"Referral to Fracture clinic failed"

I visited A&E on Monday 10th August 2015 with a fractured hand.

I know the display board stated I could be seen by a physio, and assuming they had been trained to the correct level for fractures, I wasn't concerned.

I feel the physio did not really know what they were doing.After several attempts at finding the fracture on the x-rays and consulting other members of staff, they tried to 'buddy up' my fingers and then when I said it still hurt they removed it and my hand was dressed in an elastoplast dressing with nothing underneath it, so it is just stuck to my hand and wrist. This I imagine will be quite painful to remove.

I heard a doctor tell the physio I needed to be referred to the fracture clinic. When I asked if that meant I was to go to Trauma, the physio advised no and that I would receive a letter to visit the fracture clinic the following week. No instructions were given to me except to say "Try and restrict using your hand." I was then given the rest of the roll of elastoplast so I could "Replicate the dressing" and a splint.

No letter was forthcoming by the Thursday so I visited my doctor as I was a little concerned about still having pain, no instructions and no letter. My doctor rang the fracture clinic and they advised I would need to ring.

I rang on the Friday and waited for 15 minutes but no reply. I then rang the A&E dept and a person advised there was no appt on the system for me and they would photocopy my form and send it through again.

On Monday 17th, I rang the Fracture clinic and nothing had been received from the A&E dept except the photocopied form from Friday 14th. After checking, there was still no appointment on the system for me and so the person I spoke to made an appointment for me. After reading the notes, apparently the doctor had said an appointment was required after 2 weeks not 1 week.

Due to the delay it will now be 17 days after my visit to the A&E before I am being seen again.