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St Richards - again!!!

Spikeyjaycee

New Member
Hi guys. I'm sorry if this sounds like a broken record but I'm having another moan about St Richards.
You may recall I spoke to my GP last month and he tried to get some information as to the delay and he got nowhere so he wrote and faxed the letter to Mr Slater?
Well today I received a copy of the response:

Dear Dr ......
Thank you for your letter of 10 September 2009. I am sorry that Julie has had to wait so long for her surgery. At the end of last year and the beginning of this year, we were so overwhelmed by referrals that we had no choice to close for new referrals. We are now working our way through the backlog and hopefully will get to Julie soon. Looking through data, the decision to treat date for Julie was 15 September 2009, which means we have to complete her surgery by March 2010. We are currently able to meet a 26 week target, but not the new 18 week target.

I look forward to completing Julie's surgery in due course. Once again I am sorry for the delay in treating her but the number of referrals was beyond our control.

Yours sincerely....etc

Now how have they come to the conclusion my decison to treat date was 15 Sept 2009 when I saw the consultant on 30 April 2009 and the funding was approved in August 2008?
Also the bit about the end of last year and beginning of this year closing for new referrals - I was already in the system at that point wasn't I????

I'm sorry if I sound like a broken record keep going on about this but I really feel I've been treated badly by the administration. Whether the letter I wrote to Mr Slater the other day will have any effect as I have given clear evidence of others having considerably shorter waiting time, I don't know.

Am I the only one this has happened to? Has anyone else had such a long wait from initial referral to actual operation?

Thanks for listening . I'm off for a bar of Galaxy now!!:confused:
 

serenitylove

New Member
im with st richards i waited a year from start to finish of process at least you have some ideaof when it will be not much conselation i know but fingrs crossed they get to you soon
 

tubbyspud

New Member
Julie, im sorry that you feel you've been treated badly by St Richards it does look like things have changed a little since my op, from start to finish on the 1st April i waited a year & 1 week till my op. For the last two months of waiting i rang weekly and always found Christine and Tara very helpful although no answer as to definite dates could be given, there job is very stressful & difficult with the amount of referals & queries they have to get through as well as clinic reception on a daily basis that they cover. One good thing is that you have been given a cut off date so you can look forward to that, you never know you might get it done sooner. Please now take some time to relax and think about positive things other than the operation, try some relaxation techniques they really helped me. Sorry i can't be anymore help, i've probably not helped at all. x
 

Big an Bouncy

New Member
As others have said at least you have a date to work towards,not left wondering.Maz x
 

phatmomma

New Member
Still a long wait, but at least you have it in black n white! xx
 
Hospitals all over the country are absolutely inundated with bariatric surgery referrals, and although all of you who are waiting are really desperate, the hospitals are probably doing the best they can under the circumstances. I suppose that is why a lot of people want to pay to go private although of course not everyone is wanting to fork out hard earned cash for surgery. Just do the best you can with your eating in the meantime. Good luck.
 

tubbyspud

New Member
Hospitals all over the country are absolutely inundated with bariatric surgery referrals, and although all of you who are waiting are really desperate, the hospitals are probably doing the best they can under the circumstances. I suppose that is why a lot of people want to pay to go private although of course not everyone is wanting to fork out hard earned cash for surgery. Just do the best you can with your eating in the meantime. Good luck.
Well said, i agree totally basically what i was trying to get over.. x
 

teapot1966

New Member
Well said, i agree totally basically what i was trying to get over.. x

Can I just say something here. St Richards have got themselves very badly out of kilter. They are giving patients excuse after excuse for not treating them in the time scales they should be sticking too. Yes, they are inundated, but it does not excuse their appaulling admin or at times total rudeness, also the incorrect and misleading information that they have passed to their patients, some of whom seem to have been sidelined for no absolute reason whatsoever.
In addition to that, not everyone has the luxury of being able to afford to go private, if you can, that's excellent, but for patients who are with Chichester, the whole experience is extremely frustrating and annoying.
Spikeyjaycee (Julie) I am so so sorry that you are having to put up with their incompetent attitude and lack of commitment to what they promised. I think it is totally and utterly appaulling.
In all honesty, they need to stop all other work and clear their damm lists.
 
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EmmaLouise81

New Member
By all other work I guess you mean private surgery? As someone who HOPES to go private I don't think it is very fair to say that as I would be willing to wait a few years for surgery if I could have it on the NHS unfortunately I can't...there is absoloutely no chance of it here in N.Ireland.

The surgeons have every right to take on private patients, I know I would if I worked for the NHS.

I know it must be a fraustrating wait but I feel St.Richards gets a really bad rap for something that is out of their control. They can only operate on so many people every day, I am sure if they could do more they would.
 

thinkbethin

New Member
Stay strong Julie. At least your name has now been brought to their attention and maybe you will get seen quicker. A few phone calls to keep them aware of you may help too. keep ringing and asking if there have been any cancellations and if so could you be put forward.Let them know you would accept a cancellation. Good luck sweetheartxx
 

teapot1966

New Member
By all other work I guess you mean private surgery? As someone who HOPES to go private I don't think it is very fair to say that as I would be willing to wait a few years for surgery if I could have it on the NHS unfortunately I can't...there is absoloutely no chance of it here in N.Ireland.

Sorry, you have missed the point entirely.
Fat Doctor is filmed at St Richards that must put the NHS work back. It seems that the NHS patients are shoved down the list like second class citizens because we are unable to afford private surgery. If I could afford to go private I would however my circumstances do not permit.
Where as I know I am very grateful that my operation is being done free, the point of my answer to the post was that the administration at St Richards, and it is only St Richards I am referring to because that is all I know about, is extremely poor and unstructured.
They know they are not hitting targets at all.

Poor spikeyjaycee has watched others come in after her and go past her and be operated on - why? How has that happened?

I agree, surgeons are entirely free to take on private patients, that is not my gripe - however, there must be a certain amount of hours offered for NHS surgery alone if they are taking on a contract to provide something and not providing it within that time then they are not offering good services to the community.

If you employed a gardener to landscape your garden and he kept putting other work in front of yours although he had allocated the time and promised to get the job done by a certain date wouldnt you be annoyed?

A lot of us at St R's have been given cut off dates which have come and gone.
That is the gripe in question not private vs NHS.
 
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mandyl

New Member
3rd time ive tried posting this so shorter than before
i think we should give st richards a break. i know its frustrating and i feel for julie i really do. i dont understand though what people are saying,blaming private work? fat dr? or what? i dont doubt theyve taken on too many referals but it was with the best of intentions surely. im not sure if the other surgeons do other work but i know mr slater is a gi surgeon so does nhs trust work too. i dont usually say much cos i dont like to upset people and hope i havent in this but when i was in as an emergency recently i was in such a state mr slater came to see me personally should he not have then?
 

teapot1966

New Member
3rd time ive tried posting this so shorter than before
i think we should give st richards a break. i know its frustrating and i feel for julie i really do. i dont understand though what people are saying,blaming private work? fat dr? or what? i dont doubt theyve taken on too many referals but it was with the best of intentions surely. im not sure if the other surgeons do other work but i know mr slater is a gi surgeon so does nhs trust work too. i dont usually say much cos i dont like to upset people and hope i havent in this but when i was in as an emergency recently i was in such a state mr slater came to see me personally should he not have then?

Mandy, you won't have upset anyone with your comments at all.

There is no problem with St R's itself, just that they are unable to keep to their timescales, promised dates, targets shift continually - and I do feel, as someone who has been told one date and then 'miraculously' the date has suddenly changed for no real given reason, that they are being very unfair and unprofessional. By they, I am talking about the people who decide on who is where on the waiting list. Also, those who administer the lists and put the new people onto the lists.

We all know that now the lists are closed, they (the administrators) just need to keep a close check on, and ensure that the team are now sticking to their work load as much as possible.
 

mandyl

New Member
thats good. yeah i agree with that. admin do seem to be a bit crap. well ok very crap. xx
 

Spikeyjaycee

New Member
[FONT=&quot]Hi guys. Sorry if I've caused any bad feeling cos of my moans about the hospital and waiting times. Just to clarify what I am complaining about I've cut and pasted an excert from the letter I sent to Mr Slater giving examples of dates and timescales that others on this board have experienced. (If you recognise any of them - no names were given in the letter itself, just the dates. If I've got anyone's dates wrong too, I was just going by what was on here)[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Date referred Date Saw Date of[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]To Hospital Consultant Operation[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Aug 2008 22 April 2009 13 June 2009 [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Oct 2008 1 May 2009 19 August 2009 [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Oct 2008 May 2009 27 May 2009 [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] 16 April 2009 24 June 2009 [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Aug 2008 Feb 2009 1 July 2009 [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] 11 May 2009 Nov 2009 (tbc) [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Jan 2009 27 August 2009
[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]In my case:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]July 2008 30 April 2009 still waiting. been told by March 2010
[/FONT]


No doubt there will always be differences of opinion as to timescales, NHS v Private, Fat Doctor etc. So what I've said is just my opinion (and a good reason to have a rant too - LOL). If anyone is upset about this I am sorry.
[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
 

Spikeyjaycee

New Member
[FONT=&quot]Date referred Date Saw Date of[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]To Hospital Consultant Operation[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Aug 2008 22 April 2009 13 June 2009 [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Oct 2008 1 May 2009 19 August 2009 [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Oct 2008 May 2009 27 May 2009 [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] 16 April 2009 24 June 2009 [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Aug 2008 Feb 2009 1 July 2009 [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] 11 May 2009 Nov 2009 (tbc) [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Jan 2009 27 August 2009
[/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]In my case:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]July 2008 30 April 2009 still waiting. been told by March 2010[/FONT]
 
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