Gripe of the day - What is yours?

[shiftin_gear98]

Snow on the car this morning. The weather is crapola at the moment.

[Seeker]

Bureaucracy - now that my broken arm is mending my thoughts turned to my prostate My PSA is high and back in Feb the urologist recommended another MRI but I haven't heard anything.

I call the hospital urology and they tell me a scan has been ordered but they don't have a date - try the MRI dept.

I call the MRI dept - they have just taken delivery of 2 new MRI machines but don't know when they will be in use but they will find out and call me back. They didn't.

I called again and left messages. Nothing.

I find a private medical hospital in Manchester offering a multi-parametric MRI which yields a much higher resolution, so I try and book an appointment. You need a referral which is not mentioned on their website.

I receive a call from the MRI dpt at the hospital over the messages I left a week ago - they haven't trained anybody on prostate MRI scans yet and still have no estimate on a date. She does mention that my MRI request is marked as "urgent". She also says that my GP can give a referral.

I call the GP and leave messages with the appointment setter. A doctor calls back and refuses to supply a referral since she doesn't know the hospital nor the urologist at that hospital but would consider one at Spire (Hull) but they don't offer mPMRI. She suggests I contact Patient Advisory and Liaison to complain - but I don't want to complain I just want a referral!

I call urology back at Grimsby hospital and explain it all again to the receptionist with the request that someone refers me to either the Manchester mPMRI facility or any similar closer place.

MRI scans for Grimsby used to be handled by Scxxxthorpe (censor won't allow middle letters - it's the steel town) but since Grimsby has just got the 2 new machines (Mar 21) all Gy cases were handed over which seems a bit premature imho. since the Gy scanners are not operational yet. Meanwhile I'm playing phone ping pong with nobody taking responsibility.

The GP said she wouldn't take responsibility for referring me so I asked who takes responsibility when nothing is done?

[DJ123]

I would speak to your GP and tell them you'll register elsewhere to get the referral needed, if they are refusing to supply it. If they aren't supplying one now when it is needed, you'll probably not get one in the future for something less urgent.

[ethariel]

Go to the surgery and ask to speak to the practice manager, when asked what for, tell them you want a copy of thier Complaint's Procedure.

Follow the procedure to the letter and keep a copy of everything, they have 3 days to acknowledge the complaint.

Lay out the fact you have the CHOICE of where your treatment is carried out and that the GP in refusing to refer you breaks the NHS charter and unfortunately this is causing you undue stress and concern for your health.

If that fails to move anything then give one of the ambulance chasing medical negligence law firms a call and see if they will take you on in a no win no fee, that will most certainly get the surgery's attention as a legal case will cost more than sending you to a hospital more expensive than they are prepared to write you up for.

[Seeker]

Originally Posted by ethariel

Go to the surgery and ask to speak to the practice manager, when asked what for, tell them you want a copy of thier Complaint's Procedure.

Follow the procedure to the letter and keep a copy of everything, they have 3 days to acknowledge the complaint.

Lay out the fact you have the CHOICE of where your treatment is carried out and that the GP in refusing to refer you breaks the NHS charter and unfortunately this is causing you undue stress and concern for your health.

If that fails to move anything then give one of the ambulance chasing medical negligence law firms a call and see if they will take you on in a no win no fee, that will most certainly get the surgery's attention as a legal case will cost more than sending you to a hospital more expensive than they are prepared to write you up for.

I'm trying to not get confrontational at this stage, all of the surgeries here have too many patients and are reluctant to take more, so I'll still have to continue to deal with this surgery. I should point out that I'm not expecting the NHS to pay for this private MRI - this is my choice so my money (although you could argue that since the hospital is unable to provide a scan it's their problem-but I don't need them to pay and won't look into that aspect). I just want the scan for piece of mind or to speed up potential treatment rather than sit back until it's too late.

I'll wait for a couple of days for urology to get back to me (or call them again if they don't), hopefully it will be with a referral.

One other point is that if you google MRI, you can find private facilities that offer scans with no referrals needed which makes my GP surgery's stance even more odd.

[Craig380]

Hope you get it sorted quickly, S.

My gripe is East Cheshire f*ck*ng Council's highways dept. As usual, now that the weather is set to be dry and fair over the next couple of weeks and won't dip below zero celsius, they've sent out the gritting lorries to use up final few tons of grit & salt before putting them away until November.

[embee]

Same here in Warwichshire, vague hint that there might be a slight touch of frost and down goes the salt. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr

[redtrummy]

Seeker
How different practices are. I thought I had upset a old hernia repair, went to the Docs and was told an appointment for an ultra scan would be arranged but expect a couple of months wait. As I was uncomfortable I asked for a letter to send to Beneden Health so as to get the scan done through them, if the delay was going to be long.
When I picked up the letter it was addressed to ' To Whom it may concern' so I could have approached any health provider.
As it turned out things appear to have settled down and so I don't expect to be having the scan anywhere.


Hope you manage to break the deadlock ok.

[svenrico]

Car in front of me yesterday that didn't pass a cyclist when there was plenty of room, but decided to wait for traffic coming in the opposite direction and they then ended up driving alongside the cyclist at the same slow speed. This was on an A road with traffic travelling at about 60 mph.

[Seeker]

Originally Posted by redtrummy

Seeker
How different practices are. I thought I had upset a old hernia repair, went to the Docs and was told an appointment for an ultra scan would be arranged but expect a couple of months wait. As I was uncomfortable I asked for a letter to send to Beneden Health so as to get the scan done through them, if the delay was going to be long.
When I picked up the letter it was addressed to ' To Whom it may concern' so I could have approached any health provider.
As it turned out things appear to have settled down and so I don't expect to be having the scan anywhere.


Hope you manage to break the deadlock ok.

...MRI update. After calling the Urology dept again and pleading for a (self financed) referral I received a return phone call saying that I shouldn't have to pay for anything and the urologist will resubmit the request to "guarantee" I get an MRI within 2 weeks and, apparently, it will be a multi-parametric MRI, too.

I'm puzzled since the initial request was already marked urgent, what's the next level; life threatening?
I'm also puzzled by the MRI dept saying that they weren't yet doing prostate MRI scans because they didn't have anyone trained, yet the urology dept said they are getting scans coming through. I can imagine an untrained person sat in front of the control panel, cracking his knuckles and saying: "How hard can it be?"


The smaller optimistic part of me is saying "fantastic" , the larger cynical part of me is saying: "sounds too good to be true" . I guess I'll see...