"Fracture clinic"

It saddens me to report that the consultants and their team at the fracture clinic at Lister are giving advice which is not only unhelpful, but quite detrimental to optimal recovery.

This year I have had 2 experiences in this clinic, once with my 11 year old daughter for a shoulder injury , and once for myself with dislocated elbow.

1. My daughter's experience:

Upon being referred to fracture clinic by QEII urgent care, my daughter attended her first appointment.

We were told at the appointment to simply 'see how it is and come back in two weeks'.

We duly returned in two weeks, after waiting for our appointment in a 2 hour delay, she was again told 'try moving it up and down a bit and come back in two weeks'. At this point I had had enough of substandard 'advice' from someone who didn't seem to care much and booked her in for private physio, where she was given a set of exercises to strengthen the joint and aid recovery.

I could have learned more from Google than I learned from the 'consultant' we saw!

2. My experience:

Upon being referred to fracture clinic by Lister A&E following a dislocated elbow, I attended my first appointment.

I had been fitted with a temporary cast in A&E (who were very good, by the way)

I was told by the consultant (in a rather dismissive manner) that I should keep the temporary cast on for a further 2 weeks (2 weeks - that magic number??) and then return to clinic, when I would likely be immobilised in a brace for a further 4 weeks. I went to the fracture clinic reception desk to organise this, and was told, quite abruptly, that I would 'receive an appointment in the post'.

The appointment arrived in post and was for 3 weeks' time not 2 weeks, when I had clearly communicated to all staff that I would be away on a family holiday. (bear in mind I was still in temporary backslab plaster cast at this stage). This just did not feel right to me at all so I again transferred to private health care.

I saw an upper limb specialist yesterday who immediately removed the plaster cast within seconds of me walking into his office and told me that if I had followed the advice given to me in fracture clinic, I probably would have had severe problems moving the elbow again.

I realise I am fortunate to be in a position to get private healthcare, and I'm also fully aware how stretched the NHS is, but I really feel for those that are not in this position.

It seems to me there are some key improvements to be made at fracture clinic, most of them would be very simple and free to make: eg re-training attitudes of staff (administrative and medical) to act in an appropriate and caring manner and be happy to discuss concerns and alternative courses of treatments.

In the spirit of fairness I will also submit a positive review for the A&E department to reflect my experience there.