I fell over playing netball in November 2014 and went in to Addenbrookes' A&E the next day with an extremely swollen and bruised ankle, unable to put any weight on it at all. The waiting times were absolutely fine and I was quickly seen for an X-ray. But after this I felt that none of the consultants gave me their full attention or time. I was seen by 4 different consultants for only a few minutes each and none of them listened when I told them that I'd heard a loud crack in my ankle when I fell. I was not offered crutches but had to request them and I was sent away told I had just sprained my ankle. About one month later I received a letter from the hospital saying that they had done a routine review of the same X-ray that had been taken in November, and this time had noticed that I may actually have a hairline fracture. (At this point I'm a bit frustrated and confused that they could spot this a month later on the same X-ray but couldn't spare the time to spot it at the time.) I'm only in Cambridge during University term times and so at the end of December when I received this letter I was at home for the Christmas holidays. Therefore, I went into my local hospital - Luton and Dunstable - two days before Christmas 2014. I had to wait in their A&E department before being referred to the fracture clinic. After a series of X-rays and CT scans over the course of January, Luton and Dunstable Hospital were able to tell me that I had a large piece of chipped bone in my ankle that had come away from the rest of the bone. In February 2015 I was put on the waiting list to have surgery on my ankle at Luton and Dunstable Hospital and I am still waiting for this surgery - and most likely will still be waiting in July or even August. I understand that everyone makes mistakes and that the doctors in A&E are extremely busy and are doing their best, I just feel frustrated that my ankle has been getting progressively worse because I have been walking on a broken ankle for so long now. If I had been correctly diagnosed back in November I might have already had the surgery by now.
"A&E Trip for Ankle Injury"
About: Addenbrooke's Hospital Addenbrooke's Hospital Cambridge CB2 0QQ
Posted via nhs.uk
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