Does anyone remember Mr Angry from the Steve Wright Show years ago? He used to phone in and get really worked up about something every day ("It makes me so angry I'm going to throw the phone down!"). No? Anyone old enough? Oh well, it made me laugh.
Anyway, I can identify with him at the moment. Today my mum began her series of 25 appointments for radio-therapy. She's 77, a bit forgetful, and only two years on from losing her husband and moving house at the same time. And she has breast cancer. To get to the hospital where she lives in Belfast the Northern Ireland NHS Transport Department (what happened to 'Ambulance'?) have asked her to be ready for collection at 12.30pm. Her appointments are at 4pm. The hospital is only a few miles across the city, even in bad traffic half an hour at the most. But maybe they have to pick up lots of other people.
Us family members began to think... if they're insisting she's ready 3.5 hours before her appointment - the treatment lasts about 30 minutes - how long will she be waiting afterwards? What time could she be getting home? We remembered the fiasco three years ago getting my dad to, and back from, his Parkinson's consultation... surely it can't still be that bad? Maybe between my uncles and sister who live there family could take her in some days. I phoned the hospital yesterday to ask about sharing mum's appointments... it seems the 'Transport People' might decide that if she can get in by alternate means on one day, she can do it every day, and will therefore summarily cancel the whole arrangement. Apparently it wouldn't be the first time. I got the distinct impression the rest of the NHS lives in fear of causing the transport people offence, and tiptoes around them, arranging everything to suit them. I know from 3 years ago just managing to contact them is an achievement deserving of an OBE. So, given the general nervousness, we decided to wait and watch how it went on the first few days.
Day one - today. The minibus arrived at around 1pm. It picked up one other person and mum was at the hospital by 2pm for a long wait. She had her treatment and went back down to reception to be picked up. No-one came. She asked at reception, a phone call was made... the minibus had gone without her! If it hadn't been for a worker in the hospital who happened to overhear and offered to give her a lift home (at some risk apparently - workers are not supposed to do this), she might still be there now. She got home around 6 hours after she left; the getting there and back has caused her far more distress than the treatment... about which she seemed to be quite blasé on the phone just now!
We're getting our rota of family members sorted out and I will be doing my best Mr Angry impersonation first thing in the morning. Yes, resources are tight, yes, pressure on staff, but this was simple incompetence by a service that sounds more and more like the spoiled brat of the NHS in Northern Ireland. Next week I'm going over to Belfast for a few days. If any more cock-ups by 'transport' have happened between now and then... well, watch out!
Anyway, I can identify with him at the moment. Today my mum began her series of 25 appointments for radio-therapy. She's 77, a bit forgetful, and only two years on from losing her husband and moving house at the same time. And she has breast cancer. To get to the hospital where she lives in Belfast the Northern Ireland NHS Transport Department (what happened to 'Ambulance'?) have asked her to be ready for collection at 12.30pm. Her appointments are at 4pm. The hospital is only a few miles across the city, even in bad traffic half an hour at the most. But maybe they have to pick up lots of other people.
Us family members began to think... if they're insisting she's ready 3.5 hours before her appointment - the treatment lasts about 30 minutes - how long will she be waiting afterwards? What time could she be getting home? We remembered the fiasco three years ago getting my dad to, and back from, his Parkinson's consultation... surely it can't still be that bad? Maybe between my uncles and sister who live there family could take her in some days. I phoned the hospital yesterday to ask about sharing mum's appointments... it seems the 'Transport People' might decide that if she can get in by alternate means on one day, she can do it every day, and will therefore summarily cancel the whole arrangement. Apparently it wouldn't be the first time. I got the distinct impression the rest of the NHS lives in fear of causing the transport people offence, and tiptoes around them, arranging everything to suit them. I know from 3 years ago just managing to contact them is an achievement deserving of an OBE. So, given the general nervousness, we decided to wait and watch how it went on the first few days.
Day one - today. The minibus arrived at around 1pm. It picked up one other person and mum was at the hospital by 2pm for a long wait. She had her treatment and went back down to reception to be picked up. No-one came. She asked at reception, a phone call was made... the minibus had gone without her! If it hadn't been for a worker in the hospital who happened to overhear and offered to give her a lift home (at some risk apparently - workers are not supposed to do this), she might still be there now. She got home around 6 hours after she left; the getting there and back has caused her far more distress than the treatment... about which she seemed to be quite blasé on the phone just now!
We're getting our rota of family members sorted out and I will be doing my best Mr Angry impersonation first thing in the morning. Yes, resources are tight, yes, pressure on staff, but this was simple incompetence by a service that sounds more and more like the spoiled brat of the NHS in Northern Ireland. Next week I'm going over to Belfast for a few days. If any more cock-ups by 'transport' have happened between now and then... well, watch out!
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