"Disappointed by care for my painful wrist"

I developed a problem with my wrist in February 2012.

I waited 3 months to be seen by a consultant at Raigmore and it was quite the experience! He had told me he was a hand specialist (I do recall asking this) and sent me for an xray which apparently showed nothing. An MRI was ordered which I waited another 3 months for. After that I must have waited 2/3months again to see the consultant, whose receptionist told me over the phone that there was nothing obvious on the MRI result so they 'probably won't be doing anything further'.

I went to see the consultant for him to try and tell me that undiagnosed pain in the wrist is common in 'people like me, young women' and he didn't see much use in doing any more tests despite me being in pain everyday. He then told me he was going to speak to the hand specialist about it - despite telling me previously he was a hand specialist. He decided that the best option would be for me to see another consultant. Thank goodness!

In December, 10 months after the problem started, I finally got to see another consultant who told me straight away that the bone in my arm is slightly too long and could be the be part of the reason for the pain - why the first consultant couldn't see this I do not know. Thankfully this consultant managed to arrange a bone scan for me in less than a month.

On return to Raigmore to discuss the results I sat in the waiting room to listen to my old consultant bragging to his reception staff about finishing his clinic by noon! I was utterly disgraced by this! Perhaps showing some standard of care towards patients is far more important than what time he finishes at.

Ironic that I was sitting there many months after him not being able to diagnose a thing wrong with me - maybe if he wasn't so concerned by time I may have progressed with some treatment.

The problem is still undiagnosed but nothing surprises me any more, especially with such long waiting times between appointments. For the last year it has felt like there has been little care with regards to my lifestyle. Being told to live with agonising pain on a daily basis is not practical.

At one point I was given extremely strong painkillers which I was later informed by a GP were for 'large obese men' - to put it into context! Extremely disappointing to say the least.