Unhappy experience

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Satch

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Cut a long and difficult story short, Sunday evening No.1 son (22) knocked off his bike by a female cretin who came through a red light and pulled across his path. Net result unpleasant but not serious, could have been a lot worse though.

Driver gets back into car and speeds off. But not before another driver had taken picture of her & number plate though.

We shall see how that goes but on a personal level I would like to see the witch burned at the stake, although that might be a big ask in these enlightened times.

So, he goes to A&E. All well and good it seems, examined, x rays etc and parked up in a bay awaiting further treatment. When I eventually get there (Surrey) after a rapid overnight drive from Inverness, find him sitting in the waiting area looking very grey, in a great deal of pain and clutching a bit of paper, arm in a really poxy sling and a few painkillers. Having been told there would be 12 day wait until a broken collar bone could be plated and pinned.

What followed is now the stuff of a formal complaint and also an attempt at a massive piece of **** covering, claims that he had "discharged himself" (wholly untrue) and that "no clear break was shown in the X rays" (also wholly untrue and plain stupid).

After some empty apologies, slightly stronger painkillers and the prospect of a 3 day wait before seeing somebody who could then arrange for the plate and pins at some undetermined point. Quite clear that nobody really gave a toss and at various times both unhelpful and obstructive, simply wanting him and me just to go away and be the problem of someone else. Anyone really, but just not them

Enough. One call to BUPA Monday morning and in 5 minutes I have a claim reference. Mrs S. gets on the job and a consulatation with an Orthopedic Surgeon that very afternoon. More X rays & a scan and the news that not only has he broken his collar bone but dislocated his shoulder and has two cracked ribs. The guy he saw explained that sadly this type of A&E experience is increasing.

Plates and pins were done yesterday afternoon.

Now it has always been my belief that in acute cases and with A&E stuff the NHS generally got it right. If you are about to snuff it or suffer lasting damage that is still true but it seems to me like the the "institutional indifference" threshold has been lowered so if you are otherwise young, fit and healthy being left in a vast amount of pain for weeks no longer matters. Be warned.
 
Which hospital was this at or would you rather not say?

I'm thinking perhaps it is an A&E department I should try and avoid given the chance.
 
A terrible experience, glad he's ok now.

I am glad to say my experience with A&E has always been better than that.

I hope they throw the book at the driver (and it's heavy and hits her in the face).
 
Not good......I think we are fortunate in Oxford to have such an excellent teaching hospital.....A&E is also first class despite the abuse of the system by the customers.....many of whom do not fall into either category of accident nor emergency.
I also think it is a numbers game.....the whole of the NHS system in and around Ilkley where my parents live is both excellent and pro-active....I suspect if your son had had his accident in Inverness he would have got much better care.

Mic
 
No wonder he looked grey, a dislocated shoulder hurts!

Hope he is well soon.
 
Hope he is getting better. A true example of how we all need someone to watch over us and make things work from time to time.

Female driver (other genders are available) Life sentence too short.
 
Very happy to hear that your son is on the mend.

As for A&E, it think it is pretty much down to which hospital you go to - some are great, some are.. well... not that great.. ahhm. So it's not simply a BUPA vs HNS thing.

Said that, I was unlucky enough to claim (heavily) from BUPA over the past two years. For my treatments, I opted for a private ward within an NHS hospital. That worked very well, and the NHS hospital was fantastic (as I found-out whenever needed the services of another department).

So I wouldn't knock the NHS, but from my experience having BUPA is indeed highly desirable.
 
Problem was he was unfortunate enough to be knocked off his bike on a Sunday and treated after 6 o'clock at night. This probably means there were very few staff on duty and those that were had very little "executive seniority" to authorise , initiate treatment or admit him. There is a geographical lottery as has been alluded to, but there is also "timing" lottery. Best to be ill during normal office hours if at all possible. The NHS- your safe in their hands-- except-------- after 6 at night, weekends, public holidays, Christmas and New Year in which case you may well on your own. :dk:
 
As for A&E, it think it is pretty much down to which hospital you go to - some are great, some are.. well... not that great.. ahhm. So it's not simply a BUPA vs HNS thing.

Yes, think we had an unhappy experience because fairly recently two big A&E's were collapsed into one. And it shows.

By comparison, same son broke his arm a few years back whilst on a school exchange to Germany. Reset and pinned same morning.

No. 2 son suffered fracture whilst snowboarding in Austria. Sorted within two hours.

Both of those were done in small local hospitals where one doctor managed the case front to back. Being shuttled around any big impersonal system engaged in numbers games and with no clear individual responsibilty cannot help.
 
Hope your son makes full recovery...
 
Sorry to hear about your son's injuries and I hope he makes a full and speedy recovery.
Being shuttled around any big impersonal system engaged in numbers games and with no clear individual responsibilty cannot help.
Much of my professional life is spent on process improvement - in industry, not the NHS - and I've always harboured the belief that the silo structure of the NHS, while almost certainly necessary to an extent due to the need for specialisms, is a serious impediment to getting it to perform really well.
 
I rocked up at my local A+E, which is not big by any stretch and is in the country in the south east, at 12:30am on Bank Holiday Monday with a NSAID-induced duodenal ulcer.

Left at 03:00am with the diagnosis and no pain.

I've known other good and bad experiences so it is definitely down to timing luck and which hospital.
 
Glad to see that your son is eventually on the road to recovery. Have you reported the incident to the police? Leaving the scene of an accident where injuries are suffered is a serious incident and she'll be heavily punished and quite rightly so
 
Glad your lad is on the mend - nasty experience all round :(
 
Also glad that your son is on the mend.. A&E is often a lottery.

A couple of years ago our daughter woke up in the middle of the night coughing and wheezing. NHS direct decided an ambulance was in order. Spent a worrying hour and a half in Casualty, but they were great and could not fault them other than it took time for things to happen. Daughter was fine, and now loves Casualty...

Contrasted with a trip about a month ago after NHS direct again decided this time my partner need to see a doctor at 5.30 on a Sunday evening. Spent 4 hours in A&E. Took hours for a blood test. She eventually came away with a prescription for a blood clotting (I think) drug. Pity that the chemists had all closed.

Joined up thinking that is....
 
Have you reported the incident to the police? Leaving the scene of an accident where injuries are suffered is a serious incident and she'll be heavily punished and quite rightly so

Police attended the incident and we understand the driver has been identified and interviewed under caution.

Having exited the vehicle then immediately buggered off and made no attempt to contacted Police at all eliminates most of the common defences against Failure to Stop charges.

So up to 10 penalty points, fine of up to £5000 and posible driving ban at discretion of the court.

It will surprise few to learn that we have already received a number of calls from the Compensation Claims legal vultures.
 
Satch said:
Police attended the incident and we understand the driver has been identified and interviewed under caution.

Having exited the vehicle then immediately buggered off and made no attempt to contacted Police at all eliminates most of the common defences against Failure to Stop charges.

So up to 10 penalty points, fine of up to £5000 and posible driving ban at discretion of the court.

It will surprise few to learn that we have already received a number of calls from the Compensation Claims legal vultures.

Although cases like this demonstrate why there should be Compensation, albeit at this stage not your first priority...
 
It will surprise few to learn that we have already received a number of calls from the Compensation Claims legal vultures.

So despite the hospital being understaffed to the point of not being able to treat your son, someone there had enough time on their hands to sell his details? :crazy:

This should be illegal.
 
I have seen far to much of hospitals over the past year, having had both of my parents diagnosed with Cancer.

Sadly we lost Mum in August last year, after our local district general hospital took over 12 hours to administer Antibiotics that could have prevented an infection taking he life, even though she was taken to A&E by Ambulance, so they know things were serious.

The cynical part of me believes that this was not incompetence but strategic, since Mum was suffering from a terminal illness.

I have found and have been told by many friends and family in the NHS that if you need hospital or come to that GP help, always make sure its a teaching hospital or practice, as they have the better doctors as they are harder to get jobs at.

I hope that your son makes a speedy recover and please do pursue that complaint, as the next time it could be a matter of life or death for someone.
 

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