Thursday 16 October 2014

Dilemma

Day 83 what against the 62 day target and still not even a sniff of an appointment with the Oncologist. Time to make a decision...............

There are three options that I can see:
  • Give in, let the NHS and /or nature takes its course. 
  • Keep doing what I have been doing 
  • Go for the "nuclear" option
I have just spent an hour sitting on a log at the top of the hill to try thinking this one through; not sure it worked, so I am afraid that I am using this post as a vehicle to reflect.

The NHS expects people to be acquiescent and have faith that it will act in their best interests. A fallacy which is peddled by NHS managers, clinicians and politicians alike. It is an organisation which is driven by the need to protect its own interests and those of a select few within it (mostly doctors); it has very little interest in people except unless it gets found out. If I was a "good little patient" and had allowed it to proceed at its own pace, I would probably still be waiting for a diagnosis, let alone anything else. But (done it again, now started a sentence with "but" twice in a lifetime!) I am not a patient "patient". I have pushed, threatened and generally made a nuisance of myself in an effort to get a moribund organisation to do what it is meant to. Then I tripped up.

My mistake was to trust a consultant when he told me that I would be seen by the next one in the long line within a fortnight. I sat back and waited...........and waited...........and waited.......Nothing!

I am not sure that I have the strength to keep fighting. The NHS has made it pretty clear that neither the organisation nor its clinicians give a damn about us population units. I have no faith that it will actually cure me, so is it worth the fight? Should I just sit back and let the NHS turn me into tree fertilizer by default?

The alternative is to use every bit of ammunition I have in one last glorious "over the top" moment. I can certainly get to a lot of people who would scare the living daylights out of a little trust like Medway. I have no qualms about doing potentially irreperable damage to their reputation, which is amongst the lowest in the country to start with.

I went to ask the trees. Spent an hour sitting on a log at the top of the hill as darkness descended and the wind increased.

Passive acquiescence in the hope that the NHS will do what it is supposed to do, keep fighting as I have been for the last 2 or 3 months, or just go for maximum damage to provoke action?

I know I should sleep on it before either publishing this, or making a final decision, but I have given up being indecisive.

If no letter arrives in tomorrow's post, the nuclear option it will be................................ One final go, but this time I will not be nice and will not care who in the NHS gets upset or hurt by the fallout.


 
A song especially for Medway Hospital and its contents.......
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QbUSjnhv6M







2 comments:

  1. Do it, you are lucky that you have the nuclear option, as others will not. The NHS or the Medway Trust have already failed and are earning their reputation for being a failing organisation. Its a shame as they seem to have some good staff, (3 or 4 was it?). This is your life you're talking about here, not a bag of rotten spuds from a supermarket

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    1. Many thanks, my first comment on the blog and I really appreciate the support. One day I will share the post that was drafted but did not need to be sent in the end........

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