Thread: Administration issues after recent treatment

Hi All,

I have been having a few problems with some of the administration / care of my patient notes etc after a recent day surgery procedure i had.

I will detail the issues below, and some further advise would be helpful:

I was recently diagnosed as suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome in my right hand (it's fun typing this with one hand!!) and chose to use a hospital about 20 miles from me using the choose and book service as they could do the procedure a heck of a lot quicker than my local hospital.

The hospital in question have an NHS treatment centre there, which is run by an outsource company on behalf of the NHS.

I had my first appointment with the consultant there, and was referred to a nearby private hospital for a nerve conduction study. I attended this appointment a week later and was told to await the results and a further appointment at the treatment centre.

I was given an appointment a week later, and attended. I was told that it had been decided surgery was required (carpal tunnel release), and the usual pre-op tests were completed. I had a number of questions regarding the surgery, however I was told that i was unable to see a doctor / consultant that day, and would have to ask on the day of the procedure. I then proceeded to book in for the procedure around 10 days later

On the 29th may, I attended the treatment centre for the procedure, and was told I was the down on the surgeons list to go down first. They completed the normal checks / paperwork etc. This is when the problems began. the surgeon came round and asked why I had not had a nerve conduction study which surprised me slightly. I informed him I had, and gave details of this. He then said my notes gave no indication I had been referred for the conduction study. I had to give them full details of what had happened etc etc and they tried to track the results down. They finally managed to track them down and the procedure happened 3 hours later. Annoying, but no biggie, these things happen. I found it very difficult for me to get my questions answered, and it took a lot of pressing from me for this to happen, but I still was'nt entirely satisfied.

I was told an appointment would be sent to me in the post for the dressing to be changed and this duely arrived.

I attended the appointment on tues 2nd june at 5pm. It got to 5:15 and I hadn't been seen yet, so had a quick word with the receptionist and she said I was next to be seen by the nurse. I continued waiting till 5:40 and was starting to get worried. I went and saw the receptionist again and she said I should have been seen by now and chased it up with the nurse. She then came out and said she thought I had been a no show, and they lose had lost the tracking tickets they use for patients which indicated I was there! I was Annoyed now, but bit my tongue, and got her to change my dressing. I then went back to the reception area to book the appointment for the stitches to be removed. I was told that their systems were down, but they would book me in for wednesday 10th June and send a letter out in the post.

It came to monday just gone and I had not received anything, so I gave them a call first thing. I was asked to give my details and they would call me back. It got to 4:30 in the afternoon and I had still not been called, so I called back. They tried to transfer me to outpatients 3 times but twice is just kept ringing, then the third just cut off.

I called back first thing yesterday morning, was transferred to outpatients again and got the option to leave a voice mail, which I did. I asked the lassy who I first spoke to why no one had contacted me back, and she assured me that the message had been passed on. It got to 3pm and I still had not been contacted back so I called them Again. I was then told that an appointment had been made for me for this friday, but no one had given me the simple courtesy of calling me and letting me know!! She also informed me that an appointment for wed 10th had never been made.

As you can see, there has been a number of administrative cock up's along the line here, and it seems their processes are pretty poor. My concern is that this could happen to other people as well. I have been lucky that my procedure was simple.

I will add that the actual patient care I received was top notch, and I have no issues with that whatsoever.

What are the next steps I should take? My main aim is for them to acknowledge their shortfalls in this case and give some kind of assurances that they will review their processes to ensure these things don't happen again.

Thanks for reading, any comments or advice are appreciated

Mike

Getting the NHS management/administrators to acknowledge any kind of error and correct it for the next patient, will be a tough call, but I agree you should try.

You should write a letter outlining your points to PALS (although I would be more tempted to address it to the Chief Exec with a CC to PALS).

They will in turn 'investigate' and then send you a letter thanking you for your feedback and probably inform you that they have 'improved procedures.'

I doubt they will do the first properly and are unlikely to do do the second at all. Such failures will merely confirm to our NHS the need for a super computer containing all of medical records.

With the NHS likely to outsource more in the future, it's a worry. We owe it to others to make the effort to improve the system and that can only be driven by the consumer.

Thanks for your response Sali

I spoke to them earlier today, and they advised I should send me complaint through to the general manager for the unit. Bearing in mind that it's run through an outsourcer, should I send it for the attention of the gen manager, or should I bypass them and go straight to the trust instead?

Ta

Personally I would address it to the Chief Exec of the Trust, with CC to the general manager of the Unit. You will probably get a response from the Chief Exec to say that the matter has been re-assigned, but I suppose, at least your feedback is in their system.

I have a real issue with the NHS complaints procedures. I had always thought that if you addressed a complaint about patient care to the Modern Matron, Ward Sister, Consultant, Chief Exec, Pals, whoever, then they would all be accumulated in one location, along with everyone elses. This way patterns and failures would surely emerge. So, if many people were complaining on the same subject, a little lightbulb would go on in the hospital managements' minds to address it immediately for the benefit of the patient. This evidence could also then be provided to an auditor. Neither happen and you have to wonder if this is because they are just bad administrators who do not want to learn and improve or there is a more sinister motive to deny and hide issues that would effect their status.

I passionately believe that we need to separate the complaints system from the hospital and staff it with people who have some medical knowledge and wit to act on failures and mistakes early. Only this will stop terrible cases like Stafford recurring.