"Rheumatic diseases unit"

This was once an amazing service but sadly no more. Staff apathy and lack of listening skills has meant that care level has dropped significantly.

I have been under the care of this service since it's foundation. I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Disease in the early 1990s, at this time there was no Rheumatology Service in Fife and as such I was under the care of Edinburgh based consultants. When the Fife Rheumatic Diseases Unit was formed the level of care, patient interaction, great consultants that took particular care to listen and indeed act on patient input was absolutely astonishing, representing healthcare for a very complex suit of diseases at its pinnacle.

Sadly in recent years the service has diminished significantly and for some patients, myself included has become an invisible service and even when called on by other specialists consultants for input to complications surrounding this broad range of Auto-Immune disorders seem unable to make timeous responses or indeed make any form of response without multiple requests to do so. This is a serious drop in basic standards and is not acceptable for people who suffer with chronic pain, depression and destruction of body tissues due to the disease. Delays in the correct diagnosis and therefore treatments have a great potential to allow unnecessary pain, suffering and damage to not only the patients but to their families.

I think this department truly needs to take an inward look at themselves and how they can perhaps learn lessons from the past, a start may be by employing people that will show a genuine interest in their patients rather than treating them indifferently and going through the motions (eventually) with them as I have experienced.

As a patient of this department since it's formation in 1994 it saddens me to make this response. Even sadder is the fact that many of the other specialists involved with my treatment for a suite of complex medical conditions are also aghast at the state that this once incredible service has fallen into, some of whom have expressed frustration at the lack of responses from them, some a level of frustration as the lack of communication has meant that they are having to hold back on treatments for conditions that may (or may not) wish to proceed with.

This situation has become quite apparent for a number of years. Unfortunately they seem to have run the service down to the very poor offering we now have in 2022.