It was way back on May 18th that the consultant's secretary at that Leicester hospital told me that she'd contact me within a week concerning the follow-up appointment needed three months after my April 23rd consultation. Needless to say, since that conversation in May I've heard nothing from her, her boss, the Admin Managers or the appointments personnel. No letter, no email, no phone-call. It's an appalling, deceitful and shameful way to run a public service.
Here in the real world we've not been so idle. On June 16th I saw my GP again and at my request he was happy to refer me cross-border to a Coventry hospital for a second opinion. A mere four days later I received a letter detailing the consultation arranged for me and advising me that if surgery is required then it would be "within the NHS 18 week pathway".
I attended that consultation today and after examining me the new consultant decided that he would need to perform another flexible sigmoidoscopy, looking specifically at the areas that are painful and/or dysfunctional. Fearing that I'd be on the waiting-list for a long time due to the 18 week pathway, I asked for some estimate of when the procedure could be done. I was gobsmacked when the consultant checked his diary and offered to do the procedure on July 19th! He didn't involve an Admin Manager, a secretary or an appointments clerk, it was all agreed and arranged between us then and there, even before I'd risen from my seat!
I might email that Leicester hospital to let them know just how simple and easy such things can be, but I suspect that they couldn't care less.
Tonight I'm genuinely happy for the first time in many months. I'm beginning to believe that the light at the end of the tunnel is more than just the illuminating tip of a butt-probe...
