NHS appointments

Your's is such a familiar story now.

Regarding your retired cardiologist. A friend was similarly left in limbo for months, eventually she saw someone privately and was then able to be transferred by him back into the NHS.
She now has a pacemaker. She said it cost about £150 and was worth every penny.

Wishing you all the best.

)I would contact PALS at one of the hospitals and see if they can help.

I paid privately to see a cardiologist when I kept being given telephone appointments, or seeing a locum at my surgery, and no one would help me when I was having terrifying heart problems and had had 3 bad "episodes" lasting all night.

A&E in my area is even more dreadful than nationwide so I was reluctant to call an ambulance which (a) wouldn't turn up, or (b) might take many hours to arrive (both experienced by local friends.) or (c) would leave me sitting in A&E for 12+ hours when I have multiple health issues to take account of, one of which is fairly severe M.E.

I asked for an echocardiogram and a doctor told me no, giving me the impression I didn't need it and making me feel I was making a fuss, but I saw on my records on the NHS App that she had put "No referral for echo due to service being overwhelmed".

When I saw the private cardiologist, I got an appointment within a week for an echocardiogram, and within another week to see the cardio, and she was horrified and said I could have had a stroke by Christmas. She prescribed a beta blocker and an anticoagulant and reported back to "my doctor" so I got these meds on the NHS, but I had to push for them as her report just languished in someone's in-tray.

I use the term "my doctor" loosely as I have no idea if he is still at the practice, having only seen him once since the start of the pandemic in 2020.

We have to advocate for ourselves these days so I would advise anyone to pay for private tests if they are getting nowhere with the NHS. I used my credit card because I have a low income and it was not as expensive as I feared. A friend's husband in Wales died because of NHS delays in fitting a stent. I didn't want to join him.

This is all so depressing and mirrors my experiences. Today the weakness and tingling in my arms and legs is so bad that I am shuffling around and cannot play the piano. I had some tests in October and there are no results yet; but I do have a GP appointment for 3rd January - in a surgery that is 40 minutes away.

And as for the follow up on my heart problems it is all a chaotic mess with people giving different advice. I have an appointment for Feb 11th.

I hope you manage to find some way of sorting out the muddle that your appointments are in.

Yes thanks for that.
Everything was going fine with my appointments until lockdown. Then the cardiologist has only rung, no longer face to face with my daughter in attendance as the information could be verified by us both. It’s interesting what both hear or don’t and with a life threatening diagnosis that is important. I don’t hear well on the telephone so it is no substitute.
Then the MRI’s stopped during Covid, replaced by echocardiogram, then the two line letters with contradictory measurements, then the resignation or retirement, seemed young to me, probably gone over to private totally instead of partially.
There are just no lines of responsibility.
I’m going to postpone these three appoints and cancel one as unnecessary in fact two are unnecessary the only one necessary is the ‘watch and wait’ growth of aneurysm which is now done by echo although most people throughout the world would have CT scan or MRI scan and if I had a cardiologist I would discuss this with him.. I’ll bear Pals in mind. Thanks again for your comments. At least we’re getting it off our chests which helps mentally.

I have had hospital appointments arranged by my consultant's secretary to make sure I have as many as possible on the same day (in different specialities).

I would always recommend speaking to the consultant's secretary about scheduling issues.
Even if it's just an echocardiogram it's in somebody's department so your cardiologist's secretary should be able to chase it up for you.

The most frustrating issues are around trying to have some continuity though - you are right.

You might consider making a complain to your Commissioning Group who have control over the hospital as well as PALS - and keep on complaining until you are heard. Otherwise, nothing will ever change.