Teleclinics need to end.

Interesting post Doh and I do understand why you put it up. From what I am seeing and hearing this looks very much like a postcode lottery. 

I was talking with my Macmillan Haematology Cancer Nurse Consultant last week (She oversees a Macmillan Project I am involved with looking to improve post cancer care across the remote areas of the Highlands) and we were talking about this very subject and where things are at in the Highlands coming out of the pandemic.

She said that clinic wise they have been back to full on face to face appointments for a while now....... with no staff having been working from home since the end of last year.

Appointment levels are back to per covid levels and even more with an extension to available appointments including 7 day a week clinics at times to deal with the referral demand.

An interesting thing is that yes they have seen higher than normal referral levels than pre covid times but more interesting an even higher percentage of the referrals not actually having cancer which is great news, but says a lot about the medical anxiety out there,

As for Teleclinics/Videoclinics, these have been part of our lives in the Highlands for rather a long time, way before covid became a thing. Not optional just normal Highland life.

Following the completion of treatments and an initial face to face checkup, regular phone 'triage' remote-clinics are arranged (more often than there would be when folks were coming to clinic) especially for those who would normally have to do a 4-5 hrs drive round trip or worse still, fly in from the Western Isles (a14hr day)

Bloods are done pre-clinic locally (GP) and loaded on to our 'joint up medical system' before the call. Regardless where we say in Scotland our medical records are available to all medical professionals using our patient CHI number.

At the end of treatment patients and/or carers are shown how to correctly check lymph-nodes and have a clear understanding of the things to look out for........ and it works.

I hope you are well.

Well mine do not include bloods anymore., just a 15 min chat.

Personally I would have thought that was the minimum they should do, but hey I am just a patient what do I know ?

I  saw the Dermatologist and opted for watch and wait with my skin cancer.

I think it's gone or the lab made a mistake and  I don't want to spend another half day in hospital if I can avoid it.

She said my rash looks like  VACCINE INDUCED thrombocytopenia and I should see a Haematologist.

Checked with my GP and asked if they had reported it as an adverse reaction, no but I can do it myself.

So I DID.

Rang the Haematology secretary, who only works 3 days a week.

The other days it puts you through to a number that rings and rings forever.

She said she can see I visited the Dermatologist and asked if she had referred me.

I said I don't know but I am referring myself.

Felt like a bit of a sword fight over the phone.

She said she would speak to him about me.

I said I will have to complain starting with PALS then the CQC then the PRESS my MP and Uncle Tom Cobley and all if he doesn't

Awaiting the good news.

I will say that our Scottish NHS is not perfect, indeed far from it to the point that they have not achieved the required 62 days from GP cancer referral to starting treatment for the last 10 years.

When I was in hospital over easter the consultant asked if I wanted a telephone follow up or face to face appointment and I said face to face and we had a brief discussion, from his point of view I took it he found calls simpler and less hassle which is not necessarily putting the patient first. It does seem to be pot luck when talking to others and some are having to push for a face to face appointment. It does seem to be changes due to covid are now being embedded as "the way we do it now"

All the Haematologists  at my hospital work privately for Spire healthcare.

They seem to treat the NHS as some sort of charity service.