Considering all the resources poured into the NHS, it is shocking that communication is so poor - Jayne Dowle
It’s not acceptable that two-thirds of patients have had to chase the NHS for test results or receive appointment reminders after the date has passed. Research by the King’s Fund, Healthwatch and National Voices finds that whatever hubris the Prime Minister and Health Secretary Wes Streeting spout over reducing NHS waiting times and delivering a better service, the reality is very different, throwing fresh light onto the government’s spurious claims about improved healthcare.
Back in January, it was discovered that hospitals were being paid £3m a month to remove patients from waiting lists, making it look as if the health service is treating more people than it actually is; a process known as ‘validation’.
Keir Starmer claimed NHS waiting lists were down by “more than 86,000”, which was the “largest fall in a month for over two years … These aren’t just numbers - it is thousands of people getting the care they need.”
Even if this was half-true, what about the rest? At the beginning of March, my dad, who’s 82 and has only had the sight in one eye since a teenage motorbike accident, went to the new ‘Health on the High Street’ hub in Barnsley town centre for his regular ophthalmic appointment – it’s recently moved from the main hospital.
His sight is already compromised, plus he has glaucoma and what was an incipient cataract in his ‘good eye’ as he calls it. The ophthalmologist discovered that the cataract had significantly worsened, prescribed new eye drops and told him the cataract would need removing by surgery.
This was alarming enough for dad, but he was told he’d hear about a pre-assessment appointment very soon and took the news on the chin. And then waited. And waited. Six weeks passed, and still no news. He’s not one to feel sorry for himself, but he admitted that his sight was deteriorating.
I popped round to see him and together we navigated the NHS switchboard to establish what had happened to his follow-up appointment. Three numbers later, we had no choice but to leave a – very clear and polite – message asking the eye clinic to call him back.
Two days later, still no callback. So helped by my sister, dad phoned the number again, a woman answered, and told him he would need to speak to his GP for cataract surgery referral. He managed to get through to a human at the GP surgery – a feat of achievement in itself – and was told no, it’s definitely the eye clinic that deals with this. Confusing? Very.
By this point we were highly disinclined to play any further games of phone call ping pong. I spoke to a friend whose elderly mother recently had cataract surgery to ask her advice; she told me there is a specialist clinic in Chapeltown, Sheffield that carries out NHS cataract operations and other sight-related procedures via a referral from a GP or optician. Her mother went there and everything had been sorted quickly and efficiently.
This was news to us; the ophthalmologist had never mentioned this option to dad. So Tuesday last week we went into Health on the High Street in person to try and find out what on earth was going on.
Long story short, the (very helpful) receptionist went to investigate, came back, told us that the wait for cataract surgery via this department was “at least 26 weeks” and said they couldn’t refer to the specialist clinic – it definitely had to come from a GP or optician.
We went straight to his optician in town, who made an immediate referral. Dad goes to the specialist clinic this Friday for his pre-assessment; the staff there will decide how urgent his case is and prioritise as necessary.
This is just one example of the absolute tangle of bureaucracy the NHS finds itself in. Dad is of sound mind and very independent, but he’s 82 and doesn’t always ask questions.
If he didn’t have close family members to fight on his behalf – and I hadn’t spoken to my friend for advice – he’d probably still be sitting there waiting for the letter, or more likely, text, to arrive for an appointment, only to then find that the waiting list for an operation stretched to at least six months.
And literally before our eyes, there was another route that no-one in the NHS thought to share? What of all those other people who find themselves in this kind of position?
I’m sorry, but there is absolutely no excuse. When you think about all those resources poured into the health service, it is shocking that communication is so poor and that options are not even explained to patients.
On a recent visit to Barnsley, Streeting described Health on the High Street as “really inspiring”, adding, “what we’re seeing right here in the heart of Barnsley town centre is the future of the NHS.”
Never mind the headlines. It would be an absolute shame if such a ground-breaking initiative, which is putting our town on the map for all the right reasons, is let down by simple lack of communication with those who matter most, the patients.