"Removal of neck lump pre and operative"

My mum, in her 70s, was sent a letter to ring about having a pre assessment for removal of a lump under local anesthesia from her neck.

It stated on the letter that this could possibly be carried out via phone she had had consultant visit. She did not require screening for MRSA or bloods just observations which a nurse could have decided via telephone.

But without considering my mum's mobility comfort or with any compassion they insisted my mum make the journey 14 miles round trip in a taxi costing £50. And when she got there with the questionaire she had filled in at home a student nurse recorded her observations and tested her urine which if they had taken note she was being treated for a urine infection at the time by her gp

Then that was all this could have been carried out at the gp practice as they had reffered my mum.

The discomfort my mum felt of the unnecessary journey and the waste of resources by both the service and my mums resources is utterly ridiculous and the process of preassessment looked at on a basis of what each person is having done and their needs.