A Better Day Than It Might've Been...
We've had word from the hospital...
Mum starts her treatment on Monday and yes, an ambulance has been arranged to take Mum to and from home and the hospital.
I have discovered that the Dr has managed to arrange for me to be her escort and be with her on every trip.
So...we will not have to worry about arranging with a charity to be taken for Mum's appointments and to find £50 a day for taxi fares.
The only disadvantage is that Mum has to be ready to be collected approx two hours before her appointments and the hospital allows approx ninety minutes as being the norm for being collected to be brought home after the radio therapy.
So if it stays as the letter suggests the normal time for the radio therapy will be 2pm. We could be out of our house for four or five hours each day.
The first two days are to plan treatment and check plans. The treatment starts Wed-Fri and Mum returns the following week for the final two sessions.
So all in all, that has worked out better than we feared.
It maybe seems that I am being too negative/pessamistic about Mum and our NHS but in reality I think in the situation we find ourselves there are more positives and I am not deliberately having a go at the treatment Mum has received. Of course the NHS makes mistakes(so does private medicine)its not an exact science after all.
We all would be so much poorer if we did not have an NHS to care for many of our needs.
But it would not be right for me not to question what care Mum receives even if I have to eventually admit they are right.
Mum starts her treatment on Monday and yes, an ambulance has been arranged to take Mum to and from home and the hospital.
I have discovered that the Dr has managed to arrange for me to be her escort and be with her on every trip.
So...we will not have to worry about arranging with a charity to be taken for Mum's appointments and to find £50 a day for taxi fares.
The only disadvantage is that Mum has to be ready to be collected approx two hours before her appointments and the hospital allows approx ninety minutes as being the norm for being collected to be brought home after the radio therapy.
So if it stays as the letter suggests the normal time for the radio therapy will be 2pm. We could be out of our house for four or five hours each day.
The first two days are to plan treatment and check plans. The treatment starts Wed-Fri and Mum returns the following week for the final two sessions.
So all in all, that has worked out better than we feared.
It maybe seems that I am being too negative/pessamistic about Mum and our NHS but in reality I think in the situation we find ourselves there are more positives and I am not deliberately having a go at the treatment Mum has received. Of course the NHS makes mistakes(so does private medicine)its not an exact science after all.
We all would be so much poorer if we did not have an NHS to care for many of our needs.
But it would not be right for me not to question what care Mum receives even if I have to eventually admit they are right.
posted by The Great Gildersleeve | 12:26 pm
10 Comments:
Absolutely right in every respect.
Glad you've sorted out the transport. What a saving for you!
It seems there will be quite a bit of hanging about though. Maybe some sandwiches and a flask of tea might be a good idea. Something to read too.
You're quite right to ask questions.
You have all the right instincts. You stick to 'em!
With the extra two days before treatment had I been using taxis it would've been £350.
Yes, I think most of the time at the hospital will be spent waiting.
Chances are there will be a little tea bar run by a charity but a flask sounds a good idea.
The Oncologist did a good thing but had I not phoned the hospital when the letter arrived for more details I might've cancelled the ambulance never knowing that I could travel with Mum. There was no mention of this in the letter.
I'm back in the UK now and refused to take a taxi the other day; refuse to pay 7 quid for about one mile (when I can hire a car for a day for about 15 quid!...which I've now done!)
It will be worse in a city area but round here a very short run around the town is £2.50.
7 miles is around £12.
Travel to Middlesborough where the hospital is approx £25.
And we haven't added the tip yet!
Take care and I hope you have a good time whilst in the UK(That its not all work)
You come to the UK, my Mum's brother goes to Spain.
Ongoing thoughts of best wishes from me to you & your mum , Gildy !
Ump.
Thank Ump, I really appreciate that...there have been a couple of times on our other place where I have been attacked at this difficult time and I cannot see what I have done wrong and I don't need it...
Cheers...
You mean they let riff raff in at Gavin's place? ;-)
I am hiring a car from Enterprise, 125 quid a week (7 days), cheaper than taxis, cheaper than the train too for the miles I'm doing (and obviously it's door to door and I use i for 'town'runs/school runs etc. Bargain...be even better if the petrol wasn't like gold dust!
That sounds a good deal Span...
Riff Raff at Gav's place...well it has changed and quite a few regulars no longer post or decided to leave. There are still some nice posters there who are very tolerant of others and I've always tried to post in a way where I make my points without alientating or causing an argument.
I made some comment about something to do with losing loved one's and I still cannot see what I said that was so wrong(and I even agreed with points being made by those who criticised what I said)and still I was vilified.
If I had gone in with all guns blazing as three posters there did to me I would've been told that my attitude was bad.
As I said in end "I cannot be bothered!" But I did against my better judgement managed to put up a decent defence and...so far after doing so none of those who had a go have responded. But I said I wouldn't do so either.
Sometimes the most easy going and tolerant amongst us seem to get the worst of it!
But hey unless anyone has read what I am on about this won't mean anything and in amongst it all the most important person is Mum so its water off a duck's back!
Yes you have to watch that bus,because they wait until its filled up before they take you home. So your Mum might have treatment at 10 am but it will have to wait until say somebody has had their treatment at 3pm.
Its not really a problem considering its trying to help your Mum, but the time you might consider a Taxi is if it goes on over the week leading to Christmas, staff are on holiday and patients are backing up, which could mean a very long day waiting for the last patient to board the bus for you Mum especially if its snowing and cold.
Well, as we now know we had a fiasco of a first day regarding Mum's treatment. An anecdotal story and with such a large organisation pity that what was a reasonably simple problem resulted in a wasted day, an injury she did not have to begin with and a long day of sitting around.
(See posts blog entries for November 7th and 8th 2011)
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