Disappointing!!

crinkly1

Last year I had regular steroid injections into alternate knees after stopping NSAIDs because they affected kidney function. The injections were very effective for up to 4 months so I was surprised not to receive a further appointment in the post following the last in October 2012. Things had gone seriously downhill so, by now, both knees are swollen, stiff and painful, any walking is 'uncomfortable', I struggle with stairs, am often woken in the night and generally feel rubbish much of the time.

Early in February I wrote to the hospital (couldn't get through by phone) querying this. No reply.

In desperation I went to my GP who looked up my records and found a letter from the hospital dated early December 2012. It stated that I had missed an appointment so, unless the GP informed otherwise, I would be removed from their list. Great!!!

No apology but GP said she would sort something out as we go on holiday on March 18th to stay with our elder son and his family in Indonesia. Having looked forward to this ever since they left for Java in August I badly want to be reasonably mobile but, so far, no message from the surgery either, with less than two weeks to go.

Why are letters to GP not sent/copied to the patient?
How do GP surgery personnel decide which patient has deliberately missed an appointment and which may not have received a letter?

I've never missed an appointment without giving a good reason and rearranging and am really disappointed to think my mobility on the holiday of a lifetime may be seriously restricted because someone else made a wrong decision for me.
In my case I don't have a life-limiting condition and I can only assume that I have to be referred again as a new patient!
I'm lucky as this raises the question of how many people with life-threatening conditions miss out on essential treatment or even die because of lost letters and notes to GPs not acted upon?
When will we be empowered to take responsibility for our own healthcare?

Many grrrrrrrrrrs.

Numptydumpty

No wonder you're disappointed.
I really hope you get an appointment before you go away. If not, could you up your oral steroid dose for a while?

Numpty

deedeeitsme

Hi Crinkly...this actually happened to my father-in-law who has prostate cancer. We had been waiting for an appointment to come through for his regular hospital check up. No appointment arrived so we rang the hospital. Apparently an appointment letter had been sent (never received by us) and because he hadn't attended this appointment or phoned to re-arranged they assumed he didn't need furthur treatment and discharged him . He's got cancer for goodness sake!!!!! You can only image how blue the air was :x

Dee x

MUM1

I think that your father being discharged because "they assumed he no longer needed treatment" is an absolute disgrace. In circumstances like that there should be serveral modes of communication in place. Thankfully you were able to call hospital etc. Can you imagine if this had been an elderly person on their own with no one to deal with things like this.

stickywicket

You have been badly served here by both the hospital and your GP’s practice.

I know that unattended appointments cost the NHS a great deal of money and my own GP’s Practice lists how many were unattended per month. It tends to nudge 100 each month :shock: Last year, I inadvertently missed a hospital appt as I was away when the letter arrived and still not back by the appt. date. I got a subsequent letter saying that, if it happened again, it would be presumed I no longer needed to see them. That was fair enough: yours wasn’t. They should have contacted you in person and your GP should also have contacted you.

In answer to your questions:

You can ask the hospital dept. to send you a copy of all letters sent to your GP.
Re the GP’s surgery, it depends on the individual practice. Mine is very good at communicating. Yours clearly isn’t.

You ask “When will we be empowered to take responsibility for our own healthcare?“ The answer is in your own question, crinkly1. No-one can empower us to take responsibility. We have to take the responsibility and thus empower ourselves.

I do hope you get your injection and can have an enjoyable holiday.

bubbadog

There is another thing you could do, this is what I do if I'm getting know where with appointments! Phone either your G.P secretary or the consultant you are under at the hospital's secretary and ask what is happening to get your appointment arranged. Explain it is urgently required if your talking to the consultant's secretary and they may be able to arrange an appointment on the phone there and then for you. Hope you get everything sorted before you go away.

crinkly1

Big progress!

I rang my GP surgery Wed. and the receptionist passed me on to the Practice Secretary who said she'd been away but would follow up immediately. This morning (Friday) she rang back to report that an appointment has been made at the Consultant's next outpatient clinic - three days before we go on holiday.
What a relief!!!

Yes, I agree that taking matters into your own hands is the only way forward but it's hard when you don't even know you need to act. However I shall be wiser next time I don't receive an expected appointment and won't wait until things get as bad as they are now.

Thanks for the empathy - I guess this has happened to most of us. Just wish I knew how to stop it occuring for patients for whom it could be a matter of life or death.

Numptydumpty

That is good news, you'll have time to rest (just) before your holiday.
Wishing you well,
Numpty

stickywicket

Well done, crinkly1! I'm glad you got it sorted. Now all you have to do is enjoy that holiday