Clever Bird is also aware that in these times of austerity, the NHS is seen as a major drain on limited resources. The Government is threatening cut backs and privatisation. The so-called "Junior" Doctors are about to go on strike. So, why, why, why is the referral system so nuts?
With Lawrence-the-Lump, Baggy went to her General Practitioner Doctor (GP). The GP discovered a lump - Lawrence. The GP referred Baggy to an Emergency Gynaecological Assessment Unit (The Peggy Cole Centre at Ipswich hospital) the very next day. They did an ultrasound and confirmed what Baggy already knew, that she had a lump. The Doctor thought it was on her ovary and that it might be ovarian cancer. Baggy therefore needed to be referred to the Gynaecological Oncology Team. This Team is literally next door to The Peggy Cole Centre. But the Doctor who told Baggy this, could not refer Baggy herself. She had to inform Baggy's GP and the GP had to refer Baggy to the Oncology Team.
It occurs to Clever Bird that this is rather daft. A waste of the GP's time. A cost to the NHS that didn't need to happen. Not to mention the extra time delay involved of well over a week, causing unnecessary stress to a person who's just been told that they may have cancer. What's more, Baggy and the GP already knew there was a lump. All the ultrasound could do was confirm that. Baggy needed an MRI scan. The GP told Baggy this. The "ultrasound" Doctor told Baggy this. Now the Oncology Surgeon told Baggy this. Why not do it in the first place? Another referral. Another wait. Everything seems to go at a snail's pace.
After Lawrence had been sent on to his new life, the Junior Doctor who confirmed Baggy's heart arrhythmia and said that it needed to be investigated urgently and that Baggy would need a 24-hour ECG, could not make that referral herself. At the time Baggy was still on the Oncology Ward at Ipswich hospital. A trip down a corridor to the Cardiology Unit could presumably have had her fitted with an ECG then and there. But no. Instead the need for the 24-hour ECG had to be put in Baggy's discharge notes. Baggy had to make an appointment with a GP (the day after she left hospital and could barely walk!). The Doctor had to apply for a 24-hour ECG. Baggy had to wait ten days to be called back to be fitted with it. And so on. Baggy almost missed her scheduled cubital tunnel surgery because of this, which would have required another referral from the GP, another meeting with the Consultant, another pre-operation assessment appointment. Hundreds of pounds more cost.
Then today, once again because of the lack of results being available from the 24-hour ECG the Orthopaedic Team cancelled Baggy's next operation. The results that were available. The results that were somewhere in Ipswich hospital. Clever Bird walked from one department to another and got some answers, but only by having a meltdown. The departments themselves weren't allowed to talk to each other, or to look up Baggy's notes!
Clever Bird just wonders whether a more joined-up approach couldn't a) save a ton of time and b) save hundreds of thousands of pounds a year. Yes, of course the GP needs to be kept in the loop, but why not just provide them with the details at the end of the process? Really there has to be a simpler way.........
I thought that the signed consent they all asked us for was so that everyone would share information and stop this craziness. And forgive my ignorance, but what is cubital tunnel surgery?
ReplyDeleteIt would seem not Linda, all it appears to allow them to do is to give you more surgery than they discussed with you if the need arises. The cubital tunnel is in your elbow - like carpal tunnel syndrome, the ulna nerve gets squashed and causes your hand to go numb and ultimately the muscle in your hand to atrophy. They either widen the tunnel, or as they are doing for me, take the ulna nerve out of it and move it round to the front of your arm.
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