Mums experience

God help us indeed!

That's appalling, I'd send a formal complaint to the private hospital as a starter, copied to her GP, her present consultant and Worthing hospital CEO.
It make you fear what the NHS will become.....

Just a postscript DH has been having treatment to his back and that has also been contracted out. We had a phone call from the consultants secretary to see if he would be willing to change his appointment at short notice - we said yes - and then madam said "Of course I don't usually speak to NHS patients!!" We were left looking like a pair of fish.

In my former life when I had to manage NHS complaints I advised everyone to keep a diary of their hospital visits if at all possible including all staff names and dates- useful if you wish to compliment or if its sadly necessary to complain.

Goodness whitewave, that is a dreadful experience. Best of luck with the 2nd opinion

I find this appalling. Call me cynical, but I would be wondering if all the injections were essential - presumably the private hospital gets paid for each one. LIke you I would also arrange a second opinion privately but none of this should be necessary.
The advice from Teetime and Loopylou sounds good.

How distressing for you and your mum whitewave. I hope you get some clearer answers after seeing the consultant.

My mum - 94 - also has macular degeneration and has to be monitored for glaucoma too. They are pretty good at her local hospital and never mind me going in with her. They are very patient and pleasant.

However, mum also gets little growths on her forehead and has to have them removed. They are benign but they do grow. Up until the last year, treatment has always been quite timely but she has been waiting since last July for her current growth to be removed. I am becoming concerned because the bigger the growth, the bigger the "hole" left when it is removed - and the more painful afterwards.

Her local hospital - Colchester General - has been put in "special measures" and I received a letter from them which, as I understood it, said that her procedure would be carried out at Baddow Hospital (a private hospital) and to await hearing from them. I heard nothing, so rang Baddow who informed me that every patient at Colchester had been sent this letter but it didn't necessarily mean that they would all be treated at Baddow. The lady I spoke to checked on their database and said that mum was not scheduled to be treated there. So, I rang Colchester General last week and a service manager told me she would check and get back to me by the end of the week. She didn't. I spoke to a different service manager, who said she'd find out for me and let me know what was happening. She hasn't.

Colchester General is obviously cracking under the strain and I'm wondering if they're hoping that, having been alerted to the fact that Baddow carries out these procedures, patients who've been waiting a long time and who can afford it will decide to go to Baddow instead?

My mum has been attending Colchester General for several years and has always been happy with her treatment.

Whipp's Cross - my own local hospital - has also just been put in "special measures". Again, we have always been happy with the treatment we received there in the past but it seems there are now massive problems there.

Since this government got in, waiting times and standards have gradually been eroded and the decline seems to be accelerating all over the country.

I seem to have had the opposite experience. My tennis elbow, which has been going on for years and has been very disabling was referred by the NHS to a private hospital. I was treated with courtesy, the appointments were all on time and all appropriate tests were done. Eventually the Consultant and I decided that it would be best to try injections again instead of surgery and that was done. At the follow up appointment he left it open for me to go back at any point if I was in pain. I am happy with that and a bonus is that we didn't have to pay for parking as we do at the NHS hospital.

On the other hand DH is waiting for an operation on his back on the NHS. In October he was told that the wait was until March but that the surgeon was working Saturdays to reduce the list so it would be earlier. He had pre-op tests done the same day. Then he was called back for more pre-op tests, then a couple of weeks ago more pre-op tests. Last Thursday they called and asked him if he could go in on Friday. He agreed but asked about the meds he had been told he needed to stop for a week before the op. They called back to say he had stop the meds a week before the op so couldn't go in! I am sure the docs are good but the admin is appalling! The hospital is an hour and a half away and we have to allow for roadworks etc so leave 2 1/2 hours before appointments. It is not at all patient focussed.

Whitewave this is a shocking story. The fools who carried out this double procedure without consultation had no thought for what your Mother would be like afterwards, or whether she was living alone or with care, they didnt have you there to check with so couldnt possibly have thought out the implications of leaving a 93 year old patient fearful and with limited sight, it must have been awful for your Mother. On a larger scale, this frightens me a lot, if this is what privatisation is all about then we should be very very frightened. My Mother, at 78, was sent to a private hospital as part of the clearing the waiting lists initiatives a few years back. She was impressed initially by her room, and already knew the fantastic surgeon from previous orthopaedic surgery, so no issues with that. However, post operative care was appalling, she was desperate for help to get to the bathroom, was in a room on her own, nobody answered the bell, even the emergency one, so in the end she threw a teacup at the door and a cleaner heard the noise, popped her head in and went to get someone. The nurses were grumpy, over worked and most unhelpful.

Whitewave whatever is the outcome, you must always insist on going in with your mother. Do not be fobbed off with this 'carers sit outside' crap. It has obviously caught you unawares the first time, now you are aware and can stand your ground.

If that is not to the nurse's liking then tough. If necessary take her home rather than this happen again.

I agree entirely with what looplou says and in addition to her information I would copy the letter to

Jeremy Hunt Secretary of State for Health
Mr Joe Bloggs M.P.

There is nothing quicker to get a response than for the hospital to know you have written to your MP and even worse to the Minister who heads the Department of Health. Now you can when you write your letter to the CEO of Goring Hall, Stephen Collier voice your concerns and simply add the name of your MP and the Secretary of States'name at the head of your "Copy to " list.If you don't want to go that far with your complaint at the moment you can still put their names on the letter to the CEO but you dont have to send the letter to your MP or government minister. The mere idea that they think you may have done so and gone to the top man will produce a response. !!!! I have done it before now....I'll write about it one day.

Could you please put your information about your treatment on this website?
They need as much information as possible about the sell off of the NHS.

www.nhsforsale.info/tracking.html

Most people have no idea how much has been privatised until it happens to them or someone they know.

www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2015/03/23/the-nhs-privatisation-and-tax-avoidance/

Another blog that needs to know is keepournhspublic

Whitewave it's clear that every one of us thinks this is disgraceful. So I hope you follow the advice and create the biggest fuss ever seen and heard in your part of the NHS. Make Waves, write, phone, email, protest, contact the local paper, your MP, Age UK, everyone.

Don't let it go.

Your mother deserves much, much better in her old age