Not Impressed NHS !?!?! – Frozen Shoulder

Posted by picandput on Feb 16, 2015 in Training General | 4 comments

Well today was my appointment to see the specialist over at Peterborough Hospital about my frozen shoulder complaint and hopefully get this sorted out asap so I can get my required class 2 medical.

Appointment for 10:15, not wanting to be late I turned up at a generous 09:30 and checked in. Took my seat, got the paper out and settled down happy in the knowledge I was on time and ready.

10:30 arrives, I have pretty much exhausted the newspaper by now, still, nobody has called my name.

10:45 comes and goes and I am starting to get a little concerned i may be sat in the wrong area or not heard the call so I pop along to the nearest desk and enquire… ah yes Mr Warren, Mr.Specialist is running a little late, he should be with you soon, there are two people ahead of you.. came the reply.. it’s now 11 o’clock and I have noticed the specialist’s name on two nearby doors and there are vacant seats nearby, I quickly take one so as not to miss my name being called.

It’s now 11:30, and the two people ahead of me are still sat here ! One of them is complaining to his partner about the waste of time and how he was supposed to be seen at 10 am and there is a mountain of paper work waiting to be done back home, it would seem I am not the only self employed/contractor in the queue today, and like Mr.10am, I too am loosing money sat here, no work, no pay !

It rolls over midday and Mr.10am is called, great I thought, me next and they have been averaging 15 minutes per appointment. I have now been sat here 2 and a half hours, so much for making sure I was on time !

12:20 – ‘Paul Warren ! ‘ that be me. Ushered into a side room, the assistant asks me to remove my shirt and hands me a clipboard containing a number of questions. ‘Please fill this in and I will be back in minute’, as she disappears into an adjoining room. The questionnaire enquires about how debilitating my condition is and I quickly compete the form. Shortly after the assistant returns with a puzzled look on her face… ‘It does not seem you have been down to x-ray yet or had your ultrasound pictures done ?’ .. you would be correct, no I have not I replied, I have not been asked to. ‘Well it seems there has been some kind of mix up and you should have had an x-ray and ultrasound before seeing the specialist…’ Whilst she is saying this there is a look and a tone in her voice that’s suggesting I go and have these done right now…. ‘you mean you want me to go and get these done right now ?’ I enquired, with a not so pleasant look nor tone, to which the assistant replied with a nod of the head… ‘ I have been sat outside for nearly 3 hours ! and now you want me to go and get x-rays and ultrasound images, why on earth has nobody requested I do that in the past 3 hours whilst I waited ?’ , there was no meaningful reply, ‘well I’m sorry, but I think I have sat here long enough and I’m far from Impressed, I will not be having those done today, I have other things to do this afternoon, please send me an appointment for the scans and x-ray.’ I duly put my shirt back on and strode off out of the room and down the corridor shaking my head at all the other 2hr late appointments sat waiting.

I returned to my car, oh, after paying for the 3 waisted hours of my life in car park fees,  where my wife had decided to stay, expecting it to be all of an hours wait! She had a face like thunder when I returned and that’s before I told her it had all been a waste of time !

 

This is a major set back at getting this shoulder sorted and being able to attend a class 2 medical!