Has anyone benefited from the increased NHS appointments that have been made available, since Labour took control?
My son is certainly benefiting as, having been on a waiting list for the best part of two years, for a hernia, he was given an outpatient appointment at the General Hospital last November 24th (on a Sunday no less) and told that he was being put on the “urgent” list because of the time he had been waiting.
The upshot of that appointment was that he was given a choice of an operation within 4-6 weeks, in which they would go in “blind” at the site of a previous hernia, in the hope that it was the same one that had reoccurred, or he could have scans/x-rays to pinpoint the location, but the latter would delay the operation.
Because of work commitments (he’s a self employed plumber/bathroom fitter) he had bookings for several weeks so he opted for the latter, which allowed him to pre warn future customers that he might need to delay work by 8 weeks, whilst the scars heal.
He’s now scheduled for surgery on 4th April.
On a separate issue, he has also had a problem with a hip and he has had appointments for scans and x-rays, including an arthroscope and will be getting his results in a week or so.
Being flexible with travel may have helped as he has had appointments at Southampton, Winchester and Lyndhurst, although the Lyndhurst appointment was a waste of time as they don’t do arthroscopes, so he had to reschedule, seeing the specialist within a week and getting another appointment shortly after.
Edit. His hernia is in a different spot so he made the right choice.
