"Everything about this department is appalling"

I have left a review before but I've had more appointments with this department and it only gets worse.

They expected me to wait almost 6 months to get the results of my CT Scan so I requested my medical records to read the test results for myself.

From reading what I was sent I found out that despite being told that they did not have any knowledge as to why I had a dilated Portal Vein, in fact earlier test results showed that I had Portal Hypertension, Cirrhosis, an enlarged Spleen and Varices.

The consultant I saw last November sat in front of me and read the report for my Liver Doppler on the computer screen and turned to me and said there was nothing revealed from the test and I needed to be refereed to one of their colleagues instead.

If this was not bad enough after I left this consultant wrote me a letter telling me that I had cirrhosis and an enlarged Spleen but I never received the letter.....it is irrelevant that I never received it because you do not tell people via Royal Mail that they have cirrhosis.

I found a copy of this letter in my medical notes.

To date I have still not been informed verbally by the Gastroenterology dept that I have cirrhosis or Portal Hypertension.

I have since had a Fibroscan to measure the level of Fibrosis in the Liver and this was conducted not by the consultant but by someone they trained to carryout the test on the consultants behalf. If you get sent for a Fibroscan I would phone and check your seeing the actual consultant and not someone else.

The letter will say the consultant but on the day it might be a very different type of NHS professional that has been trained to do the test but they are not experienced enough to interpret it.

I saw this person and they failed to get the required 10 readings from my liver which they claimed was perfectly Ok because the 7 readings they got were all clustered and not dispersed so the result was consistent enough.

They explained what level of Fibrosis I had in my Liver and what that meant.

Then after I left they wrote a report that said the test was not adequate and asked the lead consultant to do it them self. They wanted me to wait another 5 months to do it properly when I already waited 3 months for the 1st one.

I complained through the official complaints procedure and the reply is disgusting.

Basically they called me a liar and said the person told me that the test might not be accurate.

LIES.

I was specifically told that it did not matter that there was only 7 readings and that in this case 7 was as good as 10.

I was not told that the result was only provisional and might need to be done again.

They are trying to blame the unsuccessful test on the fact that I am obese rather then the person not being very good at their job.

The hospitals letter of apology is full of empty platitudes.

They thanked me for writing as it is invaluable in helping to improve care....well not if you going to claim the patient is a liar and stand by the employee.