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"Very Very Disappointing."

About: St Michael's Hospital (Bristol)

My visit to the ENT Department was a repeat visit after complaining about the behaviour of a junior member of staff, a complaint which i felt was resolved satisfactorily and the outcome was that i was to have a consultation with a senior member of staff to try and get to the bottom of things, i have been messed around quite a lot with nobody really grabbing the bull by the horns and committing themselves to helping me subsequently leaving me in a limbo for the best part for ten years. Sadly I have to say the person i saw at St Michael's behaviour was worse than the junior staff member i'd previously complained about and now i can see why the junior staff member behaved the way they did if this is the type of people training them. The individual i saw behaved very aggressively and argumentatively towards me and behaved as though i was not worthy of being in their presence and i was wasting their time. They told me i had a medical problem that had been previously been discounted by FOUR other consultants and told me i wasn't ever going to get better and to go away. This person was not interested in anything we had to say even though through a chat with my GP (who actually told me to tell the consultant their thoughts on my symptoms to which i did) we thought we might be getting somewhere with a diagnosis and finally help/treatment for this. Every time we asked a question there was a 'No' answer back and an explanation where symptoms i didn't have were made to fit his diagnosis. It seems to me among the ENT Consultants there seems to be a real culture of them only wanting to help someone if they are interested while fobbing off the rest and sending them home. Such a shame as we are all living, breathing, sentient beings with feelings who come to these people because we are suffering and desperately need them to help us. This whole experience has left me very sad, and still very very poorly. There is a tiny glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel because apparently i can go to a special clinic although the ENT Consultant I saw went to great lengths to express how pointless they thought the idea was as they told me i had a medical condition four other consultants said i didn't have as my symptoms weren't typical of it, maybe at this special clinic we will finally get somewhere, but, rather sadly, i expect to be treated the same way yet again. I am at the point where I am too tired and too unwell to fight with these people which i feel is what they wanted from the start.

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Responses

Response from St Michael's Hospital 10 years ago
St Michael's Hospital
Submitted on 04/04/2014 at 17:40
Published on nhs.uk on 05/04/2014 at 04:00


Thank you for taking the time to post a comment on NHS Choices. We are very sorry to hear that you have had cause to raise concerns about the ENT clinical staff on two separate occasions now, and will share this feedback with the service. Although we appreciate that you may not wish to pursue this issue further, particularly as you have been referred on to another clinic, we would very much like to fully investigate the experiences you describe. To enable us to do this we would be grateful if you would contact our Patient Support and Complaints Team (0117 342 3604/ pals@uhbristol.nhs.uk). Thank you again for your feedback.

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