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Care Opinion

Waiting Time for a Consultation

Posted By Lessen

"Waiting Time for a Consultation"

About: Raigmore Hospital / Gynaecology

(as a relative),

My mum has suffered from a pro-lapsed womb for over a year now due to delays in the local GP referring her to the Gynaecology Department in Raigmore Hospital, Inverness.

However she has since seen the consultant and undergone a test on her bladder to determine which procedure will follow. The test was completed in March.

On calling the Hospital to chase up on the next stage, we have been advised that she may have to wait until July before seeing the consultant again to discuss her treatment options.

Whilst I appreciate that departments are busy I find this totally unacceptable. I'm sure my mum will have a lengthy wait for whichever procedure is recommended and feel we are being badly let down by this delay.

Her condition has worsened and it is now having a drastic impact on her quality of life. She is terrified to leave the house for fear of having an accident. Something which even in her home seems to be happening more frequently now. My mum is a proud woman and it breaks my heart to see her get so upset and feel so undignified when an accident happens, something which is totally out of her control.

My mum suffered the loss of my dad recently, her husband of 50 years and is extremely depressed and this whole situation is making this worse. It is preventing her from getting her health back and trying to rebuild her life. She has suffered from a number of urine infections as due to her condition as she is sometimes unable to pass urine at all.

We have asked that the consultant do a telephone consultation with her in order to speed things up but has so far failed to call her.

I would like to know what can be done to speed this up please? Why can we not have a phone conversation with the consultant in order that she can actually be placed on the waiting list for the procedure? Or why can't another consultant see her instead?

I cannot sit back and watch my mum suffer like this for much longer.

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Responses

Response from Elaine Mead, Chief Executive, NHS Highland 9 years ago
Elaine Mead
Chief Executive,
NHS Highland

Responsible for the delivery of health care in the Highlands

Submitted on 06/05/2014 at 16:01
Published on Care Opinion at 16:47

Dear Lessen

I am really sorry to hear about your mum and her poor experience of our service. Whilst our gynae service is under some pressure, this is no excuse and I am sure that our local Director of Operations in Raigmore Hospital will want to look into the circumstances of the wait that you have been told to expect. I understand how distressing it is to see your loved ones in discomfort and we will do all that we can to try to make sure that we get her the treatment she needs. If you are happy to email your mothers details with her permission to access her information to emead@nhs.net then we can look into it quickly and get back to you or her, as you prefer. Alternatively you can call me on 01463 704838. I know that your mother is unlikely, like lots of people, to want you to 'make a fuss' but please reassure her that we simply need to understand what has happened here so that we can do something more quickly if we can.

Thank you for taking the time to post your views on Patient Opinion. We are keen to listen and learn to experiences from our patients and their families so that we can try to make a difference.

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Response from Linda Kirkland, Interim Director of Operations, Raigmore Hospital, NHS Highland 9 years ago
Linda Kirkland
Interim Director of Operations, Raigmore Hospital,
NHS Highland

Submitted on 06/05/2014 at 19:04
Published on Care Opinion at 20:03

Hi Lessen

I absolutely would like to investigate this and see what can be done to help. I am so sorry that your mum is suffering like this and please reassure her that if she is happy for us to investigate that we will do so sensitively and swiftly.

I can only apologise for the delay and I know myself how stressful a time it can be waiting for a procedure and it is our job to make that as easy as possible. Clearly we have failed here.

Please let us put it right and Elaine will pass me your mums details if you wish us to look into it for her

Kind regards

Linda

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Update posted by Lessen (a relative)

Thank you both so much for your kind replies.

I have emailed Elaine my mum's details as requested and we would both be delighted for this to be investigated.

Response from Linda Kirkland, Interim Director of Operations, Raigmore Hospital, NHS Highland 9 years ago
Linda Kirkland
Interim Director of Operations, Raigmore Hospital,
NHS Highland

Submitted on 06/05/2014 at 21:54
Published on Care Opinion at 23:14

Great, Lesson we will get straight on to it, we will need to get you to get your mum to sign a consent form just allowing us to be able to respond to you, or can we rescind directly to your mum?

Sorry again and let's get it sorted.

Kind regards

Linda

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