First week done and a "Review"

It is now a week since the radiotherapy started, just completed session 6 so I am now 16.21621621621% cooked. So far, nearly all good to excellent although the KOC does occasionally remind me that it is part of the NHS through random changes of team / machine. The upside is that I am now getting to know most of the radiographers in that part of the building.

The Radiographers are uniformly polite, smiling and professional. The added bonus is that they seem to know what they are doing..............

Receptionists are great too. they have even persuaded the "Dalek" that summons people to their treatment to call me "Phil" instead of "Philip". The latter is only usually used in the real world by my mother to signify (mostly) minor disapproval; at all other times, people call me "Phil".

I have just re-read the post so far; now having doubts that they really are part of the NHS!

This morning was no different from the other 5, but contained an added bonus........a "Macmillan Radiographer Review". Having checked the mugshots at the entrance, the Macmillan Radiographers include the incredible (think about the definition of this one!) WMS, so my assumption was that this might not be the happiest of encounters for either of us. I had already picked out a suitable tune for this bit and, rather than leave it to the end as usual, it seems more sensible to insert it here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8RhZDGLEXM

As it turned out, both WMS and her sidekick were inexplicably "not around" : ), so I was asked (note, "asked" rather than "directed") if I would mind hanging on to meet another Macmillan Radiographer.

A brief aside here. You, like me, might be a bit confused by the difference between a "Radiographer" and a "Macmillan Radiographer". I am still working this out, but it would appear that those funded by the eminent and hugely cash rich Macmillan organisation are distinguished by middle class accents and are perceived to be a bit higher in the technician "heap". My assumption is that they are somehow senior to the people who do the main work, but that might be just the way they see themselves.............. 

I saw nothing wrong with this so changed into my usual attire (I figured that pyjama trousers were probably not appropriate fo this encounter) and settled down to wait. A few minutes later, a woman with a wonderfully modulated middle class accent arrived, introduced herself as H and asked me to accompany her. It struck me that female "Macmillan Radiographers" might be appointed on the basis of their accent.............think Margo from The Good Life. 

(this will make no sense at all to people from outside the UK, so here's a clip to give you the idea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBogWsfAS50 )

On the way to her office (MRs must be of higher status, they have offices!), WMH apologised that neither WMS nor her sidekick was available. She was a little surprised when I said that was probably a good thing as the relationship between me and WMS had not got off to a good start.

I think that we were both puzzled by the purpose of the meeting: at only 16% (approximately) in to the treatment, it seemed a little early to be disucssing any side effects. She did, however, tell me that they have no clue as to whether the treatment has worked from the daily x-rays; this has to wait for a blood test at the other end of the treatment tunnel. I suppose it gave her 10 minutes out of a hectic schedule of shifting paper and was probably designed to reassure me that people with good accents are keeping an eye on what the workers are doing...........

Probably enough for one entry. With (or without for that matter) your permission, I shall reserve the right to publish random posts over the coming weeks, but will try to keep them as meaningful as possible.

.........and now for something completely different. This band featured at the Glastonbury Festival last weekend; after the boredom of Florence and the Machine, multiple dirges from earnest people with acoustic guitars etc, they were a breath of fresh air. If you like the clip, I would recommend listening to the full set on the BBC iPlayer................

Vintage Trouble

In the words of the younger folk: "way cool"

Treatment starts!

Before I start on the good news, a bit of a rant. People who have read this blog before should be used to my occasional rants and probably treat them with a mixture of interest, contempt or agreement. This one is slightly different in that it touches on national policy in the NHS.

If you are living in the UK, you may have heard in the news this morning that the "National Institute for Clinical and Health Excellence" (NICE) has recommended that more people should be tested for the early signs of cancer. Fantastic! I thought that this was great news................then I looked in detail at the guidance about prostate cancer. Here it is:

http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/NG12/chapter/1-recommendations#/urological-cancers

This is no different from the previous advice. A PSA test is only to be offered to men who present to their GP with symptoms. This is where life gets a bit weird. Prostate cancer, of caught early enough, is eminently curable, but still killed 11,000 men in the UK in 2014. If you have the time, take a minute to imagine what 11,000 people would look like if they were all in one place; that is enough people to fill the Albert Hall twice over! Routine PSA tests would not save all of those people, but would probably reduce the numbers dramatically. A golden opportunity to do something about this needless loss of life passed up by the geniuses of the NHS.

In the words of a 21st century sage:


My plea to readers is to write to newspapers, lobby their MP, deluge the Department of Health with e-mails.............go to town on the b******s, the PSA test should be routinely offered to all men over 50.

Ok, rant over, back to the treatment bit.

Today was the first of 37 visits to the radiotherapy bit of the Kent Oncology Centre and I have to say that it was a good experience, if you can call being lightly grilled a good experience?

As I said, 37 in total, so only 36 to go. Fortunately, someone took notice when I asked that all appointments should be at the same time of day and, preferably, early morning; every single one is either at 08:30 or 08:45. This will take just over 7 weeks because the this bit of the NHS does not work at weekend................As an aside, I just noticed that the acronym for the Kent Oncology Centre is KOC..............

Arrived in good time and found that the most important member of staff was totally on the ball. Never undervalue receptionists: they are usually your first point of contact and can be hugely helpful. The receptionist this morning was completely tuned into my priorities. After checking that I was on her system, she immediately explained how to get a discounted car park ticket. This one lady immediately reduced my hospital bill from £10 per week minimum to £1.80! I was then sent around the corner to the appropriate waiting area.

Comfy seating, no annoying music and only about 10 other people there. Sat down and wondered what would happen next. Within 2 minutes, a young man called out my name and, following appropriate hand and voice signals, came to sit next to me. He checked who I was just in case I was an imposter, asked the usual "morning routine" type of questions, then invited me to sit tight and he would return when they were ready.

5 minutes before the appointed time, the young man re-appeared asked me to follow him and said he would explain the routine (in future I will not be collected, but will see my name come up on a screen in the waiting area along with an electronic voice summoning me). Routine dead simple: pick a pair of pyjama type trousers from the pile, get changed in changing room and then wait on a chair to be collected. I was also issued with a plastic bag  for my clothes and a pair of socks with grippy soles. Apparently these are a one-off issue, so I may be writing about their deterioration at a later date!

Bang on time, collected, led to the machine, measured, readjusted, lightly cooked. By 09:00 I was on my way out of the building....................... efficient, pleasant people and the bonus of good music to listen to whilst lying there. Today's tune is one of those that were playing; they have clearly chosen the mix to reflect the tastes of the generation they are treating! Just to prove the point, today's tune is on of those that were playing.

I will base future posts on things that are either really good, or really bad. I see no point in torturing you with the mindless tedium of 36 further accounts.....................

And now, today's tune. Happens to be by one of my favourite artistes of all time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juTeHsKPWhY

Medway Hospital again. Remember them?

Until yesterday, I thought that I had escaped the clutches of Medway Hospital. Then they came back to haunt me...............

In reading what comes next, please bear in mind that in the UK there is a statutory right to be given copies of your health records on demand, and that NHS bodies have the right to charge "up to and not exceeding £50". Just another NHS quirk; they do not seem to have got the hang of the fact that the records are yours................this is the compromise that did not upset doctors (in particular) too much and is deisgned to keep the workload of bureaucrats down whilst putting an additional bureacrative process in train.

You may recall that before Christmas I asked Medway Hospital to supply me with a copy of my medical records. I had been referred to UCH and had no faith that Medway would forward the scans etc so thought it safer to have something portable which did not rely on the NHS. (As it turned out, a wise move as they did not send anything, not even an electronic link, to UCH. They were not to know that the scans from Medway were far too primitive for a 21st century hospital to use, it was just the usual standard of "service").

The copies arrived promptly before Christmas. In January I reviewed the CD ROMS and spotted that something might be missing; a whole set of scans as it turned out. I naturally contacted Medway who were unaware that they had got it wrong. They sent the remaining part of my record.

So far, so Medway. I asked for something, they supplied part of it, I spotted their mistake and got them to correct it. This is about par for the course for this hospital!

When an invoice for the full £50 arrived in January, I assumed it was a mistake. They might have supplied the records, but not without me having to put some of the work in. I did what any right minded person would do and placed it in the tertiary filing system (the bin).

Lo and behold! Yesterday a copy invoice arrived with a threatening note demanding that I pay up or else...............

A short exchange with the finance clerk whose name appeared on the letter ("nothing I can do about it, you will have to talk to the secretary"), the secretary (you owe us the money because we gave you your records) led me to the Medway Hospital head of legal services......the ultimate bureaucrat in the department.

His contention can be simply summed up as: you ask us for something, we f**k it up, you spot our error, we rectify our error and charge you whilst claiming that we did our job.

It is no wonder that Medway Hospital is in "special measures" if this is their attitude. I wonder if it stretches to surgery........you can imagine the conversation:

"You took off the wrong leg"

     "Thank you for pointing that out; which leg was it exactly?"
     -
     -
     "We have now removed the other leg and have discharged our responsibility so please do not make any more fuss" 

"You have not done your job properly"

    "Oh yes we have, we took off the correct leg in the end"

I would not be at all surprised if a version of the above conversation took place on a virtually weekly basis in Medway Hospital!

I did offer to pay part of their invoice, but they are still insisting that they did their job well. This leaves me with a dilemma: do I waste time and effort making a point, or do I just pay up like a good little patient?

If you have any views, please feel free to send them; I have genuinely not made up my mind yet. Better still, if you are a lawyer, perhaps you would like to donate an opinion?

For any aspiring composers out there, perhaps you would like to make a few small alterations to this one in order to make it even more relevant to Medway Hospital................??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc0mxOXbWIU