NHS cancelled ops - what excuses have people been given ?

by jhine 2 Replies latest jw experiences

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  jhine

  sorry that this thread is off track , but I am curious about reasons given to people about operations being cancelled . We had the experience recently of my husband getting to the waiting room at 7.30 am , being told that he was on the afternoon list and then sat on a hard chair in the waiting and told to well ,wait . He is diabetic but that did not factor into the decision to leave him until the afternoon with no food , which we found strange .

  He had gotten his gown and fetching stockings on and waited for five and a half hours on said hard chair , in some discomfort , when someone appeared to tell us that the op was cancelled and that we should go home . NOw the reason given was that the surgery of the person currenly on tha table was not going well and that the docs had no idea when that op would be finished . What do you say to that ? you cannot argue when you are thinking that this poor person is in difficulty can you ?

  However since then I have heard of others in the same position as us being given the same reason . So do lots of ops go wrong , yes possibly , or is this a stock excuse against whic there is little that you can say ?

  Any comments about similar experiences please .

  Jan
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  jgnat

  Frankly as I will be in that same waiting room a few hours from now, I do not want to hear any horror stories. I was warned that the surgery may be cancelled if they run out of beds. Hospitals do not work on a first-come-first served basis but rather triage. I am diabetic as well and I was told my sugar would be tested regularly through the day. We shall see.
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  nonjwspouse

  My own father was one of those the Dr had no idea was so complicated. As we all waited n the same waiting room my fathers 1+ hour surgery turned iinto almost 8 hours.The family of the person scheduled behind him was told that thier family member's surgery was cancelled. At This hospital the names of the paitent and Dr are on a scrolling video board with progress reports. Dad's surgery ended up inolving two specialy surgeons, two seperate incisions one in front and one in back due to massie previous pancrititis scar tissue that is evidently not visible on pre op scans

  OTOH my father was also placed in the same position you describe, diabetic, in a hard chair with no food all day, just waiting on preop testing one day. I was livid and wrotre scathing letters to the hospital about this type of delay, with no regard to their need for food and hydration, for such a sick paitent. They started to send us home but we live over 2 housrs away and had been there since 6am. I blew a gasket and asked why this was happening. Evidently the hospital didn't like my obvious public displeasure so they jumped into action.

  I learned when it is appropriate to be the squeeky wheel, and sometimes it is nesesary.