I celebrated the Eucharist with just four others at St Catherine's Most of the church regulars are away at the moment. A young mother with a ten month old baby joined us however, giving much pleasure to the rest of us, who are all old enough to be grandparents.
Just after I returned home I received a phone call from Jacquie, Patient Care Coordinator at UHW, apparently being pursued by the LHB Concerns team to find out what was happening about my case. It turned out this was the same person I spoke to a couple of weeks ago when I last had to call in the Concerns team. At that time, it wasn't at all clear who she was or what her role is in relation to the surgical scene, but she explained what was happening and it satisfied me all was proceeding in order.
She was upset with me for reaching out in several directions at the same time instead of contacting her. She didn't initially understand that I didn't know who she was or have her contact details. When things fell apart last Friday, and previous pattern of dis-junction in relationships between hospital and patients repeated itself, as several others have said to me; "It's time to make a big fuss. It's the only way to get listened to."
Anyway, after several minutes of heated cross talk, to break the ice, where I made my position clear about the hospital's communications dysfuction, Jacquie admitted there had been an error. I had been assigned an outpatient appointment with Mrs Cornish when she was on annual leave. When this was realised it was re-scheduled without regard for the measure of urgency which Mrs Cornish conveyed through Jacquie in setting this appointment. So I told Jacquie that this is exactly what has happened to me previously, and the reason for me getting militant about it.
Anyway, the outcome is an appointment to see Mrs Cornish on a ward in UHW, in exactly the same way as I saw her back at the end of March, before the second op. This was set for Monday morning next. Fine, OK, that's all I need for now. Booking a surgery date will follow from the examination, though I don't imagine it'll happen until after the holiday now. I'll find out.
Within a couple of hours, Jacquie was back on the phone to me apologetically, asking if I'd agree to being re-scheduled to Tuesday morning. It seems that Monday was 'window of opportunity' due to the cancellation of an operation as no anaesthetist had been booked, but in the time elapsed between calls an anaesthetist had been found and the operation was back on, so I was rescheduled again! Well I don't mind this change, just as long as I get seen, and get to know what the next step is.
I guess this scenario is indicative of the hospital's state of health, overburdened with a huge case load resources over-stretched, constantly juggling to achieve desired aims. No wonder there can be chaos, and it's terrible to be on the receiving end. Communications and the technologies employed by the NHS hospitals are notoriously poor in many quarters, outdated, insecure and difficult to implement universal change because some departments insist on absolute control of their assets and don't give priority to ensuring communications are working for everyone as intended.
By way of contrast our GP surgery has brought its patient communications system up to date, using emails texts, and even a smartphone app for booking appointments and arranging prescriptions. It works, although I don't make use of it, as it's easy to pop into the surgery when I'm passing and say hello. So often I see a couple of admin staff huddled around a screen, studying and cross-checking general arrangements and bookings. Their attention to detail in the face of high demand in a busy practice is impressive.
Well, for the moment the cloud of anxiety has lifted, my stress level is much reduced and blood pressure back to normal. I even had a spring in my step when I did my five mile afternoon walk, but perhaps that's the hot hot weather leaving my leg muscles more flexible than usual, so that it doesn't take so long to get into stride.
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