My mother who is approaching 70 years of age has been in extreme pain with gall stones that have calcified.
She is constantly in pain and has been taking codeine to help with the pain.
She has no quality of life at the moment and can barely move.
She also suffers with Lupus.
Her GP referred her for surgery to remove her gall bladder quite a few months ago but with the new appointment changes at the hospital they lost the referral!
The GP sent another letter about 3-4 weeks ago putting it as urgent.
My mother had to call the hospital last week to chase up as she had not heard anything.
The person she spoke to was quite rude and said that yes they had received the referral but as the department is an 'excellence in their filed' they get a lot of referrals for surgery and this can result in an up to 5 month wait for an appointment.
5 months?
How on earth can my mother wait for this length of time? Being on codeine or worst morphine for this time? No, I don't think so!
The person she spoke to then said that she could call round other hospitals to see if she could go on their waiting list.
Why on earth should she have to do this?
She did call Worthing hospital who said that they cannot put her on a waiting list without a referral! Again, what on earth is going on with the NHS?
Not good.
Maybe, as the department is 'excellent' they should concentrate on patient care, then they truly would be 'Excellent'.
"Waiting times for gall bladder removal"
About: Royal Sussex County Hospital Royal Sussex County Hospital Brighton BN2 5BE
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