

If the report is ready then it should automatically have been sent to the GP if they referred, sometimes they do 'get stuck' and have to be resent. You need to speak to someone who understands how the results come through in your practice and they should be able to look at it and work out what's happening for you.
But as you are saying the pain is worse and you think surgery is on the cards - that's going to require a referral so I would still say book an appointment and discuss the next steps with them. If the report hasn't come through, they will want it for the referral so should chase it/look into why it's not come through if ready as well.

MRI department is telling you absolute bollocks.

GP requested scan so GP needs to request the result - nah, thats not how it works.

You don't request a scan, and then the scanning department sit on the scan result until the GP chases them for a report. They should have reported the scan and immediately emailed it to the GP.

PALS at the hospital who did the scan should be able to sort this very quickly.

Oh the MRI was at an out of authority hospital? I missed that first time round! That will explain the delays and confusion. Usually, they all come through electronically but not when it's out of area. It has probably been posted and so will take longer to be received then has to be scanned on and processed/coded, sent to GP for review.
When you speak to the receptionist and ask for the result they have probably been checking the results screen, tell then it might have come via letter and they will look on that section of the notes (assuming they use emis which is the most common!)

The GP should be able to see the results. Does he have the NHS app? Test results are often on there for the patient to see too.

As others have said it will be clashing computer systems as it is out of area.

It probably is on the hospital system but the GP can't see it as they are out of area and not on the same system and the GP has not requested that the MRI is sent to them as they don't realise either .

I have this as I go to a specialist hospital out of area and they send me to another out of area hospital for other scans - it is a disaster and consultant appointments are cancelled as they don't have scans etc

i would call PALS and explain - if you get a good person they will get it in the post to the GP if it hasn't been sent or tell you when it was posted - then it is down to Royal Mail...

As others suggested I would also make an appointment with the GP as you will need one anyway to battle for the referral to a consultant.

I had this once. I insisted on receiving a copy of the report on the basis that it was my personal information. They released it when I said I'd raise a Subject Access Request. You could always do that but it will take 30 days.

Ever since, I provide consent only on the basis that I will be sent a copy of all reports and letters. It seems to work.

Sadly, these people seem to think they have more right to one's personal information than the individual. It's a question of basic respect.

Love the idea of the letter, but if you can send it by email. It will be picked up much quicker. Make sure you add in the quality of life and effect on DH etc

Surely when he was hit by the car a year ago he would have gone straight to A+E?

the scan results should be released to the requester without anyone needing to chase things up - it's the imagining department that is the main issue here (it may well be something simple like software incompatibility and lack of imagination causing the delay) . PALs at the hospital should be able to help.

Exactly and if there was a fracture he would be under the fracture clinic who would be dealing with all this.

Think it's obvious why they aren't doing perfectly cos they don't deal with acute accidents.

Well, you would think so, but IME fracture clinics are always absolutely heaving, running hours late and can't get rid of you quick enough. There does seem to be a huge variation in how things are done between post codes.

How in Om’s name is the patient supposed to know about differing levels of bureaucratic ineptness between trusts, practices and health authorities if the GP practice doesn’t? They certainly shouldn’t be responsible for managing this type of business failure.

This is exactly the kind of uselessness in basic business communication which adds massively to health services costs and lost productivity for patients and their employers.

Can you go to A&E at the hospital that did the MRI? The results will be available and emergency help as well. Sounds awful.

I would actually make an appointment and speak to a GP directly and outline what has happened. Make them deal with it.

For the record he went to hospital straight after the accident, but he had a head injury which was a priority. When he then realised his knee was swollen and painful, he went to the GP and was only referred for physio, which made it worse. At this point he had no idea he had a fracture.
He went to the GP in March and told him this was ridiculous, he was in extreme pain and then the GP reluctantly ordered the X Ray. He then referred him for an MRI when he saw the results.
We live in Gloucestershire and he was asked to attend the MRI in Swindon. At Swindon, they have told him they don’t put any information on the NHS app. I kid you not, this is worse than I could imagine. He requested a GP emergency call today and got a call from a paramedic. He could not believe how awful he was being treated.
i think things will now escalate as it’s beyond a joke. My husband has had no compensation because it was an uninsured Bulgarian who caused the accident. They know where he lives, but they don’t have the resources to pursue.
we received the value of our car and not a penny more, despite having to pay for a hire car etc.
No wonder our health authority is one of the worst in the country, along with our police force.

Buttercrackers…. I have suggested this. On Saturday we may go and sit in A&E in Swindon and wait a few hours along with everyone else and see if they can get the report. Mind you, if the department can’t put it on the NHS app, then I am beginning to wonder if it’s even in the system.