Is there NO END to the level of incompetence?

[StarOfValkyrie]

Three weeks ago I phoned my HV for a referal for ds for a hearing test. Today I saw her at clinic for my dd and asked her how long the referals take and she said 'a long time at the moment', so I said 'how long?' the reply 'I couldn't say.'

Right, stupid but perhaps it is possible she doesn't know. So, I asked her for the phone number of the audiology department so I could ring myself to which replied 'I don't know what the number is, I don't think they have one'.

How can I make decisions about ds' future without basic information. What on EARTH is going on in my borough? It's not a big deal in the scheme of things, just another niggle but fgs, these people don't even pretend they are attempting to be accountable or deliver quality.

yeah that's what I thought, but the first thing I said was 'have you made the referral?'

I was kinda hoping it would have been done before he starts nursery in sept.

Oh well! Can't make an enemy of everyone.......

No, there really is NO END.

it took me three months and three phone calls, two emails and a physical visit to the hospital just to determine that they actually hadn't tested urine sample we dropped off.

Star, I feel your pain . It's just one extra thing to deal with, though.

star you must live near me lol ???

this all sounds awfully familiar! snigger at her suggesting that audiology doesn't have a phone number!

rofl

You lot must be sick of me and think I'm making all this up. It's incredible!

it never ends. I am forever chasing someone about something. I think the worst ones are DH hospital who have so far lost 2 sets of important bloods and a bone marrow biopsy

Wouldn't it be lovely if what you have posted on here recently was so unusual that we'd disbelieve it. Sad that it's all so common really.

I had lunch with three friends today and brought them up to date with the battles I've gone through recently with school and the LEA. They were disgusted at how badly we've been treated, especially by the school. I did tell them that compared to many people on this board I have had an easy time of it but they clearly didn't believe it.

It's like we live in this parallel universe where it's ok to be treated like s**t and people who aren't involved in SN have no idea that it exists.

I'm awaiting an appointment for DD. For a clinic she was referred to 8 YEARS ago. Just as she got to the top of the list, and was literally the next person to have an appointment, my PCT closed the Enuresis clinic. So DD can't get seen. She has been on the bloody waiting list for 8 farking years and is 12 and a half years old and still wetting 3-4 times a week, and there's no bleeding enuresis clinic for her to go to. One day, I'm going to make the head of my PCT come and put a load of bedding in the wash at 3.30am, just to see how he blardy likes it!!

Loudlass that's shocking. Have you looked into retained reflexes? According to their literature they can be the cause of bedwetting...

And I was only going to complain that we have been waiting 8 weeks for an urgent referral to CFAC (mental health place)....

However I have decided not to chase it up, because the devil in his head seems to be leaving him alone at the moment....

Star, can you get a hearing test done at Specsavers or Boots? I've seem free ones advertised but not sure if they see small children.

Loudlass, can you ask your GP for medication? DS 11 still wets but our GP gave us desmopressin which keeps him dry, although it returns if we take him off it. It is less stressful for him than waking up soaking though.

Star - in our area we can self refer to audiology for the under 5s I believe. Maybe you can call your GP clinic and get a phone number through them and try that instead?

It's the dishonesty that annoys me. If there is no money for a service, there is no money for a service - I can see that. On the other hand if I am told that this service exists and I join a waiting list, it might keep me quiet for a bit, but I also delay getting actual help for my child, because I have been promised help from an 'expert'.

We waited 6 months for an OT to see our child and all that happened was she saw him in school and sent a sheet of exercises home with no follow up. I could have found the exercises in a book at the library.

We saw a paediatrician who said he didn't have time to discuss his findings because he had another patient and he would see us again in 8 month's time.

We could politely hang around on NHS waiting lists forever.

Jesus, Loudlass!

OP, LOL at 'I don't think they have one'. That's just ludicrous. Ring your hospital switchboard and ask to be put through to the Audiology Dept. Do it at 8.30am if you can as this is IMO the best time to catch most NHS staff. Better yet, ring your GP's secretary and ask them to do it for you. They may or may not; if they won't, at least they'll give you the direct line number.

When I worked as a GP's secretary, I'll admit I was pretty shit at a lot of things. I ran ragged trying to do all the work on 4 hours a day and a lot of stuff didn't get done the way it should. But what really got me was that this was referred to disparagingly as 'nannying' the patients; also that there were constant complaints that the surgery's phone bill had gone up because I was spending so much time on the phone chasing things. You don't get answers from a hospital phone line in 30 seconds flat IME.

you've got HV, I found the number on the web and rung them myself, got an appointment 3 weeks later. I'm sure it would be easier if they just let the parents do it all just provide me the info!

merrymouse, I totally agree with you. If the waiting list is 2 years, well you can do something with that information (like firebomb the hospital write to your MP, for starters). If you're told 'oh, it'll be sometime soon', that is completely disempowering.

'Maybe the problem is that audiology don't have ears, so a phone would be no use to them

we were told that the reason audiology don't answer their phones is that theyc an't hear them.

How do you not laugh? I mean........

DS4 has been referred for sight testing on grounds that ds1 and I are quite badly affected; picked up at routine 2 year check up. But she can't refer until he is 24 so it has to sit on her desk...

why? Where is the point in that?

2.4

24 would be excessive but not unsurprising

You know the sad thing? I believed the 24!

Audiology departments famously tend to have nothing but phones, despite the fact their whole department is set up around those who find telephones more difficult than average! We have to telephone our audiology department's phone answering service to report if our hearing aids are broken. I am sure I don't have to lead you to the irony, but they don't get it!

I was referred from community paediatrics to audiology because we knew (for sure) my daughter was not hearing properly and I am deaf myself. So she refers me not to audiology but to the community screening clinc. We wait 9 months for an appointment, they are unable to tell us why we waited so long. They are only able to screen, not test, so their result is pass or fail. Of course, she fails, we wait for another appointment at the real testing clinic. She fails that one too, they say they want to see her again in a few months, the appointment takes 8 months to arrive. Meanwhile we pester them and they say they can bring the appointment forward if there is a letter of concern from our GP. Our GP had already written such a letter, but stunningly that had gone to the wrong hospital, who sent us a "new patient" appointment and sent her up to ENT. ENT informed us when she arrived that she was too young for them to test there (at the children's hospital) - like they don't know how old she is from her date of birth!!

ENT says they aren't sure what's wrong but why don't they whack some grommets in anyway, meanwhile she's been 50dB hearing impaired for at least 2 years now. And they won't even remove the wax that is currently making her ears even worse, and sore and bleeding. The next appointment is not for another 6 weeks, and then they say they cannot proceed until she's seen the community paediatrician... who is the original referring doctor!!

So yes, I can quite believe there is no end to the incompetence and stupidity.