A frustrating day

Having received the call from the Consultant last night, I phoned the hospital this morning to confirm that I wouldn't be needing the appointment at 9 am. They confirmed that I was booked in for an "Open Appointment", which allows me to arrive late in the afternoon session.

During the morning, I called the Consultant to see whether we were still OK for this afternoon, only to be told that he hadn't been able to confirm with the hospital authorities that the nurse who has now offered to stay this evening would be paid overtime for her efforts. I told him that if necessary, I would pay her cash for staying behind so that she would be sure of being paid. He asked me to leave this with him until lunchtime when he should have been able to speak with the finance authorities to confirm.

He called just after lunch. "Yes, everything is fine for this afternoon. Please come in at 4:30"

That's progress...

5 minutes later - phone rings again. "Sorry, just had a call from pharmacy to say that their drug making machine has broken down and they won't be able to mix up the drug for you this afternoon".

Good grief. This is now getting beyond a joke.

He then told me that he would be trying to find someone to help us out so that he could give the treatment to me before Saturday lunchtime. Obviously I told him that I would make myself available at any time, but it really shouldn't need to be like this.

Why he couldn't have just filled out the bloody form to make a special case to the Finance Department to have this done under the NHS, I don't know. This is just ridiculous.

Finally, at around 5pm, he called me to confirm that I should attend at 4:30 tomorrow afternoon. He has got one of the nurses to stay behind on a Friday evening to help me out.

So, let's just hope things go more smoothly tomorrow. I will obviously have to attend straight from the office (having been to a meeting in Liverpool ion the morning), but at least it will have been done.

Fingers crossed.

PS - the treatment is slowly going through NICE, so hopefully by the middle of next year, all this will be a thing of the past. We will see...