"Cleanliness"

What I liked

Cleanliness

What could be improved

Administration

Communication

Treat patients as people not numbers of statistics on a conveyor belt

Anything else?

I was referred by in January 08 for elective wisdom tooth extraction under general anaesthetic. Initial consultation at Chase Farm (1 tooth referral upgraded to 4), pre-op at Barnet (blood tests and MRSA swabs), booked for day surgery at Barnet 9th September 1pm.

Imagine my absolute despair, frustration and disappointment to have my operation cancelled on the day of surgery because my clinical notes could not be found. 9 months of waiting wiped out in less than 2 hours on account of poor administration.

Apparently, the staff had been searching for my notes since THE DAY BEFORE. Why no-one thought to tell me this at that point before I had mentally prepared myself, driven 50 minutes to the hospital, paid rip off £4 parking, undressed, consulted the nurse and then the anaesthetist is anyones guess.

This seems to be the norm for Barnet as I could hear the staff saying no wonder Barnet has such a bad name. Not suprising really given that there was a man in the bed accross from me who had also shown up in preparation for his operation. Unlike me he had not even had the initial consultation or xrays. His surgery could not take place; how he even made it through to the day services surgical ward is a mystery in itself.

I never imagined for one miniute that I would be involved in a debacle of this type. I cannot even contemplate making such a fundamental error in the job that I do. I would most certainly be called to account and that's part of the problem here. No-one is accountable!

What makes this mess all the more astonishing is the resource that was wasted today. 2 surgery slots for people on the waiting list have effectively been flushed down the toilet.

I try to avoid having anything to do with hospitals and this mess just serves to reinforce why that is a good methodology.

My advice to anyone who is has a date to undergo surgery save yourself the stress, ring in advance and make sure that the all the official paperwork is in place.