Be Excellent To Each Other

Hello, I know that lots of folks are away for the weekend so it might be a bit quiet here, but i just wanted an opinion from folks.

My Nan had a fall a few weeks ago and has been in hospital in NW London since then, in some kind of rehabilitation unit that is just a hospital ward, though I am having trouble finding out what hospital this is (another long story, don't get me started).

Anyway, some of you may recall that my nan had a fall at Christmas and broke her right arm. She doesn't have a working left arm so this was a double blow. The arm healed badly and the bone reset WAY out of position and has left her with very limited mobility in her arm.

Now, her latest fall seems (by the scant reports I have been given from useless family) to have not really caused much injury, but they are keeping her in to see if she can cope with the amount of help she is already getting...

Anyway, a doctor came around to her ward on Monday and enquired after how she was doing walking, with a walking frame etc, and she mentioned that she still has very little feeling in her arm. He said that he'd arrange for a scan to be done to see if there was a trapped nerve or tendon which she might be able to have operated on.

Two days later, Wednesday, 6am, the nurse wakes her up to say that transport has arrived to take her for an operation at Park Royal hospital (not the hospital she is at)

Now, none of the nurses know that this operation was going to happen, and neither did my Nan - no-one was told, which is why she is fast asleep when they come to take her across town to another hospital for an operation. When the doctor at the hospital is later questioned about the arrangement he says he put in a note to say that she should be examined to find if an operation might help but had no notion that park Royal would book the operation and transport, etc.

Does this not seem almost crazy to you?

'We're taking you for an operation now'

"Hold on, what? What operation? What? Where?'

is this in any way standard practice? Does anyone here work in the NHS hospitals system? Is this normal?

Doesn't sound great, but I would be far from surprised at it. I was in the process of being taken for discharge (in a NW london hospital) when someone happened by and said, "where are you taking him?" "out" "no he needs to go to SAU*" 5 hours later I was undergoing emergency surgery.

One thing I am unsure of from your message, did she get the scan on the trapped nerve?

*surgical assessment unit

No, no scan! She was expecting the scan to take several weeks to arrange as she is awaiting the same type of scan on her knee, and they said the wait will be 3-4 weeks.

This isnt any help, but I trust the NHS as far as I can throw them.
Private health insurance and care FTW in my experience.

I would ask for a full audit of the patient records, and a formal complaint to whomever is highest up that you can identify.

Ring up the hospital you know about and inform them you think they are operating on the incorrect person, that should get their attention at least.