hi everybody, i had apointment to see rheumy nurse tues 23/12/09 because of the snow i cant get to see her i have waitedsince 27/709 for this one, i have been given new apointment its for 25/5/10, does anyone know why i have to wait so long and thats just to see the nurse, it will take me nearly hour on bus to get to hospital outside ayr dont know why i cant go to hospital in irvine seems there is only 1 nurse that deals with rheumatology in ayrshire, sylvia

Hi ya no thats not on
maybe call nras and ask for some advice what to do they do ahv excellent medical advisors,i have ebfore helepd alot.
take care lv inky07

Try complaining to PALS Sylvia.
They are usually good at dealing with complaints.

Doreen xx

Totally gobsmacked. The word "CARE" comes to mind... I had a problem with my hospital and rang NRAS and they were very helpful. You can go to any hosptial you want to Sylvia. Best to check with NRAS and GP to find a good one that will meet your needs.

take care

That`s shocking, Sylvia - please try your GP and enlist his/her support, and as others have said, ring NRAS too.

Take care,

Kathleen x

That's shocking that you should have to wait until May, not at all acceptable. Could you ring your consultant's secretary to see if you can get an earlier appt?

If you're not happy with the hospital, is there another one nearby that you could go to instead?

I hope you get some satisfaction very soon.

Lyn

This seems so typical - I have had apointment after appointment cancelled so I went for 9 months without seeing a Consultant or Nurse - and this was just after diagnosis - apparently the Consultant went off long term sick and eventually I was moved to another Consultant without involving me. I think Rheumatology is very under funded - as the Senior Partner at the GP practice said to me 'we prefer to spend our energies and funds on things we can cure' - thanks. I had gone to the GP to discuss pain control and was offered anti-depressants as I was 'angry'.

My suggestion is that you make a fuss, complain by writing and phoning - it can make things a bit better. Is there any one else who is covered by the North Kent Health Auth - would love to hear what you think of the Rheum services in this area.

Have you thought about ringing PALS? They should be able to get things moving. A friend of mine had been waiting for test results for some months, he rang PALS and they got all his results for him in 2 hours.

Lyn

A similar thing happened to me recently so I think it's a pretty widespread thing certainly within Rheumatology.

I had a follow up, 6 monthly, appointment booked for 1 February. In the intervening period since my appointment last July I have had a number of problems that have been investigated by the consultant (numerous additional blood tests, MRI scan, CT scan) but I haven't actually seen any one other than my GP! All tests were inconclusive. My revised appointment was for the end of May at a different hospital! I phoned to complain but got no joy except to be told that my appointment was delayed because the consultant was not in clinic on February1st. So where do I end up? Back of the queue!! I tried Pals but they told me that there simply weren't any earlier appointments and I'd been given the first available one, hence the reason it was at a different hospital!

Fortunately I am okay at the moment so perhaps for me it isn't that important. I have however changed 'their' appointment for one that suits me, at the hospital of my choice, so feel a bit better about it!! For others though this type of 'appointment reorganisation' is totally unsatisfactory. Why for goodness sake couldn't the consultant get some cover for the day? Surely it's not too much to ask rather than inconvenience x number of patients, or is it?

Lyn x