Post Code Lottery.

[Guzzler]

I have so far been lucky not to have been affected by the post code lottery but a letter this morning has changed all that. I normally attend a pain clinic for sacral sciatica about ten miles away from my home in a small town in the north of England. The pain clinic is in a private hospital and NHS patients are referred there because there is no such clinic in our small hospital. A letter arrived this morning telling me that the pain management team can no longer accept referrals of NHS patients because the CCG will not authorise payment.
This leaves me with two choices. Either I never have treatment for sacral sciatica again or I make an eighty miles round trip to a city I've never been to by Patient Transport. If you have ever been to a hospital appointment by Patient Transport you will appreciate that it is not ideal.
The cuts to the NHS are causing dire consequences for patients and their families and the thing is that these cuts just store up problems for the future, it is a false economy when the rise in the cost of prescritions and surgery for patients whose former treatment would have saved money in the long term apart from the fact that people are living with acute pain. It is the same for Diabetes patients unable to afford meters and strips. Without knowing how your numbers are rising or falling and relying on tests at the GPs surgery every few months doesn't make any sense at all.

Grrr! Rant over, as you were.

 

[chris lowe]

If it were me I would start by writing to local MP or visiting his surgery if it is not too far or inaccessible. What does the treatment consist of?

 

[jay hay-char]

Don't worry - it will be fine when we've left the EU and the government are paying an extra £350 million into the NHS each week. You will be able to attend a pain clinic at the end of your street and admire the pigs flying gracefully by, outside the window.

Joking aside, you have my sincerest sympathy. We've recently had a situation where an elderly in-law required social care at home, following in-patient treatment at a hospital. The difficulties in trying to obtain care of this nature, and the very limited timescale for which it is made available before you start having to pay for it, bear mute witness to the effects of the last few years' cuts. The efforts of the NHS staff who provide this care are enormous, and I salute them, but they are under-resourced, under-funded and under the cosh.

This would be a classic example for a Community Health Council to get involved - if they still existed. There is now something called Healthwatch, which is a kind of degenerate grandchild of the CHC system and which, I'm guessing, is both toothless and useless - but I suppose you could try giving them a go. Are there other patients affected by this? Is there any way that you could collectively start a campaign? I agree with Chris about your involving your MP, but he or she will take far more notice if there's a (preferably noisy) group of you rather than just one person.

Good luck, I fear you are going to need it

 

[ally1]

So many services are being cut, that many people are either having their treatment stopped or are not able to get treatment because of costs and cut backs.
Things I feel will get worse until the nhs are given more funding.
I can also see in a few years time that because of the cut backs now, people are going to get worse so in theory will maybe need to be hospitalized, which then will cost more for having being in hospital.
I give me as an example, I have bipolar. At odd times I have been referred to the mental health team. On numerous occasions, I have had to wait on average of 7 months before they got back to me. I was classed as urgent. So no idea how long people have waited when not classed as urgent. On each occasion, I had a cpn phone to do an assessment over the phone and on every occasion, been told they won t help as I was not suicidal. And the problem is, if you need to see a pdoc, you can only access one through a cpn. Bonkers the way it works.
I am lucky at the moment that I still see a pdoc, but in his words, seeing me unofficially because of not seeing a cpn. But he knew there was something wrong and took him over a year to diagnose bipolar. No wonder so many people are committing suicide.

 

[wolfie11969]

I dont fall under the 'postcode lottery' but I am affected by cuts in our town.

The attitude of the mental health team here is that because I am married my husband can take the place of support worker, psych nurse and therapist. I have complex mental health issues and I see a psychiatrist - it should be every 2 to 3 months but usually I see him twice a year due to cuts in his budget too and not enough appointments.

You have my thoughts as to your own issues as my husband has spinal issues which means he has constant sciatica. I see his pain every day.

As suggested I would speak with your MP and local councillors and see if they have any pointers for you.

I can only see cuts becoming worse as the days go by