My girlf found something and had some pain so went to see her GP who referred her to Whittington for tests etc. Bizarrely they do this via fax machine! Yes, that technology which died around 5 years ago! Anyway, she was told to wait for a call to confirm an appointment which never came. After 3-4 weeks of calling and each respective establishment saying "we sent it" and "we didn't receive it" she finally got the appointment through for today....a good month after the initial referral.
When we arrived, we were told it'd be an hour wait even with a pre-booked appointment, but were surprised when the call came after 25 mins to see someone. Having seen the specialist, it was off to the imaging department for tests and results...more waiting.
We came out at 2.47....which even with all the waiting, i thought was pretty good going. Its annoying at the time, but less than 3 hours from seeing a specialist to getting results is pretty good.
Thank you NHS.
A few questions comments in general though....
1. Why do patients details who have moved from another trust (by moving home) never get passed on to the new one. All the history is lost. Its so important but its not done. I have more history on my nectar card.
2. Why on earth are they still using fax machines to talk to each other (GP to trust)? I couldn't believe the shenanigans that was caused by it. There really is no justification.....it even costs more! What would the result be if something could have been caught within 3-4 weeks that wasn't?
3. The NHS appears to fly by the seat of its pants. People who do what they do (doctors / nurses) do a great job when the patients finally turn up in front of them. They appear to be let down by the managers and support functions that go round the houses to make it all happen. As an observer, it just seemed so disorganised and crazy....is it really? or is it just a world that can only ever appear that way to an onlooker. Its not like anyone elses place of work is it.
We had a good experience in the end, but i had an overwhelming feeling that it was a complete lottery...and we had a good outcome luckily, i'm sure others haven't.
Any other experiences from anyone?
Comments
Secondly, I also have the impression that in the NHS they really do try to work as a team and do joined-up care: the doctors, the nurses, the physios, the occupational therapists, all work together and know what ought to be happening. When it works, it's fantastic and they can have you in and out of there like greased lightning.
Of course it doesn't always work, sometimes they lose notes, make mistakes, forget appointments.......and if you're old and vulnerable it can be dire. But on the whole, the NHS is fantastic.
The movement of records between trusts and the online booking of appointments, etc. were two key parts of the last governments big NHS IT Programme called variously Connecting for Health or the National Programme for IT.
It was huge and complex and incredibly expensive to do right (currently each trust has its own IT setup, often several setups to do the same job). It's also, as far as I'm aware, been cut back to the bone in recent "efficiency" drives. Big IT projects are an easy target.
The specific service you're looking for for appointment booking is called ChooseAndBook (http://www.chooseandbook.nhs.uk/). It's available (afaik) to all trusts and GPs to use, but whether or not they opt to use it is another matter - something to bring up with your GP perhaps? They have a lot of freedom in these matters, and most are simply not that interested in technology (or the Hospital may not support it).
With regard to electronic patient records, check out http://www.nhscarerecords.nhs.uk/ which is this initiative. In theory it does exactly what you suggest - and also makes your records available to you on demand. I'm not sure about how successful this has been though.
Hope that helps!
miro
I've had largely positive experiences with the NHS, but it very much depends on who is treating you. A few years ago, I went to UCH for a chest x-ray. The technician asked me where I lived. I said Finsbury Park. He said that there's a large Algerian population in the area, which put me at greater risk of TB. He had a consultant look at the x-ray right then and there to make sure I was OK. I was in and out with a diagnosis in 20 minutes.
In contrast, last summer I had pneumonia. The same hospital lost the x-ray, so it wasn't properly diagnosed for four weeks.
I have always loved my job, but are we nurses expected to accept the violence now?