The NHS waiting list.

[10ClarionSt]

This is one way to reduce the number of people on the waiting list.

You have seen your doctor and he has contacted the hospital to arrange an appointment for you.

The hospital send you a letter with the time and date of your appointment. It says that you must phone within 7 days to confirm your acceptance or to arrange an alternative appointment.

You call the number given every day, and it's constantly engaged, despite the fact that you press 5 for "ring back".

After 7 days of being unsuccessful, your name is removed from the waiting list because you have failed to confirm your appointment.

Ipso Fatso! Waiting list is reduced!

[sandbach99]

The local way to reduce waiting lists is your GP contacts the hospital, you are told to wait for a letter from the hospital this usually arrives at least 4 weeks later, this letter asks you to ring to arrange a mutually convienient appointment again at least 4 weeks forward, therefore you have waited 1 month or more to even reach the waiting list stats. If you require surgery there is a waiting list to get on the waiting list! you are sent a letter about 6 months before you can be operated on, this is laughingly called a pre-op check, a nurse checks things like do you smoke, had an operation before etc, the most done is a blood-pressure and temperature check, that is when you start waiting on the governments list.
I attend Public and Patient Influence meetings run by the local NHS, this has been raised and confirmed as true by the NHS managers taking the meetings.

[campbellking]

Waiting list at one hospital was monumentally reduced by them contacting everyone on it to see if they still wanted treatment. A large number of them had passed away.

[flip-flop]

and that, suerly, is the crux of the problem.....too many managers at the expense of clinical staff.

[willspal]

A friend of mine recently visited her Doctors with a suspect mole that had turned black. She was given an appointment with a specialist at the end of August !!!!!!!!!!!! She did have some Private Health Insurance so contacted them, they set her up an appointment at the Private Hospital next door to the NHS hospital for that very same afternoon. She was seen 6 hours after visiting her Doctor and was given the all clear the same week.

I don't know the answers to the appauling waiting list problem but I have waited nearly 8 weeks for an appointment for a kidney scan. Actually making the appointment was very easy and apart from the wait it was all fine.

WP

[SaxyJag]

There is the ruse where your doc refers you to the hospital, they send you a letter to say they'll contact you in x number of weeks giving you an appointment. More than x number of weeks passes, so you phone them to find out what's happen, and they tell you your appointment was three months ago and you failed to turn up for it.

"Well you must have had a letter!"

"Nope."

"Well we sent one."

"So where is it?"

"Well you must have had a letter!" Duh!

So we've had to ask the doc for another referral. However, we've also written to our MP, who also happens to be a certain health secretary.

[Andy Boz]

Too many clerical staff, not enough nursing.

However.......as a person who owes his life to the NHS, following open heart surgery and valve replacement at 37 years old, I can only comment on what I found.

I was asked by a clipboard wielding suit one day "on a scale of 1 to 10, how well were the chips cooked?".

I also found that the wait for Cardiac surgery is governed not by surgeons, but by ITU beds. All patients deserve 100%, and if it was down to the surgeons, they would operate 24 hours, indeed cardiac transplants are done in the night. I was told ITU beds are booked at �10,000 per day.

As for waiting lists for other ops, I have no experience, so cannot comment.

[nursecarla]

there is not enough clerical staff in actual fact, there are way too many suits that is the problem

[lisa74656]

I was supposed to be refered to a ENT consultant after a hearing test where they found that my ear drum moves more than normal. The hearing test was over 2 years ago and i never heard anything from the hospital (what little there is left of it!!) Not a major problem but even so!

I live in Crawley (Gatwick Airport is in the town) and our hospital has pretty much been completely transferred to Redhill which is a 20 min (no big a roads or motorways to get there and could take an hour in rush hour). We now have no A+E (just a walk-in centre for minor injuries), Maternity services, no chilrdens ward and almost no surgery takes place there anymore. The hospital is pretty much standing empty. The waiting lists are obvoiusly now much longer. God forbid there is an incident at Gatwick as god only knows what will happen! What's worse is that our heathcare trust is millions of pound in debt and have just announced that they will be cutting 400 jobs! Oh yeah and our local MP is a former Nurse!!! Nice to know she's doing her job!!