Can't we do anything in the Uk anymore ?

[seedling]

Following on from the discussions about eating locally and reducing airmiles on food i thought Id share with you what i was told this morning.
I went for an MRI scan on my knee at a hospital in Nuneton. After I had been scanned and got dressed again I was told that the results would take four to six weeks to come back to my consultant because the pictures are sent abroad to be assessd. Apparently they can be sent to either France, Germany , Italy or South Africa. Why cant they be looked at in this country?
Not only does our food come from miles away, are enquiries answered in India but now our health is checked abroad .......
I despair of the Uk sometimes

Seedling

[Chantal]

They can check them in the UK but I think they save the service for private patients

[Primrose]

Seedling, Your comments are heartily echoed in this household!. Sadly my father-in-law died very suddenly a couple of weeks ago and my husband is his Executor. You have no idea how frustrating an experience this is when you have to make hundreds of phone calls to utilities, pension providers and other institutions to cancel services and notify people. I really wish the Chief Executives of these big organisations would try ringing their own Customer Services departments occasionally. They would find themselves endlessly hanging on the phone running up enormous bills, only to find themselves eventually talking to individuals in Call Centres in India who barely speak English, know nothing about the organisations they're supposed to be servicing. then invariably put you through to the wrong department, so you have to start all over again.

[richard p]

i reckon its more productive to communicate by email with these organisations. you can do it at your convienience and you can print a record of what youve told them.

[Gilly C]

I agree with Richard ! I have been known to email daily until I get the required response adding to the original so the longer it takes the longer the email is and they cannot say they didn't recieve it!

[AngeTheHippy]

Following on from the discussions about eating locally and reducing airmiles on food i thought Id share with you what i was told this morning.
I went for an MRI scan on my knee at a hospital in Nuneton. After I had been scanned and got dressed again I was told that the results would take four to six weeks to come back to my consultant because the pictures are sent abroad to be assessd. Apparently they can be sent to either France, Germany , Italy or South Africa. Why cant they be looked at in this country?
Not only does our food come from miles away, are enquiries answered in India but now our health is checked abroad .......
I despair of the Uk sometimes

Seedling

Morning seedling,
What really amazes me, in this day and age of technological breakthroughs almost on a weekly scale is...WHY it should take THIS long, when an image (X-ray, MRI scan etc) isn't sent almost at-the-speed-of-light via either an email OR if the Hospital is networked then via real-time imaging?

Beats me...

AngeTheHippy
xx

[Mr Potato Head]

Sorry for the techy reply but, when the NHS said they wanted to develop electronic transfers of things like x-rays, a vocal section of the press decided that it would be an infringement of our human rights and turned it into a political hot-potato... which was then, unsurprisingly, dropped.

[Tigger]

I don't know the particular contractual arrangements in Nuneaton, but I am aware of a neighbouring NHS Trust that has an international contract for interpreting X-rays and scans out of hours, in order to take advantage of experts working in different time zones.

Doesn't explain why it would take 4 weeks or more though.

When my brother was in hospital in the USA, they e-mailed his x-rays, scans and results to his UK address and to his GP, on the same day they were taken, which was eminently sensible and efficient. However, when he got back home his Consultant Oncologist insisted he should have them done again as he didn't trust them! He then waited 6 weeks for an urgent appointment and the results were identical - surprisingly.

[AngeTheHippy]

I don't know the particular contractual arrangements in Nuneaton, but I am aware of a neighbouring NHS Trust that has an international contract for interpreting X-rays and scans out of hours, in order to take advantage of experts working in different time zones.

Doesn't explain why it would take 4 weeks or more though.

When my brother was in hospital in the USA, they e-mailed his x-rays, scans and results to his UK address and to his GP, on the same day they were taken, which was eminently sensible and efficient. However, when he got back home his Consultant Oncologist insisted he should have them done again as he didn't trust them! He then waited 6 weeks for an urgent appointment and the results were identical - surprisingly.

Hi MrPotatoeHead(I too am in deepest darkest Lincolnshire!!)& Tigger Your replies don't surprise me at all. Especially yours, Tigger - yep - sounds about right ::didn't trust originals so had tests done again:: Ho hum, just remind me - we ARE living in the year 2007 not 1907 aren't we.....??

I'm annoyed now...VERY annoyed...FOR GOODNESS SAKE!!! SOMEBODY TELL THE NHS THAT, WILL THEY???

[Bren]

We have no complaints about the NHS here in the West Midlands, we have been to the hospital twice this week, and should have gone again this morning,the nurse cancelled that one,as we saw a Dr. yesterday morning within 5 minutes of our appoinment,don't know about XRays but with a bone scan no delay with it.

Bren

[Tigger]

Well - that's good Bren.

Said brother went from Derbyshire to Nottingham this morning for some tests, only to be told that the only person who could do them was on leave - he having waited from 8.30am 'til 4pm to learn this.

He gives me loads of grief as I've worked for the NHS since 1975.

Some days - it's difficult to defend.

[Losos]

Your replies don't surprise me at all. Especially yours, Tigger - yep - sounds about right ::didn't trust originals so had tests done again:: Ho hum, just remind me - we ARE living in the year 2007 not 1907 aren't we.....??

Well yes it does sound weird, but don't assume that living in 2007 is necessarily a good thing. In 1907 the consultant (Had he been able to look at originals from USA) would not have, even for one microsecond, considered the possibility of facing negligence charges. But, now in 2007, every tiny decision that consultant takes has to be traceable, back uppable, and as solid as rock. If something went wrong the lawyers would have a field day in court and he (the consultant) would not be able to go back to the source in USA and get them involved.

I'm not saying he (the consultant)was right, I am saying it's annoying, and I'm also saying that [i]we live in an age of instant (and IMHO spurious) litigation of all and sundry when things go wrong.

So the fact that the results were identical is irrelevant here. If I were the consultant I would no doubt have done the same thing and moaned to all and sundry about having to repeat the tests.