Re: Well the doctor has done it now!

[Guest guest]

Hi Carol

I'd request the local PALS to investigate on your behalf.

If it's a 'cheap' way of avoiding costs to the GP budget.....??

I'm sure you know which of the doc's items to saw off... & not the stethoscope.

I hope your mum is improving after her 'urgent assessment'.

Bob

>

> My mother has been trying to get a nhs appointment with a thyroid dr. her gp

said it would be a waste of nhs funds to do that and she could have a private

appointment only, so we had one on the 11th November and he did the bloods on

the nhs but he said he thinks she has arterial fribrilation and needs a ecg, not

sure how long you will wait on the nhs we can do one now if you pay, so we did,

and yes it showed she has AF. the dr faxed the letter to my mothers gp that day,

not heard a thing he requested a nhs referral to him and that she needed to see

a cardiac dr. Anyway on Wednesday this week my mother was very unwell, I hadnt

seen her but had spoken on the phone the night before, rang the surgery to get

an appointment that day told it does not work like that and somone will ring me

at 10.30am they did it was another dr from the practice, made an appointment

with the dr that refused the nhs refferal for endo. I decided to wait in the car

as i did not want to see him it would have been nasty, anyway she got called in

to see another dr not him. The dr did not examine my mother at all but did tell

her they were not worried about her AF gave her a prescription and told her to

come back Friday if no better, to be honest i was expecting her to be sent

straight to hospital she was clearly very unwell. Oh forgot as my mother was

leaving the room the dr said you dont look well!

>

> Anyway, took her home, i had another engagement and had to go off right away

but was not long and went back to my mothers home, was going to go get her

prescription, but she looked so unwell i phoned my sister and my eldest

daughter, sister lives to far away, my daughter arrived and we decided to get an

ambulance, they were fantastic they took my mothers temp and it was 39.1 and as

she has copd and other ailments they deicded to take her to hospital, they did

ecg in the ambulance before they left and told me she has af.

>

> The hospital has arranged for some more heart tests which her gp was refusing.

They are in a few weeks time

>

> The hospital put her on warfrin straight away and iv antibiotics they have

been fantastic.

>

> What do i now do about my mothers gp who still refuses to refer her.

> Love

> Carol

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Bob

She came home today she had pneumonia

Carol

> >

> > My mother has been trying to get a nhs appointment with a thyroid dr. her gp

said it would be a waste of nhs funds to do that and she could have a private

appointment only, so we had one on the 11th November and he did the bloods on

the nhs but he said he thinks she has arterial fribrilation and needs a ecg, not

sure how long you will wait on the nhs we can do one now if you pay, so we did,

and yes it showed she has AF. the dr faxed the letter to my mothers gp that day,

not heard a thing he requested a nhs referral to him and that she needed to see

a cardiac dr. Anyway on Wednesday this week my mother was very unwell, I hadnt

seen her but had spoken on the phone the night before, rang the surgery to get

an appointment that day told it does not work like that and somone will ring me

at 10.30am they did it was another dr from the practice, made an appointment

with the dr that refused the nhs refferal for endo. I decided to wait in the car

as i did not want to see him it would have been nasty, anyway she got called in

to see another dr not him. The dr did not examine my mother at all but did tell

her they were not worried about her AF gave her a prescription and told her to

come back Friday if no better, to be honest i was expecting her to be sent

straight to hospital she was clearly very unwell. Oh forgot as my mother was

leaving the room the dr said you dont look well!

> >

> > Anyway, took her home, i had another engagement and had to go off right away

but was not long and went back to my mothers home, was going to go get her

prescription, but she looked so unwell i phoned my sister and my eldest

daughter, sister lives to far away, my daughter arrived and we decided to get an

ambulance, they were fantastic they took my mothers temp and it was 39.1 and as

she has copd and other ailments they deicded to take her to hospital, they did

ecg in the ambulance before they left and told me she has af.

> >

> > The hospital has arranged for some more heart tests which her gp was

refusing. They are in a few weeks time

> >

> > The hospital put her on warfrin straight away and iv antibiotics they have

been fantastic.

> >

> > What do i now do about my mothers gp who still refuses to refer her.

> > Love

> > Carol

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Hi CarolI totally agree with Bob on this - you need to complain to PALS - if the GP thought your mother could have AF this would be an urgent referral and she wouldnt be waiting - so it does look like a stupid GPs misguided attempt to either save money - not for the NHS but for GPs when they go into GP Commissioning and gain the actual budgets/monies, or a similar stupid and misguided attempt to fob you / your mother off as he thinks/thought she wasnt ill.Nowhere in PBC or GPcommissioning should there be an attempt to push patients to taking private care instead of the NHS.A similar thing happened to a

family friend who went privately, fortunately as she had bowel cancer and had been operated on by the time the 'routine appointment' came through. We wrote a letter to PALS and within a day of being contacted by the PALS team the GP agreed to reimburse (from his own pocket hee hee!) the cost of the private referral - I think the apology probably hurt him the most.do it do it do it and if you want some help email me privately - I work for a PCT !Gill

I'd request the local PALS to investigate on your behalf.

If it's a 'cheap' way of avoiding costs to the GP budget.....??

I'm sure you know which of the doc's items to saw off... & not the stethoscope.

thinks she has arterial fribrilation and needs a ecg, not sure how long you will wait on the nhs we can do one now if you pay, so we did, and yes it showed she has AF.

[Guest guest]

Gill the gp had a copy of the ecg faxed to them, by the endo. he only suggested

doing it as he thought it was needed now, he is not out for money he is a lovely

man. The gp has not contacted my mother with regard to the letter he sent via

fax with the ecg printout the only thing they have said is we are not worried

about it.

I want to string em up. They refused a nhs referal to an endo. would only offer

private referal. and they have not contacted my mother about the ecg at all.

Carol

>

> Hi CarolI totally agree with Bob on this -  you need to complain to PALS - if

the GP thought your mother could have AF this would be an urgent referral and

she wouldnt be waiting - so it does look like a stupid GPs misguided attempt to

either save money - not for the NHS but for GPs when they go into GP

Commissioning and gain the actual budgets/monies, or a similar stupid and

misguided attempt to fob you / your mother off as he thinks/thought she wasnt

ill.Nowhere in PBC or GPcommissioning should there be an attempt to push

patients to taking private care instead of the NHS.

>

> A similar thing happened to a family friend who went privately, fortunately as

she had bowel cancer and had been operated on by the time the 'routine

appointment' came through.  We wrote a letter to PALS and within a day of being

contacted by the PALS team the GP agreed to reimburse (from his own pocket hee

hee!) the cost of the private referral - I think the apology probably hurt him

the most.

>

> do it do it do it and if you want some help email me privately - I work for a

PCT !

>

> Gill

>

>

> I'd request the local PALS to investigate on your behalf.

>

> If it's a 'cheap' way of avoiding costs to the GP budget.....??

>

> I'm sure you know which of the doc's items to saw off... & not the stethoscope.

>

>

> thinks she has arterial fribrilation and needs a ecg, not sure how long you

will wait on the nhs we can do one now if you pay, so we did, and yes it showed

she has AF.

>

[Guest guest]

contact me off line - there are grounds to complain Im sure. GillGill the gp had a copy of the ecg faxed to them, by the endo. he only suggested doing it as he thought it was needed now, he is not out for money he is a lovely man. The gp has not contacted my mother with regard to the letter he sent via fax with the ecg printout the only thing they have said is we are not worried about it.

I want to string em up. They refused a nhs referal to an endo. would only offer private referal. and they have not contacted my mother about the ecg at all.

[Guest guest]

thyroid treatment/files/MAKING%20A%20COMPLAINT/

On the link above is 's experience about making a

complaint about a doctor. Read what she did and take on board all her tips.

To follow the NHS complaints procedure, read here http://www.nhs.uk/choiceintheNHS/Rightsandpledges/complaints/Pages/NHScomplaints.aspx

Do remember that it is extremely important that you keep copies

of everything you send and everything that is sent to you. Get the names of

everybody involved and their position. If possible record any telephone calls

that come from this complaint. Start the complaint procedure as soon as

possible. Contact Gill, as she has mentioned, privately and she will help you.

Luv - Sheila

Anyway, took her home, i had another engagement and had to go off right away

but was not long and went back to my mothers home, was going to go get her

prescription, but she looked so unwell i phoned my sister and my eldest

daughter, sister lives to far away, my daughter arrived and we decided to get

an ambulance, they were fantastic they took my mothers temp and it was 39.1 and

as she has copd and other ailments they deicded to take her to hospital, they

did ecg in the ambulance before they left and told me she has af.

The hospital has arranged for some more heart tests which her gp was refusing.

They are in a few weeks time

The hospital put her on warfrin straight away and iv antibiotics they have been

fantastic.

What do i now do about my mothers gp who still refuses to refer her.

[Guest guest]

I found ICAS very helpful -they are independant unlike PALS . It is worth trying

PALS first . If this is not satisfactory { It wasn't in my case - I tried Pals

twice } ICAS will help with the complaint as an independant mediator and will

attend complaints meetings . It may be very important to have an independant

voice . If there is a complaints meeting ask for it to be taped to ensure that

their is a complete record of what is said . If it does have to go to the

Ombudsman don't worry ,they are very helpful .I also believe it helps them if

you send in a set of correspondance etc in order and easily looked through .

Best wishes

[Guest guest]

Carol

Just to add my voice to the PALS idea – I’ve

used them to complain about my previous endo (I have Graves

and TED) and they were FANTASTIC!!!  I had a three page letter of apology

within two days of raising a complaint.  The other bonus about PALS is that is

helps patients and doctors TALK to each other so the fact that its not

escalating things immediately means that you have more of a chance that the

doctor will back down, see sense, and actually help you rather than get very

defensive and start lying or denying there are issues.   

I’ve since sacked my endo and now have a new

one (see my post about the world’s best endo) that I also see privately

but my GP is co-operating on the blood tests and prescriptions to keep costs

down as I don’t have insurance.  Think GP has realised – because of

the above -  I’m very ill and I know this is going to sound manipulative

but a friend of mine who is two years into an insurance claim / medical dispute

for a very bad car accident told me to lay it on with a trowel. 

I got a bit of a lecture that it cost £60 every

time I wanted to see my GP (says the man with the Audi  A3 S2 fully loaded

sports car parked outside the surgery, he’s not doing too badly) and I

burst into noisy tears (which were genuine as it goes, but very unlike me) but I

discovered that my little meltdown did wonders.  I now have no British

squeamishness about letting them see how upset I am (which I am, I’m not

lying, I’m just not holding it in!!).   What I’m saying is now is

not the time for a stiff upper lip, now is the time for great familial

distress!!!!     

I would also agree with the others and say and make

sure you send in a very thorough, chronological, dated, accurate history of

what happened and back this up with references to tests.  Keep it very firm but

very professional.

I would also reassure you that there are some very

good, sympathetic doctors out there – my endo keeps trying to switch me

back to NHS (he’s not trying to rip me off) but I keep refusing as the

care is so much better that I am not risking shoddy treatment again until I am

stable.

Good luck with everything, and thank God your mum

has you fighting her corner, think of all the elderly ladies out there who have

no-one, it’s a disgrace.

Best wishes

x

Hi Bob

She came home today she had pneumonia

Carol

I am using the Free version of SPAMfighter.SPAMfighter has removed 3032 of my spam emails to date.Do you have a slow PC? Try free scan!

[Guest guest]

I too have heard that ICAS is the best way forward with such

complaints. I am hearing more and more that PALS are not as independent as we

would like to believe they are. Try to take somebody with you to every meeting

- better to have two heads than one.

Luv - Sheila

From: thyroid treatment

[mailto:thyroid treatment ] On Behalf Of mary36white

Sent: 27 November 2010 12:52

thyroid treatment

Subject: Re: Well the doctor has done it now!

I found ICAS very helpful -they are independant

unlike PALS . It is worth trying PALS first . If this is not satisfactory { It

wasn't in my case - I tried Pals twice } ICAS will help with the complaint as

an independant mediator and will attend complaints meetings . It may be very

important to have an independant voice . If there is a complaints meeting ask

for it to be taped to ensure that their is a complete record of what is said .

If it does have to go to the Ombudsman don't worry ,they are very helpful .I

also believe it helps them if you send in a set of correspondance etc in order

and easily looked through . Best wishes