"UHNS monoploy - do not pass go and do not collect..."

Both myself and my brother have been caught in the UHNS board games. We were both trannsferred to the Nuffield as NHS patients on a waiting list initiative having waited considerably longer than the 18 week maximum introduced in 2008. I was scheduled to have my surgery at the Nuffield back in January and received a admission date for May 21. At my pre op appointment my consultant decided my case was more complex so I would have to be operated on at UHNS. I waited and waited for a new date and, finally, called the consultant's secretary. Apparently being referred back to the UHNS means that you go back to the start and are treated as a new referral. The waiting list for the procedure I am to have is so long I have been told I am unlikely to get an admission date before April of next year. My brother actually got as far as being gowned up and marked (they marked the wrong side and he had to point out that it was the opposite side they were doing!) That's when they actually read his notes for the first time. Pre ops are now with a nurse on a tick list basis so no meaningful conversations. They decided he was too complex to be dealt with at the Nuffield and so bounced him back to the UHNS. Like me he has had to go to the start of the waiting list. Unlike me he only has another five months to wait for his operation. This is just playing games at the expense of other people's health. When I finally get my operation it will be three and half years from the initial referral from my GP: a two year wait to get to the Nuffield then an 18 month wait to be bounced back to the UHNS. Is this a record? PS - An entertaining drop down list for 'which department did you visit?' on the form: A&E, OT and Stop Smoking.... Maybe this is the problem - the rest of the hospital isn't actually working??