"How long would we have waited for results if I hadn't called?"

My wife is in her 80’s and she has to take warfarin. She needed a bladder biopsy following a bladder scan.

She had to have blood tests 3 days before the operation which had been scheduled for a Wednesday.

We went to a ward in the urology dep for the blood test. We then had to wait around for three hours for results, which were followed by an injection. Then we left. This same process went on every day for over 14 days.

The very last day that we went in for the blood test and the injection the nurse told us that once the bloods were taken we could go home and then come back in when the results were back, so we did and it turned out she didn’t need the injection. It took 3 hours everyday, why weren’t we told on the first day that we could go home after the bloods were taken? . I believe that this is an unreasonable and time wasting situation for a very poorly 81 year old lady, or any patient for that matter. My wife is diabetic, so having to wait around for a long period of time without knowing how long that time will be, or when she will be able to eat, isn’t very good for her health. Why can’t patients have blood taken in the phlebotomy department, get sent home, and then be called with results and go back later in the day? I really hope that this can be looked into and better organised in future.

To add insult, we were never informed that we could park for £1 a day. It ended up costing nearly £50 in parking fees which is over half of my wife’s weekly pension. Disgusting.

The operation was scheduled for a Wednesday, so we went in, but they ran out of theatre time so we went home and were told to come back on Friday.

It was late evening on Wednesday when she was sent home. This caused transport difficulties. I don’t want to complain about this, as it is understandable that theatre time sometimes runs over – but again- not an ideal situation for a patient in their eighties.

19 days after the operation we still had no results. So, I finally phoned the hospital to find out when we might receive them. The person on the other end looked at their computer and said there was nothing on there, so they went to the records department and had to fetch her records up for a doctor to check. They then called me back about an hour later with results from the doctor, luckily the result was all clear.

How long had those results been sitting there while we have been at home worrying, ( both ourselves and our family) and kept in the dark? And how much longer could we have potentially had to wait if I hadn’t picked up the phone?

Is it fair to put such a vulnerable, poorly, elderly lady under such prolonged stress and worry? Surely not? I think she, and others in the future, deserve better.