Health care lottery

[Harry Bloomfield]

Appointments to see a doctor? Forget it. They told me I was due for an annual BP check in January so I tried phoning to book an appointment. I was told I don't need to come to the surgery, I just need to buy a good BP machine from the likes of Boots, take readings each morning and evening for 7 days then email them to the surgery.
As you can guess, they never got their readings, but I do have a record of the phone call and what was said, should this ever come up in the future.

The very same here, so far as the doctor appointments are concerned, but my sometimes nurse appointments are much easier. I cannot make them online, I have to ring and can ring anytime of day to make those.

I have to do regular home BP's for both the surgery and hospital, I find them more representative than when they do it. As BP is my main issue, I try to take lots of reading, several times a day, then bluetooth the lot to my phone, then email them to self, for forwarding to both usually then let them sort out the average, themselves from the long list. Last time it was 171, and they managed to record it as 117 in error in my Patient Record, so I had to get them to correct that.

Treatment from the hospital is the complete opposite. If I have a query or problem, I simply call her secretary and she soon sorts things out for me.
Occasionally they will call me out of the blue just to see how I am feeling.

Yep, same here, always very helpful, once you get through to them, which is not always easy, I usually resort to email and almost always get a quick response. At one point, they were sending two near duplicated sets of blood forms out, but once pointed out to them, they corrected that.

Odd that one can get things so right, and the other get things so badly wrong for the patient?

 

[foxhole]

I find it near impossible to make 8am for appointments, don't wake up till 10am, set my alarm last week to get an appointment, rang at 8.01 got straight thru to surgery, on hold 28 minutes then told no appointments left.

 

[gas112]

what about doing e consult on the computer they can organise a face to face appointment

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I find it near impossible to make 8am for appointments, don't wake up till 10am, set my alarm last week to get an appointment, rang at 8.01 got straight thru to surgery, on hold 28 minutes then told no appointments left.

I'm the same, and why not? Except the dog has come up, to wake me the past few morning, tapping on the edge of the mattress. The brighter mornings, are maybe suggesting to her that it's later than it really is.

 

[foxhole]

what about doing e consult on the computer they can organise a face to face appointment

Not available with many gp surgery’s .Certainly not mine .

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Success at last, via online...

I logged in and kept repeatedly pressing refresh, as the list of appointments increased. Several appointments appeared, for one of the two specialised docs it had been suggested I needed to speak to, clicking on the first one, it showed as a telephone appointment, so I filled in 'the reason', clicked accept, only to find it had gone. Try again, with the second appointment, and I got my accept in first. Why does it have to be a race like this, a lottery - it's a ridiculous system!

There has to be a better way, than the quickest on the button, getting access to appointments.

I have complained to the practice, about the fact that there is no way to tell the F2F from phone appointments, and they say they are trying to get this resolved.

 

[securespark]

I've had situations where I've been to a hospital department for tests and told to ring the GP in X days for the results. Then the GP tells me I have to ask the hospital for the results. I have literally gone back and forth and in the end got frustrated. For C's sake, I said, why can't you tell me my results?

Don't get abusive, I was told, or I'll cut you off.

Can you do me favour? I asked her.

Put yourself in my shoes. Two different people are each telling you to ring the other for results and neither is telling you. Would you feel upset?

I'm the patient, whose blood it is and I demand to know the results NOW. Or I shall be making a complaint to the practice manager.

Do you understand now?

The other issue I had is 2 diagnoses by the hospital which needed new drugs prescribing.

The GP surgery told me the hospital had to prescribe them, the hospital said no, the GP has to do it.

It's all about money and who pays for what.

After protracted battles, the GP paid for one and refused the other; postcode lottery.

Again, the patient should not have to argue and fight to get what they need.

Madness.

 

[Brigadier]

Don't get abusive, I was told, or I'll cut you off.

This is the unintended consequence of healthcare staff having to deal with shoite from scummers.

Completely agree that, where louts kick off, they should be liable to sanction.

However, it is also used as a get-out-of-jail-card for shoite "service", or not wanting to bother with a semblance of service at all.

And you, the "customer", are powerless to do anything about it.

 

[gas112]

Not available with many gp surgery’s .Certainly not mine .

think most surgeries in my town have the facility . They have 3 working days to respond . i used it week ago friday got a phone call on the tues morning offering me f2f appointment the next day but i was away so had it this wed 15 minutes after leaving i had phone call from local x ray dept booking appointment for this sunday morning . Quite impressed

 

[noseall]

I find it near impossible to make 8am for appointments, don't wake up till 10am

10am Half way through the day, innit.
Mind you, I have no idea what's on tele past 10pm.

 

[foxhole]

10am Half way through the day, innit.
Mind you, I have no idea what's on tele past 10pm.

I rarely get tired before 1am even if I am up early.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

The other issue I had is 2 diagnoses by the hospital which needed new drugs prescribing.

The GP surgery told me the hospital had to prescribe them, the hospital said no, the GP has to do it.

I've never had that problem, nor a problem with the results. It seems - hospital advises GP, GP just prescribes.

I have never rung the GP for my results, I go online and review them myself. The hospital makes regular phone appointments, during which they discuss any results of special interest.

 

[foxhole]

I've never had that problem, nor a problem with the results. It seems - hospital advises GP, GP just prescribes.

I have never rung the GP for my results, I go online and review them myself. The hospital makes regular phone appointments, during which they discuss any results of special interest.

Can’t get my results online , think my GP has only recently stopped using carrier pidgeons.

 

[conny]

I've had situations where I've been to a hospital department for tests and told to ring the GP in X days for the results. Then the GP tells me I have to ask the hospital for the results. I have literally gone back and forth and in the end got frustrated. For C's sake, I said, why can't you tell me my results?

Don't get abusive, I was told, or I'll cut you off.

Can you do me favour? I asked her.

Put yourself in my shoes. Two different people are each telling you to ring the other for results and neither is telling you. Would you feel upset?

I'm the patient, whose blood it is and I demand to know the results NOW. Or I shall be making a complaint to the practice manager.

Do you understand now?

The other issue I had is 2 diagnoses by the hospital which needed new drugs prescribing.

The GP surgery told me the hospital had to prescribe them, the hospital said no, the GP has to do it.

It's all about money and who pays for what.

After protracted battles, the GP paid for one and refused the other; postcode lottery.

Again, the patient should not have to argue and fight to get what they need.

Madness.

Can’t get my results online , think my GP has only recently stopped using carrier pidgeons.

For hospital test results, e.g. blood/urine etc, which are tested at a hospital, you can sign up to the NHS Patients Portal.

When you have had a test done, you log in a few hours later, click on the link for 'Health Record' and you get a drop down menu. Top of the menu is a link for 'Results' This will take you to a list of recent tests and what the results are. Most blood test results come through on the same day but special ones which have to be processed for certain things may take a bit longer. Certain urine tests, such as ACR and PCR do take a little longer but usually appear the next day.

Log into the NHS website and look for your local hospital for the link to Patients Portal. This is the one for West Suffolk Hospital.

HealtheLife ID - Sign In

I would imagine others are the same or similar.

You also get notification of appointments, letters etc.

 

[foxhole]

For hospital test results, e.g. blood/urine etc, which are tested at a hospital, you can sign up to the NHS Patients Portal.

When you have had a test done, you log in a few hours later, click on the link for 'Health Record' and you get a drop down menu. Top of the menu is a link for 'Results' This will take you to a list of recent tests and what the results are. Most blood test results come through on the same day but special ones which have to be processed for certain things may take a bit longer. Certain urine tests, such as ACR and PCR do take a little longer but usually appear the next day.

Log into the NHS website and look for your local hospital for the link to Patients Portal. This is the one for West Suffolk Hospital.

HealtheLife ID - Sign In

I would imagine others are the same or similar.

You also get notification of appointments, letters etc.

Yes have signed in , nothing available my GP surgery does not use the service .
Had a call today to cancel my appointment to get bloods results , the nurse was not available .