Sorry about this blog but since coming home from what should have been a routine check up at Worcester Hospital with my consultant surgeon and should have been just a formality visit but ........................
The doctor had not been informed of my updated progress from Cheltenham hospital and nothing was in my file about it, so i had to then inform the doctor and bring him up to speed - not what should be happening, (I felt quite sorry for him and the nurse was nearly crying with the news) it should be him telling me.
Agreed with him that i could be discharged from Worcester as now nothing he can do to help me anyway. My confidence in Worcester has now gone.
On arrival home i rang Cheltenham and spoke with my oncologist secretary who informed me that a letter had been sent to Worcester back in July with a copy of my scan!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHERE IS THIS LETTER i wonder?????????????????
I have been slowly fuming away so i have now written an official letter of complaint to Worcester hospital, this not being the first about administration problems i have had with them. Hubby now gone and posted it.
Now feeling better about it now i have written it all down but i cannot believe this has happened. I am a strong person but goodness knows what it could do to someone who is not!!!!!!!!!
Will speak to my hospice nurse tomorrow about it.
A warning do not use Worcester Hospital -
DOCTORS and NURSES are great though and do all they can to help anytime. This is not a reflection on them.
This is a personal view of administration and probably someone rushing and trying to keep up with government targets.
Sorry to have sounded off but now all feeling better about it - will wait and see outcome.
FormerMember
You poor thing! I can quite understand how you feel. Worcester hospital is supposed to serve the whole of the county, and was always going to be inadequate to the purpose. However, losing your records is clearly a failure of administration. There are a lot of people in the county that rely on the hospital to serve their needs.
Some people rail against too many administrators and not enough clinical staff, but this is the kind of thing that can happen if it goes too far the other way.
Now you have written your letter of complaint, wash your hands of it, but be ready to keep copies of everything you can get your hands on.
I suspect that you need to have at least one person to act for you. Perhaps you should now make sure that your GP had a copy of this letter and scan. Just think about your own progress. If Cheltenham has occasion to refer you to Worcester again, just ask them to send you copies of all paperwork, so that you can take them with you.
In the meantime, just clarify what your oncologist and hospice can do for you. You can investigate other treatments as well. Vitamin B17, Acupuncture, the Bristol alternative centre. If you want to of course.
Many thanks for your comment Ruth and my GP does have a copy letter and scan results as i have always requested this to be done by Cheletenham (have super oncologist secretary Caroline always helpful) and i always keep copies of any letters i send (previous experience has taught me to do this).
Now putting it all to one side as that was yesterday and today is a new day which is bringing its own problems (anyone need a single adjustable bed)!!!!!!!!!!
I am having to pay for a second train journey to London as when I went down a couple of weeks ago the Marsden had not received the previous CT scans on disc from my previous hospital. I know that the Marsden wrote to them and requested them in good time as I received a copy of the letter. It may be that there is someone incompetent or indifferent in an individual post, or it may be the system at fault, with too few staff having too much, badly organised, work to do. Whatever, as you point out, it is distressing for us patients. Hoping you get better treatment from now on - and a letter of explanation. xxx Penny
I just hope that when all these things are all on line, every clinician will have access to all our scans and blood tests.
In University Hospital Birmingham, they can call up your scans on the office computer. This is a joy, and as far as I am concerned, bring it on!
If some hacker finds my colonoscopy, he is in for a treat! I thought it was fascinating and I could almost shake hands with my cancer. It was digging in for the duration, I later discovered, but it hadn't got far enough before it was removed and cut up into little pieces! Hooraaayyy!
Your home town hospital is behaving like a very naughty child Penny. The incredible sulk! Will the Marsden have you scanned again, or will you have to go and beard them in their den?
Good luck, and keep us posted. I should think everybody on this board is rooting for you.
There's a lovely expression used by my relatives in Wales: "I'm tamping mad!" and I think it ideally expresses your frustrations. However, even (in my opinion) the wonderful Royal Marsden can have its gremlins; my second lot of surgery was delayed by four hours because they lost my notes. There I was, in my suitably unfashionable hospital gown, nil-by- mouth for hours, and deciding to clean my teeth every five minutes to take the fug out of my mouth, drumming my fingernails. My husband was "tamping mad" and my surgeon was "tamping... if not incandescent" until somebody found them again. What is more these notes hadn't been sent from one hospital to another - they were lost in the same building. Let's hope your mob hang their heads in shame and spread out the red carpet for you now!
