Kings College Hospital - going to the dogs?

[PeckhamRose]

Advice to all with a bad story to tell.

1) Become a "Member" then raise your experience at Members Meetings.

2) Write to the complaints department clearly outlining everything.

When ever you write to the complaints department, always state you are a member, by your name.

[LuvPeckham]

Sadly whilst I support this great institution in our midst (see comments above)

What I don't support is being told by the Nurse tonight to take home the flowers Mum has had by her bed for 3 days because someone complained about them....

a real W.T.F**k moment if i have ever had one

[PeckhamRose]

Even if you are not a Member, write to the Patients Complaints Department.

If everyone of you did this, they would have to do something about it.... wouldn't they? (inflection going UP on "they")!

[Ocean]

I worked at King's College Hospital as Admin staff for many years on and off, have worked in many different departments in the hospital and feel I have a very good knowledge of it! I don't think King's is going to the dogs, I think that all hospitals are now working under a lot more pressure, and I think there are some patients who come in who are already feeling negative about the NHS and will always have something to complain about.

And can I just say that as a Secretary in the NHS I can say that we, and the rest of the Admin staff, work our BUTTS off to try and make sure patients are dealt with smoothly and efficiently, that details are kept up to date, that clinics run well and all information is to hand, that patient queries get dealt with quickly and that clinic letters are typed as quickly as humanly possible. But Admin staff probably have the most thankless job of all NHS workers, there's a comment further back on this thread saying the Nurses and Doctors were great but the 'Admin is a shambles'. We often get overlooked and unthanked and probably people are unaware of just how big a part we've had in getting the patient from the GP surgery stage to sitting in the room WITH the doctor and Nurse.

As far as Choose and Book, a lot of the time we do not get the referral letters via the C&B system, this is not the hospital's fault and we endeavour to do all we can when it is brought to our notice!

I've often had a day of rushing around the hospital with notes, typing like mad to get clinics finished quickly, trying to help patients on the phone just to be shouted at by people who then go on to say how great the Drs and Nurses are and not getting time for a lunch-break... of course there are some staff who let the side down, but on the whole Admin staff like myself and my colleagues are conscientious, hard working and we care! So please remember, hospital Admin staff are overworked but are trying to do the best for you, it's not always as cut-and-dried as it seems and may not be their fault if something goes wrong!

[cate]

I think it is luck of the draw. I have had some very happy experiences there recently and then some not very happy ones. A lot of staff go the extra mile, some don't. In fact, that reminds me, I have a thank you letter to write to one department!

[PeckhamRose]

Great post, Ocean. Thanks for it.

[Mikecg]

? How do you have a happy experience at a hospital?......

Ive broke my leg

Dads in hospital having a tripple bypass

Johnny got knoked down by a bus

Ive been stabbed and im sitting in A&E

[Mikecg]

? How do you have a happy experience at a Hospital?

Ive only ever been there when sombody was dying, very sick or injured.

[spark67]

I have had nothing but admiration for the staff at kings, in November i found a lump under my arm and my doctors sent me to kings immediately, and they went into swift action, was even sent to the scanning dept to make an appointment, and as i walked out of the building the receptionist rang my mobile and told me i was booked for a scan two day later. Unfortunately i was diagnosed with non Hodgkin's lymphoma, but i have been swiftly treated, the ward i am on (the davidson) is ultra modern with separate rooms for each patient with very dedicated staff, i am monitored 24/7 for infections and other complications and feel very safe.

I do think with the NHS as a Whole if you have a minor operation or something not so scary as cancer it can take a long time to be treated, and in such a large organization Admin mistakes do happen, But if you have something very serious they do throw everything at you and leave nothing to chance, its not perfect i know, but i do know the staff work under extreme conditions and do try to limit the mistakes. its not great when you are at the end of one of these mistakes, so hopefully they will get less and less as time goes on. I was sent to a private harley street doctor by my boss to speed things up in the beginning, the doctor took one blood test (?172), poked my lump with one finger, said i need another blood test (another ?172) and said he didn't think it was cancer. the next day the NHS diagnosed me after 5 days and i was straight in hospital for my first chemo

[louisiana]

Okay, to follow up above, despite verbal assurances given in person F2F *twice* by the admin in opthalmology, they are still - I have the written evidence in front of me - sending info to the wrong GP in the wrong city in the wrong *region*. Again.

Luck of the draw? I'm getting very unlucky.

This is now the *4th* time I am having to get KCH to change their duff info for me and my GP. They are definitely changing something. But it's clearly not the data that actually matters!

Choose and Book by phone (which is the only way I'm allowed for this) means there is no longer *any* connection between GP and hospital. This may be the problem.

Goodness only knows where all this duff info is coming from (the Dead Sea Scrolls?), but last time I tried to get it changed (at the counter in opthalmology, in person, a month ago) they absolutely assured me that they had my GP correct. (I was felt to feel a fool even for trying to check that they had definitely corrected it: "But I did that this morning! I told you!!")

And yet, it's oh so clear it didn't happen.

Yes, I shall be filing all this this with PALS, who in fact called me just this morning about my GP-charging-premium-phone-line-for-appointments (0844) complaint re Forest Hill Road practice. And I have already been through the PALS system this year re my dentist charging multiple fat private rates for what they should have charged a single NHS fee. I'm well acquainted.

I'm sure a lot of the issues around Choose and Book are nothing to do with the hospital. And I shall be letting my doctor know (not by phone - it's a premium line!). She is very keen on CandB as it means less work to set up for her, but now she is never getting any info from the hospital....

[Amelie]

Louisiana

Report King's to the Office of the Information Commissioner for failure to keep proper records and to update those records when requested; copy your letter to King's CEO.

[cate]

How does Choose and Book work? I want to go to see a doctor at the Royal Brompton Hospital.

[Strawbs]

Just to add my experience to the pot..

Went to an appt at Rheumatology yesterday (been waiting since November no contact, had the gp refax the ref and got an appt within a week).. I have to say they were great, saw the specialist who didnt make me feel rushed, she referred me to a hand therapist (I know clearly my hand is troubled) and also physio, on top of that all in the one afternoon I booked an MRI for my arm which I will have done in the next two weeks, had a pelvic Xray and also 5 vials of blood taken for a barrage of tests so in my books they did fabulously well..

Arrival time 3.15 exit time 5.10pm.

[Minitoots]

I've always been really impressed with Kings on all my visits, from very thorough treatment and regular subsequent monitoring for a malignant melanoma a few years ago through to treatment for severe food poisoning last Wednesday! As patients come from all over the country for treatment there, it can't be all bad!

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Took my daughter to a physio session at Kings today. Very impressed. In the swanky Jubilee Wing - lovely, very accommodating receptionist and a hunky physio (if I were 20 year's younger!) who really knew his onions.

From GP to first session, only took four weeks.