National Health Service

The National Health Service, at Darent Valley Hospital, our local super sized and  new hospital.

This blog is not a criticism of the staff, as I have the highest regard for the highly dedicated and caring staff that work at Darent Valley Hospital.  After sitting in a ward for three days, I was impressed with the quality of care and support the patients received from all staff, both medical and non medical.  And they allowed family members to be with Scott, outside the normal visiting hours, because he was only just 18 and on an adult ward.       

But there is no doubt about it, the mysteries of organisation and procedures within hospitals are quite beyond most people, who happen to find themselves patients, or family of patients, in a NHS hospital.    And once in the system it is very difficult to understand the reasoning behind many decisions.   

And it would appear that the systems involved, seemed to be aimed at keeping people in longer, rather than aimed at identifying a problem quickly, getting it sorted, so that the patient can return home as soon as possible.   This would certainly cost the hospital a lot less money, and enable the patient to recover quickly, so therefore take less time off work.

Scott entered the system two weeks ago, and thought he was never going to see the outside world again.    A one off you might say.   But I suspect his experience is fairly common, otherwise the procedures he encountered would have been different. 

He went into hospital with an inflamed appendix.    Simple you might say.    Remove the offending appendix.    Key hole surgery.    No problems.   

But no, Scott endured six days in hospital, often as a ' nil by mouth' patient, on a drip, catheter inserted, on strong antibiotics and painkillers, and getting sicker by the day.   'They', (his team, or probably a senior consultant) wanted to make sure that it was appendicitis, rather than some other problem.   But, wait, everyone, except a senior surgeon, who saw Scott during the first four days said that it was probably appendicitis.   So after an x ray, two scans and numerous other tests, all expensive, it was decided that it was, in fact, appendicitis.   And then he had to wait 24 hours before they could fit him into the operating schedule.   

Now you may be impressed, and say that the hospital was being thorough, and yes a hospital does need to be thorough, and illnesses should be investigated, but the length of time it takes, does have to be questioned.   And should so much investigation happen, when it is fairly obvious that the problem could be quickly sorted with some key hole surgery.

But I do believe, that Scott's experiences has its roots embedded in Government policy of cost cutting and bureaucratic hoops.    How can a doctor or team of doctors make a quick and accurate diagnosis, provide relevant treatment, which includes an operation, when there are not enough medical staff, and an overload of patients due to all the smaller hospitals around them being closed down.   And then to top this off, they also have to focus on government requirements, which involve much paper work.   

But, I just cannot believe that the current Government policy is cost effective or time effective but I do know from our recent experience it certainly causes a lot of patient anxiety and frustration.      

Scott, sitting in his wheelchair, with his gown on, all ready for the operating theatre.  'Nil by mouth' for   12  hours and still waiting.    The humorous part is the Waitrose Wine bag that Scott is holding in his hand.  Now I wonder what is in the bag?    And you can be guaranteed it is not wine either!    

The good news is, that Scott has been home for 10 days and is fully recovered.   The removed appendicitis was enormously swollen.    We saw the photograph.