The waiting game

It's been a hectic week one way and another. WH arrived back from his annual skiing trip along wth the obligatory machine full of laundry; my cleaner, the lovely Ms T had a bad back so I had to clean my own house; we had youngest grandson (19 months) to stay for a night and a day and then had to take him back home over 80 miles away and what with blood tests, hospital appointments and all the usual business-y stuff I'm quite whacked out. WH has been working some odd hours too, meaning he doesn't eat his dinner until after 9pm so I'm still waiting to clear up and wash dishes at 10, my pet hate.

This week though it should be a little calmer. A slack week business wise gives WH the opportunity, finally, to tile the kitchen. With a short visit from the depressed painter looming, to do some touching up, I can almost see the end of the kitchen in sight. The one thing which conspires to thwart all this is the non arrival, STILL, of the sideboard which I ordered at the end of November. Actually it did arrive, despite all the suppliers promises (lies?) on New Year's Eve (should have been before 15th December) but when we opened the packages, the top was badly damaged as were 2 of the drawers. Hasty photo and email exchanging confirmed that it was a manufacturing fault and that we would be supplied with replacements within 5 working days. They didn't arrive. I took this up with Trading Standards or as they are now known Consumer Direct and it should all have been sorted by last Friday. It hasn't. So now I'm still walking round 3 large boxes, we can't finish the last unpacking and sorting out in the kitchen and the whole thing is now, not to put too fine a point on it, getting on my flipping nerves.

This whole experience of internet purchasing for the kitchen has actually soured my view of the process. An order for cooker hoods and stuff was cancelled because the firm failed to deliver in the set time and then could not even tell me when the goods were likely to arrive. Eventually I got a refund by resorting to my Credit Card company. The supplier had now gone bust so I'm glad I dealt with that straight away or I would now be seriously out of pocket and still awaiting the refund. The sideboard cost more, a lot more, and because I technically have all parts claiming a refund is not so easy. The firm used Paypal and they don't want to know, neither does the credit card company because a third party (Paypal) was involved. In future I will confine my internet purchasing to household names, little unknown firms will be a no no. They truly don't deliver.

So for now I wait and wait. I've turned my attentions to the old bathroom. It doesn't look like WH will be re-fitting that in the near future so the painter will be painting it as it is, the blind will be going up instead of my dreadful temporary curtains and a shiny new mirrored cupboard is waiting in the wings to go on the wall. Meanwhile WH will be finally fitting out the downstairs cloakroom and the utility room, all I need for that is a couple of cupboards, everything else is in the garage, just like me, waiting.

So that's how they shorten the waiting lists

This is the diary of someone I know on a NHS waiting list.

Mid January: Patient goes to their GP and is referred to a speciality clinic.

February: An appointment is received for 9 March.

9 March: Patient turns up to the clinic and is told that they had been sent the wrong date by mistake; there was no one there to see them. A new appointment is made.

12 March: Patient attends first session at clinic which is basically filling in some forms and a brief 5 minute chat. An appointment is made for to begin a course of treatment in April.

April: The treatment clinic appointment is cancelled by telephone the day before it is due to take place because the patient has been referred to 'the wrong type of person'. A referral to another clinic will be made.

May: Patient calls up and asks why they had heard nothing. They are told that their referral letter has been lost and the clinic will have to ask the GP for another one.

Early June: GP calls the patient and says he has been asked to do another referral, do they still need it.

Mid June: Patient receives a letter for an appointment on 9th Sept .

Late June: Patient receives a phone call saying the appointment date on the letter was wrong and a new one would be sent. Receives another letter changing it to 10th Sept

9 Sept: Patient receives a phone call cancelling tomorow's appointment because the referral should have been sent to the Primary Care Trust and not the Community Health Team so the referral has to be made again.

NHS Choices has this to say about waiting lists:

Since 01 January 2006, no patient in England should have to wait more than 13 weeks from when they see their GP and the decision is made that a referral to a specialist is necessary, and their first outpatient appointment.

Well we know better don't we? This way, the patient gets off the waiting list and has to start again, best of all they receive no costly treatment so are saving the NHS money too. Wonderful isn't it? There is no involvement from any medically qualified staff at all, it can all be managed by pen pushers.

RESULT! A cost saving and a shorter waiting list to boot. And I thought that the NHS was here to treat us.

It's just a shame that NHSblogdoctor is still on holiday, he'd enjoy this one.