Pinderfields Hospital appointments farce was bad management – Yorkshire Post Letters

MY sister who is severely disabled with complex health issues had an appointment October 6 at the Trauma and Orthopaedic Department at Pinderfields Hospital.

Listen to GPs over appointments, Sajid Javid – Jayne Dowle

A week before, she received a text message requiring her confirmation of ability to attend, with the usual statement that a missed appointment would cost the NHS £160. She replied in the affirmative and received a text message on September 29 stating the Department looked forward to seeing her on the appointed date.

My sister depends on her sister-in-law or the ambulance service to attend any hospital appointments. As a result of her disabilities, military operations involving much time and effort are needed to attend appointments.

On arrival at the clinic on October 6 at Pinderfields, she was informed by the receptionist that the clinic had been cancelled on October 1.

This information was not conveyed to my sister by text, letter or landline telephone.

No doctor was available despite the valiant efforts of the receptionist to locate one. All that was offered was an appointment in November.

My sister was diagnosed with a dislocated shoulder after an x-ray on September 2.

After experiencing a dislocated shoulder three times, I know what pain and distress it causes to people with less intractable problems than my sister.

Incompetent administration and politicians are undermining the admirable efforts of front line staff who we all know have been invaluable during the pandemic.

How many others who do not have relations able to articulate outrage on their behalf are being treated in this way?

From: Dr Farah Jameel, BMA’s GP committee executive team.

THE fact that Sajid Javid failed to keep his promise to address doctors at the Royal College of GPs’ Conference tells you everything we need to know about this Health Secretary.

He is running scared of speaking to the profession face-to-face because he knows his plan is, in reality, no plan at all.

His assortment of half-baked promises and an overriding desire by the Government to name and shame surgeries won’t improve general practice for doctors or their patients but it will lead to poorer care and more GPs leaving the profession.

Sajid Javid hasn’t thrown a lifeline for GPs, he’s cast adrift general practice into the sea of abandonment, indifference and despair.

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