Another appointment shock

First this morning a clinic appointment for Annie, one of the nurses who has seen me numerous times over the past six months, to check the wound, as had been recommended by my GP earlier in the week. Whilst in good condition, nearly closed and infection free, her opinion was that the over granulation problem was related to the continuing presence of the Seton's suture, not that its purpose in draining the wound has been fulfilled. All the more reason for the surgeon to be asked to remove it soon and complete the job.

Then I went into town for a meeting with Ashley and the Director or our radio equipment supplier about concluding our business with him. This is indeed a complex affair and it's hard to see how it can be achieved within the time frame remaining to us before winding up. Nothing is simple in this fast changing world of advanced technology, where things can lose their value and utility very quickly indeed.

I returned home at lunchtime to find a letter from Llandough outpatients department informing me that the appointment recently re-scheuled from 19th September to 8th August has been re-scheduled again for 8th January 2020. I was told after asking the LHB Concerns team to trouble shoot my appointment problem only fifteen days ago, that I was to be seen by Mrs Cornish the surgeon on 8th August prior to booking a third operation. This came as such a shock that I was overwhelmed with distress and thought I would collapse. If my blood pressure was still as high as it was last autumn, I could have had a stroke or a heart attack following inexplicable news like this.  

The increased pain from the wound this past week has been bad enough, and now this. No personal communication and no explanation, exactly the same as occurred last December when my first scheduled operation was cancelled, and this performance repeated in March before the second operation. Three times running is inexcusable. 

I straightaway called the Cardiff and Vale Local Health Board Concerns team hotline, explained what had happened, and stated that this time I am launching a formal complaint procedure against the hospital administration, on account of the extreme anxiety and distress such incompetent case handling is repeatedly causing.

Just after I made the call, in which I received a promise that it would be dealt with after the weekend,  Roy Thomas called, to re-organise our catch up tea time session this afternoon. We haven's actually seen each other since he was appointed a bio-ethics Professor of Swansea University a couple of years ago.

When I told him what had just happened, he laughed and said he was currently with the family of a kidney patient whose case was being mismanaged in exactly the same way as mine. He spends significant amounts of time wrangling with the health authorities over obtaining examinations and treatment for patients who are chronically ill. It's easier in third world South Africa to get to see a specialist than it is here he said. 

Health service administration in Wales is running in a state of competitive chaos. Having to campaign to obtain the medical services the NHS is there to provide for all citizens is an indication of a sickness endemic in the system itself. It can be brilliant in managing crisis care, and innovative treatments for cancer or heart surgery, but ends up neglectful, de-priotitising minor routine systematic surgical treatments, extending the suffering of many more patients with non prestigious ailments. No account is made of the waste of resources on extended nursing care and support for those waiting for or recovering from treatment, due to endless delays due to mis-management.

Anyway, it was good to see Roy again at home, late in the afternoon. He's been out of the country a lot in recent years, and now that his time as CEO of Kidney Wales is ended, he's looking to a future in which his pastoral and advocacy skills on behalf of seriously ill people can be put to use in a new context. It's marvellous to know that a high standing medico legal professional has his heart set on caring for those in such dire need.