Hello, I am new to the forums, i'm not sure if this is the right section for this thread, if not, please move it. Thanks. I have been housebound for 8 years, after numerous consultations and physio etc, different reports and studys, opposing opinions, misdiagnosis, bad advice, Psychiatrists trying to convince me its in my head is the latest one. My problem is I have a winged scapula and a severely damaged long thoracic nerve. My local hospital can not offer me surgery for this, i know this can be fixed, i've read many cases and studies of this and its possible for donor nerves to be used and the scapula fixed back to the ribcage. I am in severe pain all the time and nothing will be done, I am on the NHS as i have no money to pay for the operation, i live alone and havent been out for 8 years, im mostly in my bed. Im suicidal sometimes and dont know how much longer i can cope. Can anybody give me advice or help on what to do, im going insane with the pain. Thanks very much. Dee.

i would like to check out if this is case case for ignoring ticket starts with: Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust Enforcement Notice BSUH Parking Policy 2006 ...... contravention code 03 YOU ARE THEREFORE REQUIRED TO PAY A PENALTY OF £50 ....... Can't find this parking policy on their website, can anyone else find these rules? As this is NHS would they be able to claim more powers?

These everyone seems to want to sue everyone else for minor injuries just to get some cash. But if the NHS done something minor, but a company told you to sue, would you? For instance, you are in hospital and they leave the drip on high into your hand and it swells up twice the size. It's very painful, and the staff don't seem to be bothered and just leave you. Hours later the shift changes and the first nurse in quickly turns the drip off. It then takes over 24hrs for the swelling and pain to go away. Now some people may try and sue for that and would probably get a few hundred quid, however I wouldn't even think about it. It would be another matter if I'd lost the hand , but it was only a 24hr issue and mistakes are made. I look at suing the NHS as taking away treatment from someone else, and so would only use it as an option in the most serious of cases. What do you think?

I took my son to my local nhs hospital for his orthopedic appointment. The hospital is pay and display only. However I realised I did not have enough money on me to pay £4 parking fee and parked in a disabled bay. I have consequently received a ticket from cp plus for £40 reduced to £20 if I pay within 14 days. Is this an enforceable fine?

Last year I went to the doctors because of pain in my low abdomen on my left side. I was eventually referred to a consultant surgeon who instantly diagnosed an inguinal hernia. He said I needed surgery and went about setting this up. I heard back from his secretary saying they'd done their end and were now referring it to the funding body. Then this week I get a call from my doctor telling me that they will not be operating because the NHS doesn't pay for such operations any more. Apparently it's not affecting my life enough. The hernia means I cannot run and so I asked my doc "so you're telling me, at 43, that I will never run again. Her only answer, after a significant pause was that I should try swimming instead! I can't do that either because of a shoulder injury that they've also haven't treated properly yet. I cannot afford the money to get it done privately. Is there anything I can do about this? It seems insane that I've being paying money into the NHS for 25 years yet I cannot have an operation that they tell me I need.

I went to see a specialist last September over problems with my total jaw replacement I had in 2002, which they said would last me a lifetime... obviously I wasn't supposed to live till I was 46 . Anyway, I seen the guy at the bottom of the ladder who had to go and get the next specialist up, who had no idea what was wrong with the titanium jaw joints as it is a rare op, so they referred me up another level. I got an appointment for 2 weeks later, which was great service. Seen the consultant who decided he didn't know what the problem was and referred me to the head honcho .... which just happened to have been the same guy who was the understudy who helped with my op in 2002 He decided I needed a CT scan so I had to wait for an appointment. I waited... and waited... and waited... and then last month had to see my GP so mentioned this to him. He got on the phone straight away and when the secretary admitted I had fallen off the radar he had a right go at her I got a letter this week from the hospital with a good apology, which is unusual. I'm still waiting for my scan appointment though!!!

Just thought I would put some info together for peeps. NHS Complaints procedure Most medical care and treatment goes well, but things occasionally go wrong, and you may want to complain. So where do you start? Every NHS organisation has a complaints procedure. To find out about it, ask a member of staff, look on the hospital or trust's website, or contact the complaints department for more information. You may want to make positive comments on the care and services that you've received. These comments are just as important because they tell NHS organisations which factors are contributing to a good experience for patients. If you wish to make a complaint about an NHS organisation, contact them directly first. If you're not sure where to start or how to get in touch with an NHS body or independent regulator, try one of the following options. Complaint against an NHS Practitioner If you think an NHS practitioner or social services employee has been guilty of professional misconduct, you can complain to their professional or regulatory body. Examples of professional misconduct include: practitioners who have a sexual relationship with a patient, practitioners who claim that they're competent to practise but are not, practitioners who falsely claim that they're qualified to practise, breaching confidentiality, and manipulating patient's medical records. The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman If you have tried the NHS complaints procedure but are dissatisfied with the response to your complaint, contact the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. The Ombudsman carries out independent investigations into complaints about government departments, their agencies and the NHS. Include the following details in your complaint: your name, address and telephone number, name and contact details of anyone helping you with the complaint, name and contact details of the healthcare provider you wish to complain about, the factual details of your complaint (listing the main events and when they happened), why you think your previous complaint wasn’t resolved to your satisfaction, and how this has caused you injustice, details of the complaints you've already made to the healthcare provider and the outcome of their investigations, and copies of any relevant documents (it's usually helpful to number these and provide a list). Keep copies of everything you post, and make a note of when you send it. The healthcare professional regulators in England are: Doctors: the General Medical Council, Nurses and midwives: the Nursing and Midwifery Council Dentists, dental hygienists and dental therapists: the General Dental Council. Dispensing opticians and optometrists: the General Optical Council. Pharmacists: the General Pharmaceutical Council. Arts therapists, biomedical scientists, chiropodists and podiatrists, clinical scientists, dietitians, occupational therapists, operating department practitioners, orthoptists, paramedics, physiotherapists, practitioner psychologists, prosthetists and orthotists, radiographers, speech and language therapists and social workers in England: the Health and Care Professionals Council. Osteopaths: the General Osteopathic Council. Chiropractors: the General Chiropractic Council. Please feel free to add or shout for more info.

I work for the NHS, and due to recent concerns regarding another NHS trust winning the bid to do the work we currently carry out, I have applied for other jobs and been sucessful and offered another post, although I have signed no contract and have no start date yet. Since my interview there has been a consultation meeting and the other nhs trust is now Taking over the staff (via TUPE) and offering redundancy to current staff. My prospective new manager is happy ot defer my start date for my new job as it is my understanding in the NHS terms and conditions there needs to be a 4 week break after taking redundancy before taking up another NHS post. My question is this- does the 4 week break constitute the time at which the old contract is terminated and contract begins, or would the fact that I have a job offer mean I am not eligible for redundancy?

Hello everyone Just after a bit of advice please, my mother fears that her health records have been accessed by a member of our family. Without going into detail there is private information (ony held on file) which was brought up in coversation by this family member who works at a hospital. My mother has not attended this hospital since her toubles 12 years ago. We do not want to make matters worse in the family and accuse this person, so how would we discover if they have indeed been snooping at her files whilst on shift? Thanks all

Hello, I have a question and I will appreciate any suggestions ( I won my tribunal case) but the tribunal says its beyond their jursdiction to look into the forgrey of documents. I felt justice somehow has not be served therefore I felt that this organisation need to be exposed.!!!!!!!! I have a valid and damaging proof !!!!!! 1 How can I sue ex employer for forgrey?? or how can I pursue this in a higher court in united kingdom

Is it possible to get NHS dentist to do bridges where there are recurrent absences above one of the tooth of the bridge, it is a large bridge and appears that they do not do that amount of teethes on one single bridge anymore. She has been to the dental hospital where student do work, but the consultant there said that they cannot do it, I think it was because they could not replace bridge for her and was and was advised by the consultant at the teaching hospital to get a local dentist to do it, but is finding it impossible for any dentist practice to do it on the NHS, they want thousand of pounds for the work. She cannot afford that and it is causing her major health problems now. Any advice on this would be great please.

I just had a rude pile of crap talk to me on the phone.... In short (as a follow on from what I posted before but different thing) The hospital screwed up 3 times... thus investigation for complaint is taking more than double the time they quoted. I apply for refund of train fare which I am entitled to... their head office even send me exception forum.... Visit 1: Told to bring someone with me, Op would happen - Op delayed Visit 2: As above Visit 3: Operation under general anaesthetic done Visit 4: Checkup, again was told to bring someone with me in case anything else needed to be done. Claiming money back has been a pain. They finally phone today stating they are not paying for the person who came with me, because they believe I didnt need someone with me. Couldnt give too much info as my main info is locked to a complaint procedure. They are refusing to pay this persons money back... even though 1: I was told each time I need someone to accompany me 2: It was a general anaesthetic procedure which confirms they need someone to accompany me She was a total bitch on phone, saying im not entitled any money back for the person that came with me as they should not of been with me (wtf... general anaesthetic = someone must accompany you) I told her theres a complaint procedure opened against them, which sums it all up but she couldnt care less, said I wont be getting money for the person who was instructed to come with me. Whats next?

My local Gp's have a brand spanking new Medicine Factory. They used to be called surgeries. At the gate is a sign saying that the car park is monitored , and anybody they don't like will be clamped . They claim that it is Trust Property. My take is that if the property belongs to a trust then within the meaning of the 2012 act it is private land. whether or not they can hide behind Crown Immunity and clamp without lawful authority I do not know. But I don't like practice managers , who seem to have more say than Doctors these days, chucking their weight about. We units of illness (It's now all our fault or in our heads) once called patients, should have a say. Any opinions would be welcome

I recently had to have an emergency c-section to have my son who is now 8 weeks old. 2 days later i was told i had to go home, i informed the midwife i did not feel right and was not ready to go home but was told it was normal practice and that i had to leave once the doctor had made his rounds and checked my c-section. I was upset by this but figured it ust be how all c-section ladies felt afterwards. The doctor eventually came and looked at the c-section, he said instantly that it looked quite red an sore around the wound and asked if it hurt when he touched it. I told him no, as it was still numb there and could not feel anything. I was then sent home, he did not give me any antibiotics and did not do a swab check to look for infection. 2 days later the wound began to weep and became very painful, the midwife came to check on the baby and after looking at my belly got me some antibiotics and sent a swab off aswell to make sure they were the right drugs to be taking. Another 2 days later the wound had opened up quite badly and i was very very ill. Another midwife came to check the wound again and said i needed to go to the hospital as i needed stronger antiiotics. We went straight there, the doctor took one look at my c-section and within a matter of minutes i was rushed into theatre where they opened the wound back up and had to cut out all the dead and infected flesh, along with the skin from outside the wound on my tummy as the infection had spread and began killing the outer skin also turning it black. I was left with an open wound 9 inches in length, 2 and a half inches wide and nearly 3 inches deep, i had to have a vac machine attatched at all times to the wound. I was kept in hospital for 2 weeks on morphine and 2 dfferent antibiontics and when eventually sent home still had to had the machine attached for 2 months to heal the hole in my belly. This pretty much left me imobilized and uanble to look after my son who i had already lost out on the first weeks of his life and was unable to bond with him. Currently the wound is infected once again. Friends and family are telling me that e doctor was negligent in sending me home when i had all the symptoms of infection and he did nothingnd that i should sue. do you believe i may have a case? I have lost alot of time with all this and dont want to waste anymore. thanks in advance

Is there any site that actually publishes waiting times? I have seen reports about national standerd and what to do if its broken, but I want to know just how long I am going to be kept waiting for an operation that my surgeon has classed as urgent, already waited 8 weeks now and still no sign of a date for the op. Have tried phoning the surgeons secretary and she was most unhelpful, her words were 'you will just have to wait as he is very busy!', I mentioned i had already had my pre- op check and in another week it will have to be redone as it will be out of time, her answer was 'well we can sort that out later'

I live 350 miles away from my elderly Parents. My dear old Mum has recently taken a backward step her fight with Dementure. It started three years ago after she had had a stroke. She recovered well from this and made good progress until last year when she had a heavy fall and broke a hip. Again she was getting over this well but since Christmas has had having a number of small fits, a lot of trouble with her balance, her words and becomes increasingly preoccupied with very small things. She was taken back into hospital two weeks ago after another small fall. Since then she has been moved form rest/respite home every three or four days while they (NHS) get her meds sorted out. The problem I have there seems to be no effort to change the meds, they appear more interested in keeping her quite and subdued. She would be better off at home if I can get my Dad some home help I suppose the first thing I have to do is have a chat with her GP. I want to make sure me 'ol dad knows she is getting best care. Their 84 and 85 btw Lex

I am a support worker working with nhs for 7 years. I have had numerous sickness with depression, for which i have had for 30 years, and a back problem. I returned back in march on a staged return and at mt sick review was put on stage 2. I have had no sickness with these 2 debilities since then. I did have some sickness with irritable leg syndrome. I was put on strong medication to help this, but it only caused my insomnia. I had about 4 or 5 days sickness with this. This problem is now resolved through myself researching it and finding out it was a magnesium deficiency. So no sickness with this problem since end of june. My other sickness which is about 3 days is due to my menopause symptoms. Periods stopping, then starting heavily. My sickness since march has improved a great deal, but my manager is totally disregarding this. She is taking my sickness for the whole 7 years into account. She also said we should have been at stage 3 over a year. But because she kept sending letters to my ex's house i never got them until too late. I corrected her on the address numerous times and still she failed to get them to me correctly. It turned out to be a mistake by a new office worker and they did in fact have the correct address all along. I am appealing against the decision on the grounds that my sickness has improved, a great deal over the last year, and also this is my first time at stage three. Other members of staff have been at stage 3 numerous times and never terminated. This is the very first time in my department that this has happened. Any advice anyone can give me on winning my appeal with be greatly appreciated.Thanks x

In the Guardian yesterday, ATOS who've been awarded the PIP assessment contracts are subcontacting South Lanarkshire NHS Occ Therapy to carry out the PIP assessments for them. Why is our government outsourcing work to a private contractor who then subcontract it back into the public sector, no doubt for a lot less than they've charged.

Do NHS recognise diagnoses done privately as valid, please? My GP won't refer me and the services for adults in my area is non-existent. If I need the assessment doing, I need a referral to a centre some 200 miles away. I've had the screening done; but from experience, that means absolutely nothing. GP says she won't refer because I've already been diagnosed - I haven't. I've been told I may have it. I also have no evidence at all of my diagnosis; so I can't get my disabled students allowance, etc sorted.

I received this email today. Having much to thank the NHS for over the years, I would encourage caggers to sign the open letter and hold Jeremy Hunt to account - Have a look at this: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/Hunt-letter Jeremy Hunt has been announced as the new Health Secretary, replacing Andrew Lansley. This means he is now the minister responsible for the NHS, so it is really crucial that he understands just how important our NHS is. If enough of us sign the open letter telling him that we'll stand strong to protect our NHS, then he will realise that we mean business. Let's make it clear that we'll challenge him every step of the way if we need to. Please sign the open letter now: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/Hunt-letter Thank you all for your support. Remember - it is YOUR NHS.

Hi This is a bit long and confusing. I have worked for the NHS for 12 years and was originally tuped in to the NHS from a previous private company that I worked for - this makes my length of service 18 years. We have been told (only last week) that our department has been farmed out to a private company as from 1st September. NHS HR have told us that our terms and conditions are being tuped over with us. However the new private company has told us that there will be redundancies. The main question is this: If I am made redundant will I get the NHS redundancy which is one months pay for each year worked up to 20 months or will I get the normal stautory redundancy pay as per the government guildlines which is substantially less from the private company. No one from HR will answer this question which is leading me to think that it is the latter amount. Thanks for any advice Nicky

Hi, My brother-in-law had surgery on his knee at an NHS trust near him, he is only 11! They did such a bad job on it he had to be booked in for another surgery opp less than a month later. They didn't show compassion and they were in a rush to discharge him even though he had a torn attendant, fluid in his knee and cartilage damage, one of the doctors even said "he is not in pain , he can walk it off". After making an appointment a surgeons did the opp and he seemed to have fixed it. He kept having the same pain an problems with it so we took him back to the hospital. After we made another appointment they realized they had done something wrong and tried to get him rushed in for another surgery to fix this but instead we took him to a specialised kids hospital where after running some tests they spotted the problem but needed the notes on the previous operations of which the trust was unwilling to provide so the surgeon had to perform the operation without them as he was in a lot of pain. Is there any way we can get the full medical report on that and can we be advised on this matter please.

I want to share with this forum something that I have written for my blog. I hope I can raise awareness and bring together the people who are currently suffering alone with this issue. I wish to tell you about a silent scandal and hope that by the end of this article, you too will feel at least some of the outrage that currently has me in its grip. This issue may only affect a small minority of people but the suffering, mental anguish and loss of quality of life for these individuals cannot be overlooked. Frustratingly, this problem is completely avoidable if only the NHS would listen to the needs of hearing aid users and continue to allow them a choice. You may have heard of campaigns in recent years to provide digital hearing aids to all those who need them and to shorten waiting times, all very laudable I’m sure you agree. The assumption is that digital is always better and for those who find it so it is indeed good news that digital aids are now freely available. Now here is the bit where I reach for my soapbox. Digital aids are NOT suitable for all people with hearing loss. It’s time to speak out against this brave new world which marches forwards in all it’s technological glory as it tramples in the dust the people who need analogue aids. Can you imagine how it feels for someone who has been enjoying a full life, working, socialising and making music to then be told that the hearing aid that enabled all this is no longer to be provided. Online forums are full of heartbreaking tales of the devastating effects of this forced switch to digital. People who can no longer hear their loved ones the way they used to, parents who can no longer hear their children crying. Others who have had to give up their love of music, either playing or listening to. It’s not surprising that depression can be the result when the NHS take away your “ears” and replace them with a pathetic, unsuitable alternative, while at the same time arrogantly claiming that they know best. No doubt the digital aids are technologically outstanding, but this does not always translate into reality. My husband is happy with his old analogue hearing aid. He works full time and in his spare time he plays guitar and sings in a band. Unfortunately his old aid will not last forever and he has been issued with a new digital hearing aid, the result is horrible. We have known for some time that this day would come and it’s hung over him like a death sentence. He tried digital a few years ago and I’d never seen him so miserable. There was no way he could go to work or play music with it. This new digital is no better but he has been told he must get used to it. He’s trying so hard but to be able to work or go to band practice he puts his old aid in. This is not a long term solution. We have hit a brick wall trying to find out where we could buy another analogue hearing aid if the NHS will not provide one. It seems the whole world is going digital and it appears that many manufacturers are no longer making analogue aids now that health services have cancelled the contracts to purchase them. What can be done? Well we need to raise awareness and support the rights of all the people who are battling alone against their audiology departments. It’s easy for an individual to be told that it’s just them that have a problem and they must accept it and get used to it. Let’s not allow this. It would be great to see as many people as possible join a facebook group to put pressure on the NHS. The group will be open to all people who wish to support the human rights of analogue hearing aid users, as well as the users themselves. We need to show them that they are not alone in this fight. So, I have started a group, please join and please be patient with me as I am a novice with the workings of facebook. http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=116042521781196 Here are just a few threads so that you can see for yourself that this is not just one isolated case. http://www.bbc.co.uk/ouch/messageboards/F2322274?thread=7661278 http://www.bbc.co.uk/ouch/messageboards/F2322274?thread=5443347 http://www.bbc.co.uk/ouch/messageboards/F2322274?thread=7342594 http://www.bbc.co.uk/ouch/messageboards/F2322274?thread=3661710