Vagueness and the Aftermath - A sporadic diary

[RED-DOG]

So fast forward a couple of years. We are out of lockdown, my toe is much worse and now it's virtually impossible to see a Doctor at our surgery.

Well that's not quite true, these days the only way you can see the Doctor is virtually. The best I could get was a telephone consultation.

What a crazy idea telephone consultations are. The Doctor has none of the visual clues to work with, even though he/she spent a huge amount of time learning to recognise and interpret them.

Imagine buying a horse over the phone.

Anyway the Doctor rang me and I explained about my arthritic toe and my wish to be referred back to Dr Kluzek. The Doctor agreed to do that and I thought I was all set. I waited a few weeks and got a letter saying I would be contacted by one of the Leicestershire hospitals. That didn't sound very specific so I rang Kim Leggett, Dr Kluzek's secretary again and requested that she contact me.

Sure enough a few days later she called back and I asked her if she had gotten my referral. She checked the records and said that she had not.

A few days later I got an appointment to see a different Doctor at Leicester General hospital. It was for a date that was almost two years in the future,  at a hospital I didn't want to go to, with a Doctor I didn't want to see.

I got back in touch with my GP and explained my problem. After a lot of huffing and puffing she agreed to refer me again, this time specifying Dr Kluzek.

Several weeks later I got a letter telling me I had been referred to a Leicestershire hospital...

Suspecting the worst, I rang Kim Leggett again, we were on first name terms now.
"Sorry Tom" She told me, No sign of a referral here, but if you can get referred Dr Kluzek can see you almost immediately"

A few days later I got an appointment for Leicester General in two years time.....

[RED-DOG]

BTW- I know this is the most boring story ever but I don't care. I'm still telling it.

[booder]

BTW- I know this is the most boring story ever but I don't care. I'm still telling it.

You could never be called boring.More please.Photo's are fab.

[doubleup]

To cut a long story short Dr Kluzek cured my plantar fasciitis by drawing some blood from my heel, spinning it in a centrifuge until it was dizzy and then injecting it back in. Amazing.

How on earth did someone work out that this would be a cure?

[RED-DOG]

To cut a long story short Dr Kluzek cured my plantar fasciitis by drawing some blood from my heel, spinning it in a centrifuge until it was dizzy and then injecting it back in. Amazing.

How on earth did someone work out that this would be a cure?

I have no idea Dave but this is what happens.


https://www.hss.edu/newsroom_treating-injuries-blood-spinning-prp.asp

[Jon MW]

To cut a long story short Dr Kluzek cured my plantar fasciitis by drawing some blood from my heel, spinning it in a centrifuge until it was dizzy and then injecting it back in. Amazing.

How on earth did someone work out that this would be a cure?

I have no idea Dave but this is what happens.


https://www.hss.edu/newsroom_treating-injuries-blood-spinning-prp.asp

I googled how it worked and I think John Hopkins hospital probably were the most accurate. Their explanation started with, "The mechanism behind PRP injections is not completely understood"

Or as Science Wife explained it - "Sports Science is often just a bit flubbily"

I think that means, they know it does something, they can see it has an effect - they're not entirely sure why

[Doobs]

BTW- I know this is the most boring story ever but I don't care. I'm still telling it.

Can't imagine how hard it is waiting 2 years, hard enough waiting nearly 24 hours for this story to finish...

FWIW my annual appointments now seem to be once every two years.  My mum was delayed, and cancelled many times through Covid, and that was for stuff that really needed sorting in a couple of months. 

[RED-DOG]

To cut a long story short Dr Kluzek cured my plantar fasciitis by drawing some blood from my heel, spinning it in a centrifuge until it was dizzy and then injecting it back in. Amazing.

How on earth did someone work out that this would be a cure?

I have no idea Dave but this is what happens.


https://www.hss.edu/newsroom_treating-injuries-blood-spinning-prp.asp

I googled how it worked and I think John Hopkins hospital probably were the most accurate. Their explanation started with, "The mechanism behind PRP injections is not completely understood"

Or as Science Wife explained it - "Sports Science is often just a bit flubbily"

I think that means, they know it does something, they can see it has an effect - they're not entirely sure why

I wish Science Wife would stop getting all technical on our ass.

[RED-DOG]

BTW- I know this is the most boring story ever but I don't care. I'm still telling it.

Can't imagine how hard it is waiting 2 years, hard enough waiting nearly 24 hours for this story to finish...

FWIW my annual appointments now seem to be once every two years.  My mum was delayed, and cancelled many times through Covid, and that was for stuff that really needed sorting in a couple of months. 

Fortunately my problem wasn't life-threatening, but it was galling that I had to wait two years when the other Doctor could see me straight away, all for the sake of a referral.

Still, I wasn't prepared to give up yet, although when I rang my GP again to tell her she had done it wrong and ask for a third referral her response was somewhat frosty.....

[RED-DOG]

....My GP told me that she had done everything possible and that the referrals went to a triage centre who then sent the request to the appropriate hospital, clinic or department.
She said that she had specified Loughborough Campus clinic but beyond that it was out of her hands. Goodbye.

The triage place isn't really equipped to take phone calls. I mean, they have a telephone and all that but they don't get calls from members of the public and they don't have a designated person to deal with them.

Anyway, I got through to a triager, who presumably had to stop triaging to speak to me. He was very patient and explained that he had a list of places he could send people to, and Loughborough wasn't on it. There was nothing he could do.

I rang Kim Leggett again and when she got back to me a few days later she said that someone was failing somewhere, I had been referred to Loughborough and Dr Kluzek by Burbage Surgery twice before. She had the old referrals on her screen to prove it.
She suggested that I get back on to my GP and ask her to contact Miss Leggett and she would help her to make the referral. I didn't think my GP would be impressed by this suggestion but what choice did I have?

I rang my surgery again and got a telephone appointment. When my GP rang back and I mentioned the referral the line went dead for what seemed like ages, then I heard a long sigh, I thought she was going to strike me off or whatever it is that Doctors do to nuisance patients. "Mr McCready" She said wearily, "I'm going to let my secretary deal with this, she can write referral letters on my behalf". And with that she hung up

I rang the surgery again. Don't forget that every time I ring it's the "If this is an emergency" messages followed  by you are 28th in the queue followed by 200 verses of Vivaldi's Four Seasons played on a speaker from a greeting card.....

That's superfluous information I know but I didn't want you to think that ringing the surgery was easy.

I eventually got through to the bulldog receptionists. Fortunately, I was still their blue eyed boy.

"Could I speak to Dr Turner's secretary please?"

"Sorry, Tom, she's not in today, she only works Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays"... .

[RED-DOG]

So the following week I rang the surgery again. Message-queue-Vivaldi... Hello, can I speak to Dr Turner's secretary please?

The secretary's name was Sarah Connor.
COME WITH ME IF YOU WANT TO LIVE.
No, not that one, and it turned out that she was expecting my call. She had been fully briefed by Dr Turner and was ready and willing to help.
I told her that the best way forward was for her to contact Kim Leggett and this she agreed to do.
A couple of weeks later I asked Kim Leggett If Sarah Connor had been in touch and apparently yes she had, but they hadn't managed to speak to each other because one only worked on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and the other only worked on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. They left messages for each other but coudn't manage to hook up.
Eventually I got Kim Leggett to email me the instructions and I printed them out and handed them in to the surgery marked FAO Sarah Connor.

A couple of weeks later I got a letter with an appointment for the Loughborough Campus clinic, HOORAY! but it was for a different Doctor and not Dr Kluzek as I had requested, and it was still for almost two years in the future, BOO!

I rang the clinic.

Yes, I did have an appointment and it was for almost two years hence.

"Well Dr Kluzek's secretary told me that he could see me almost immediately" I wailed.

"Ahh.." She said, "Both Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire Hospitals have teams that work here. Dr Kluzek is on the Nottingham team, you have been referred to the Leicestershire team".

"Can't you transfer me?" I pleaded.

"NO," She replied, "You will have to ask your GP to do it"......

[Rod Paradise]

So the following week I rang the surgery again. Message-queue-Vivaldi... Hello, can I speak to Dr Turner's secretary please?

The secretary's name was Sarah Connor.
COME WITH ME IF YOU WANT TO LIVE.
No, not that one, and it turned out that she was expecting my call. She had been fully briefed by Dr Turner and was ready and willing to help.
I told her that the best way forward was for her to contact Kim Leggett and this she agreed to do.
A couple of weeks later I asked Kim Leggett If Sarah Connor had been in touch and apparently yes she had, but they hadn't managed to speak to each other because one only worked on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and the other only worked on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. They left messages for each other but coudn't manage to hook up.
Eventually I got Kim Leggett to email me the instructions and I printed them out and handed them in to the surgery marked FAO Sarah Connor.

A couple of weeks later I got a letter with an appointment for the Loughborough Campus clinic, HOORAY! but it was for a different Doctor and not Dr Kluzek as I had requested, and it was still for almost two years in the future, BOO!

I rang the clinic.

Yes, I did have an appointment and it was for almost two years hence.

"Well Dr Kluzek's secretary told me that he could see me almost immediately" I wailed.

"Ahh.." She said, "Both Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire Hospitals have teams that work here. Dr Kluzek is on the Nottingham team, you have been referred to the Leicestershire team".

"Can't you transfer me?" I pleaded.

"NO," She replied, "You will have to ask your GP to do it"......

I want to scream in frustration at just reading that!!!

I'm getting experience with the NHS bureaucracy with my new(ish) job, the bigger the NHS region & the bigger the hospital the slower things get done (with an exception for Glasgow who are very helpful & responsive).

They all want the pager system working but don't want to run cables, allocate space for kit etc.

[RED-DOG]

.....So very reluctantly and with much trepidation I rang the surgery again.
"If this is an emergency"message.
28th in the queue.
Vivaldi...

"Can I speak to Sarah Connor please?"

Sarah Connor told me that she had done everything possible, that there was no other avenue to explore and that she was extremely busy. All of which I couldn't argue with. I thanked her for her efforts and hung up.

I called Kim Leggett. I had become friendly with her over the weeks and knew that she was retiring soon. I updated her on the situation, thanked her and wished her a happy retirement.

"There is one other thing you could try..." She said a little guardedly, "I shouldn't be telling you this but this is the telephone number of the Commissioners" She gave me  a number and I wrote it down.

I had, and still have no idea who the Commissioners are or what they do, but I gave the number a ring anyway.

A secretary answered and I asked if I could speak to a Commissioner. The secretary took my name and number and told me that someone would call me back.

Two days later a woman called me and introduced herself as a Commissioner. She told me her name but I can't remember what it was.

She asked me to explain everything in great detail. She wanted to know who I wanted to see and where they practiced, the name of my Doctor and the address and telephone number of my surgery.  She said she would be in touch and hung up.

That was a fortnight ago. Three days later Sarah Connor rang me to tell me that my referral was all sorted and I would be getting a letter soon to confirm it.

I was away last week but when I got home the letter was here. It was an appointment to See Dr Kluzek at the Loughborough Campus clinic.

That appointment is at 15:30 This afternoon.

[tonytats]

As my mum used to say when Loughborough was mentioned
That’s the uni that sporty kids go to
As one of her friends offsprings went there

No chance of me going there then I’d say
More like borstal for you if you keep carrying on like you do she would retort

[RED-DOG]

My mam said I would be a milestone inspector. I think that was a euphemism for a tramp.