Junior doctors strike

Purplepixie I am sorry to hear of your wait for surgery. I had quite a wait for my hysterectomy a few years ago.
More doctors would shorten lists but we dont have enough doctors, perhaps because of pay and conditions. Anyone familiar with the song " There's a Hole in My Bucket, dear Liza..." ?

Despite timely and life saving treatment over the Christmas holiday at our local hospital, we’re a bit perplexed by the discharge notes which has date of operation as 1 December. The consultant working through the night was first class. Well worth every penny. The nurses were very kind. However we had to return to the discharge lounge 3 hours after patient sent home for medication and wrongly filled in discharge notice. This had been completed by a junior doctor.

ronib

Despite timely and life saving treatment over the Christmas holiday at our local hospital, we’re a bit perplexed by the discharge notes which has date of operation as 1 December. The consultant working through the night was first class. Well worth every penny. The nurses were very kind. However we had to return to the discharge lounge 3 hours after patient sent home for medication and wrongly filled in discharge notice. This had been completed by a junior doctor.

A consultant wouldn't have signed it. A junior doctor is any doctor who is not a consultant, tbh it was probably the most junior, junior doctor ie an F1. Your point is?

My point is that the rest of the team were exemplary and the junior doctor, according to the nurse in charge of discharge had issues about being paid £13.50 an hour. I really don’t think that ill people should be sent home without medication because the junior doctor is having a work to rule. But then that’s my perspective….

Also unable to read notes and fill in a form accurately is also an issue. In fact the gp might be a bit confused too.

ronib

My point is that the rest of the team were exemplary and the junior doctor, according to the nurse in charge of discharge had issues about being paid £13.50 an hour. I really don’t think that ill people should be sent home without medication because the junior doctor is having a work to rule. But then that’s my perspective….

There is no "work to rule" and how totally unprofessional for a nurse to discuss another colleague with a patient's relative. I hope you complained about that but I think nurses undermining their doctor colleagues is a sign of the poor morale in the NHS.

Actually the nurse was making excuses for the very inadequate performance of his colleague and tried to justify poor performance on the basis of poor pay. I felt sorry for the elderly patients sitting in the discharge room waiting quite some time.
I am in two minds whether to draw attention to the junior doctor’s mistake as medical practice does require attention to detail.

I think you should draw attention to any life threatening mistake made by a doctor and if you have received poor service I totally support your right to complain. What I don't support is nurses undermining doctors or trying to justify poor performance. that is very clearly wrong. Did the junior doctor do anything else other than put the incorrect date of the operation?

The wrong date of an operation could be a complication in certain circumstances. I have no way of knowing what other mistakes were made. However the patient expressed irritation with this particular doctor but I did not think it was worth probing as patient still very poorly and in pain.

Indeed it could, not sure of the circumstances but I'm sure there must be one. If the patient expressed "irritation" with the doctor but is too incapacitated to make a complaint, perhaps you should help them or you could contact Pals, the patient liaison service to discuss the patient's options. Does he want the doctor barred from practising or just a slap on the wrist for writing the wrong the date? Perhaps a letter to the hospital's chair of the trust? I think it's important to establish the actual level of this junior doctor. Was he/she a foundation doctor or someone more senior, this could have important training implications ie at what level of training do doctors learn about "how to ensure they write the correct date". Or perhaps it was just a mistake made by a busy doctor or more likely a nurse who completed the form and asked the doctor to check the details and sign it as correct. Who knows but I think you need to get to the bottom of it.

Going back to maddyone's initial post, I find it inexplicable that the government can find £3 billion as a sweetener for the Northern Ireland deal with the DUP but can't find money to pay NHS staff better.

Grantanow

Going back to maddyone's initial post, I find it inexplicable that the government can find £3 billion as a sweetener for the Northern Ireland deal with the DUP but can't find money to pay NHS staff better.

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