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Services not joined up

Posted By Albalass

"Services not joined up"

About: General practices in Lothian St John's Hospital / Paediatrics

(as a service user),

Over the past 18 months my son has been having problems with back pain. We attended GP and after medication didn't help were asked to self refer to physio service. When we called through we were told that because he was under 16 it had to be a GP referral.  A call to GP sorted this but then the wait began. After several weeks we had an appt sent through and we diligently attended all sessions. At the last appt the physio who we had been seeing said that there was nothing further that she could do and that they had spoken to the Advanced Physio Practitioners and consultant who recommended further investigation be done BUT because he is under 16 they could not put him into the normal back pain pathway which is serviced by Advanced Practitioners and consultants. This would mean having to go back to GP. We waited for a further GP appt (all the time my son is in pain) and then told that a referral would be made. 

3 weeks later things worsened and we attended GP again who took bloods and sent for an x-ray. 

Having waited to have x-ray done was told by radiographer that Gold standard is MRI so they wouldn't do xray. Cue a very upset 15 year old who just wants his back to get better. 

A call to paediatric secretaries to find out how long it would take for an appt to be sent  = end of January 2018 for the appt itself to most likely be May 2018 for him to be told he needs an MRI and then have to wait months for that to happen because he is under 16!!!!

This is just not acceptable and all I see is a lad who is in pain with local service that cannot seem to get their act together. 

Come on NHS Lothian. You can do better!! 

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Responses

Response from Jeannette Morrison, Head of Patient Experience, NHS Lothian 6 years ago
Jeannette Morrison
Head of Patient Experience,
NHS Lothian

Submitted on 30/11/2017 at 11:06
Published on Care Opinion at 15:28

Dear Albalass

Thank you very much for sharing your feedback with us regarding your son's back pain and his experiences with his GP and the physios, it sounds as though this is a difficult time for everyone, especially your son.

If you feel able I would encourage you to discuss your son's condition again with the GP as they will be able to make any referral for you son, especially if you feel that your son's condition has deteriorated.

Alternatively, please contact the Patient Experience Team and we can see how we can help;

Email - feedback@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk

Telephone - 0131 536 3370

Kind regards

Jeannette

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by Albalass (a service user)

Hi Jeanette.

He has been referred to orthopaedics and this is why the referral process will take so long and why the frustration of having to go through yet another full referral set up is just unacceptable when as an adult the process is streamlined.

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