I have been taking Erleada for almost seven weeks, …
… and fully expected to be called in for a blood test at the end of this week prior to a decision about my future treatment. Imagine my surprise, therefore, when I received a phone call yesterday morning informing me that I need to have a blood test that morning as I had an appointment at the Oncology Department at 2.00pm in the afternoon. When I asked why I had not received any earlier notification, I was told that the hospital had written to me, but that the letter was probably still in the post.
(I subsequently discovered that I should have been contacted on Friday, but that the person who should have done so had been ill and no one was available to cover their work. As to the letter that should have been sent to me ... who knows where that is!)
Sue and I arrived at the hospital for my blood test at 10.45am, only to find that paviours had taken a whole load of bays out of commission so that they could be redesignated as disabled parking bays. (The existing disabled parking bays had been repurposed as parking for bicycles, and covered bicycle racks had been installed therein.) We eventually found a parking bay that had just been vacated, and by 11.00am I was waiting for my blood test. Because I had a green form (these are issued by hospital departments to expedite the testing process), I was given priority and by 11.30am I had returned to our car, and Sue and I were on our way to Charlton to do a quick bit of shopping.
We returned home by 12.45pm, and after a quick drink and a chance to restore my comforts (i.e. go to the loo), I returned to the hospital for my 2.00pm appointment. Parking was still difficult, but I was able to report to the Oncology Department receptionist just before 2.00pm. I was asked to wait in the waiting room ... and then the marathon began!
By 2.30pm I was becoming a little worried that I might have been forgotten about, but a few minutes later a Staff Nurse asked me my name and then took my blood pressure, temperature, and oxygen levels. At 3.00pm the nurse asked me if I had my appointment card, and when I said that I had never been given one, he disappeared for a few minutes and returned with one with my next appointments on it. He also told me that they were waiting for the Pharmacy to deliver my next box of Erleada tablets to the department, at which point they would be given to me, and I could go home.
By 4.00pm there was no sign of the medication having arrived, and the receptionist decided to contact the Pharmacy to find out what the delay was. They replied that they were very busy and had no one available to deliver the drugs to the department. The receptionist set a minion down to collect the Erleada, and by 4.14pm I had been issued with it.
(It subsequently transpired that the Pharmacy had not ordered the Erleada when asked to on Friday and had actually only ordered it at midday on Monday and had been awaiting its delivery by courier.)
It looks as if I will be on Erleada for some time to come, and that I will have to undergo monthly check-ups to ensure that it is still keeping my cancer in check. I only hope that by my next visit, the problems I encountered this time will have been solved.
Unfortunately the problems you describe are all too common nowadays in our hospitals. "Hurry up and wait" comes to mind. However at least you are being treated and monitored which is good. Best wishes for a speedy return to fighting fit. Regards.
ReplyDeleteTony Adams,
DeleteThis is the first time I’ve felt badly treated in any way by the NHS, and I suppose that what happened was a reflection of the stresses and strains it is currently subject to. The staff are doing a magnificent job, but the system is broken.
All the best,
Bob
BOB,
ReplyDeleteYes- waiting can be very distressing- though your being treated properly which is good to hear. I can recall waiting at our Local Cafe for my Partner (Chris) to return from a Doctors Appointment nearby - two and a half hours later Chris returned...unreal- and that was from a Medical Centre. Oh-well - at least Chris is well and hope you continue to be so too Bob. Cheers. KEV.
Kev Robertson (Kev),
DeleteWhat is annoying is the constant message from the NHS to turn up on time for appointments … and then their failure to fulfil their side of the ‘contract’. I would not have minded waiting if I’d been told why there was a delay.
I’ve felt rather depressed today as a result of yesterday’s events and my ongoing cold, and I’ve found it very difficult to concentrate. Hopefully a good night’s sleep will help me feel better.
All the best,
Bob
BOB,
DeleteYes- sleep is a good to re-charge the batteries...I often have a mid-day nap (an hour or so)...I tend to stay up until mid-night....often sleep to give the brain a rest. Hope your feeling better to-day. Cheers. kEV.
Kev Robertson (Kev),
DeleteIn the end I did manage a long doze, which I followed with a hot shower. This combination revived me somewhat, and last night I slept better than I have done for some time. I feel far more 'switched on' this morning even though I still have the dreaded cold.
All the best,
Bob
Well lock and load that ERLEADA, and fire for effect.
ReplyDeleteGood to hear that you are on the hormone treatment meds. Hope that the side effects are light. We should create a club and call it Dudes on Hormone Meds. DHM Club. Lol. Glad you are doing well, stay strong and keep kicking cancer's arse.
Robbie,
DeleteThanks for your kind words of support.
I’ve been taking Erleada for seven weeks, and it looks as if I’ll be taking it for some time to come.
I’d certainly sign up to be a member of the DHM if the chance arose!
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob
ReplyDeleteSorry to say, nothing new here. I was diagnosed with Prostate cancer in 2002. I was given a hospital appointment for 1430 to receive the results to confirm whether I had cancer or not. I booked in with the receptionist and was told to wait in a very busy waiting room. After an hour I checked with the receptionist, who told me the specialist was very busy. I waited another hour and again spoke to the receptionist. She rang the department and a senior nurse appeared and told that there had been a terrible mix up, and the specialist had left the hospital! Aparently no one else could give me the results, and I was given another appointment six days later.
20 years later and still the "same old, same old". Sad to say, but the NHS seems to be designed for the benefit of the medical staff, not the patient.
Here in Spain the "NHS" is extremely efficient. If I have an emergency I can go to a local centre any time after 1500 when the normal appointments end, without an appointment, and see a doctor within five minutes.
Hospital appointments normally take 7-10 days, this is for all services from x-ray to specialist.
All of this is free on demand, just like the NHS is supposed to be. Spain has been through Covid the same as the UK, and masks are still required for any medical appointment. But apart from that the service remains as prompt and efficient as it always has been.
It does make me smile when I read that "the NHS is the best in the world"
Thistlebarrow,
DeleteLuckily for me, the doctors and nurses have treated me with respect and compassion. If I’d been treated in the way that you were, I would have gone ballistic! How can a doctor who is supposed to be conducting a consultation with a patient leave without telling them the results of such important tests? If - when I was a senior member of staff in a school - I’d had a parent or pupil waiting to see me and I’d left the building, I would have been disciplined … and I would have deserved it,
In this case, it was the pharmacy - which had been outsourced to a private company by a previous hospital management team - which failed to do what was required of it, and had let down the frontline staff and me.
I understand that the Spanish health system is probably more ‘fit for purpose’ than the UK’s NHS. Certainly the service provided by my GP is not as good as I think that it should be (getting an appointment is very difficult) but I’ve tried to change to another practice in our area … and none of them have any spare capacity.
All the best,
Bob
I just read in the Economist today "Patients in Spain wait an average of 123 days for an operation, the most in 18 years" so perhaps it's not all rosy over there.
DeleteAnonymous,
DeleteFour months is quite some time to wait, but from the published figures I have seen, that is not that different from the figures fof the UK.
All the best,
Bob
The stupid thing about the appointment letter delay/phone call is that there is a system (dotpost) that NHS entities can use to communicate with you electronically (if you wish them to). I don't know if you've seen it: pretty standard system, instead of posting a letter to you they email you to say you have a letter and you log on to view it securely (a bit like HMRC does with your tax returns). The trouble is that take up by the health service seems patchy - some departments at our local hospital use it, others do not.
ReplyDeleteAs for your delay in leaving due to the pharmacy, my wife and I have had a few hospital interactions over the last three years and our treatment has been very good, with a couple of exceptions: (1) when one or other of us has had to stay overnight they never seem to be able to find an empty bed until about 1 am and (2) getting discharged is always delayed whilst waiting for the paperwork and the prescription. Still, my wife has had three “blue lamp” ambulance trips to hospital since late 2019, and when I read the horror stories from the USA about what it would cost just for the ambulance – let alone the charges for treatment – I feel that these delays are not the worst thing that can happen.
Best wishes for the treatment,
Mike
Mike Hall,
DeleteUntil Monday, I’ve had a letter delivered by post (usually at least a week beforehand) and a text message the day before an appointment to remind me about it. This is why I was so surprised by the lack of communication before the phone call that morning.
When I was admitted as an emergency in March, they managed to find me a bed in less than an hour, mainly because the consultant refused to admit me via the A&E Department, which I understand is the normal procedure. If she hadn’t cut corners, I’d probably have ended up on a gurney in a corridor for hours, waiting for a bed to become free.
After my TURP in June, I wasn’t allowed to go home until I was signed off by a doctor. As it was a Bank Holiday, this took some hours … but eventually they managed to make it to me.
Whenever Sue and I have visited the US, we always make sure that we have £10 million in insurance cover … just in case. The NHS may not always be as good as it could it should be … but it’s miles better than the US health system.
All the best,
Bob
When you're feeling crook, the last think you need is to be given the run around. Even on this side of the world, the ongoing saga of the NHS makes sobering seeing and hearing. And one knows why it's happening, too. The cracks are becoming ever wider, more falls through them, and the people responsible for the nation's infrastructure, of which health services form an integral part, they couldn't give a damn.
ReplyDeleteGet well, bob - and spite them!
Cheers,
Ion
Archduke Piccolo (Ion),
DeleteI had a terrible night’s sleep last night, and have felt pretty awful today … and I put it down to the stress caused by yesterday’s events. One thing I didn’t mention in my blog post was the fact that I’d had no lunch before going to hospital at 2.00pm and had not had a drink since midday. By the time I got home and ate my lunch and had a drink (at 5.00pm), I was on the verge of breaking down. I didn’t … but I felt terrible all Monday evening.
I don’t blame the frontline staff, but I think that the blame for the failings of the NHS can be laid at the doors of successive governments in general and the Department of Health in particular. I’ve lost count of the number of times the local NHS services have been reorganised, each one requiring a new management structure … and more managers. In addition, the hospitals have been required to outsource many of their support services … and the contracts always go to the lowest bidder. As a result you end up with - for example - cleaners who were previously employed by the hospitals being transferred to new contractors who change their conditions of service and pay the national minimum wage.
I’ve been very lucky in that the hospitals dealing with me appear to be well run in comparison to many others.
All the best,
Bob
Here's to hoping your present course of treatment yields good results.
ReplyDeleteMark Cordone,
DeleteThe fact that they are extending the time that I will be taking Erleada seems to indicate that it is working, but I should know more when I next see the oncologist.
All the best,
Bob
Sorry to hear about your day Bob, hope you are feeling better now. At least you got your prescription - eventually.
ReplyDeleteDavid in Suffolk,
DeleteThanks for your kind words.
I’m still feeling a bit stressed after everything that happened yesterday, but I’m certainly better than I was. I’m told that in future they may be able to deliver my drugs to my home address … which would be far more convenient and less stressful.
All the best,
Bob
I'm glad you got the treatment you needed and share the annoyance at the inefficiency, I try not to mutter things like "in a world with so much money is in the hands of so few, there should be someway to direct some of that to the benefit of all, like adequately staffed hospitals, etc." I seem to recall Rome, 18thC France and others etc having similar problems.....
ReplyDeleteRoss Mac,
DeleteThanks for your support … and I absolutely agree with your muttered sentiments. I’m not sure what things are like in Canada, although I suspect that they are very similar to the way they are in the UK. The rich seem to be getting richer, and the rest of us are getting poorer. Furthermore, the tax system seems to be designed to make it difficult for ordinary people to legally avoid paying tax whilst a small number manage to minimise the amount of tax they pay.
Sorry about the rant.
All the best,
Bob