[General] Hospital Experiences

tbh

I've been listening to Liveline, and horror stories about hospitals are a hot topic once again. A woman on yesterday was waiting ages to be seen for a colonoscopy, and feels that the delay led to her cancer spreading. She got angry (at the system) when she met a friend in the hospital who had been seen as a private patient in 3 days. I don't want to start a whole debate about the rights and wrongs - thats for humanities I guess - but just curious as to people's experiences?

I've been lucky enough to have had health insurance my whole life, and I'm able to afford to see my consultant privately, so my experiences have been pretty good. When I was first diagnosed, I went to the Mater public diabetic clinic a couple of times, and found it to be ok - the average appointment was about six hours, but that was about 5 hours waiting for different tests. It's not ideal, but the docs and nurses were doing the best they could under the circumstances.

CathyMoran

I actually heard about the story in one of the Sunday papers, was going to write in and complain but here is a good place to vent off steam.

I have high VHI cover but it took me nearly 7 weeks to see my consultant privately who eventually diagnosed me with oesophageal cancer, in the interim I tried to get diagnosed via my GP, another private consultant for another condition that I have (he said that it was stress and dismissed me even though I had a history of stomach ulcers) and the Accident and Emergency department who again dismissed my complaint (vomiting up any food that I ate, even though I am a type 1 diabetic). As a result of this delay any chance that I had of having my eggs frozen was taken away from me and I face an uncertain future in terms of my fertilty and life.

I have nothing but the highest regard for the consultant who eventually diagnosed me, but I should have been highlighted as a high risk case.

FranknFurter

I have to say, my recent experience of private clinics (the bon secours and the beacon) has opened my eyes to a lot of things.

I am on the medical card scheme as I have various disabilities from birth and at this point in my life (I turn 30 this year) working is not an option for me, anyways, by some stroke of luck, happened to end up being one of the "lucky" few "urgent" cases who end up going to private clinics covered by the medical card agreement policy. But only for one single procedure that the public hospital couldn't provide.

My experience of the actual proceedure aside, the staff were much more attentive (PURELY because there were so few patients there), I was'nt waiting for more than 30 mins (as opposed to 4+ hours for my neurologist in beaumount hospital every month), and I was seen at the time my appointment was booked for (as opposed to having an APPOINTMENT set for 8:30am in beaumount and not being seen till 4pm).

The staff in public hospitals definitely have it harder, and they do the best they can under the circumstances they are in. Its mainly the paper-pushers and policy setters who drive us mad, if a patient has an appointment they should not have to wait 6+ hours after that time before they are seen. Thats just wrong, especially when you consider that some patients wait months to even *get* the luxury of seeing a consultant in his or her public clinic, but has been the case for at least the last 15 years.

I feel like Ive spent my entire life in public hospitals, several stays and visits each year, many operations and ongoing treatment and maintainance, hell, I know some of my consultants better than I know some of my aunts and uncles.
And my sister is also a wheelchair user and has spina bifida and hydrocephalus etc...and ive spent most of her life in hospitals trying to keep *her* sane, and make sure she was getting the attention she needed by the medical profession. And Ive seen it all, Ive seen the best the public service has to offer and the worst the public service has to offer.

The things that make the biggest difference to your stay in hospitals are the "little" aspects. Things like waiting time for appointments, being treated like a human being, with respect. Being allowed your dignity. Not having to drag information out of consultants who look down on you as your only one of their "public" patients. (And yes, that *does* happen, Ive seen it time and time again). Not being herded like cattle in and out of the monthly consultants clinic because he or she has 20 other patients to see in the space of the 8 hours their "public" clinic opens each month.
And dont even get me started on the amount of times Ive had to ask a consultant to make his gaggle of students leave the room so I can actually get to talk to the person Im supposed to see without him spending the appointment talking about me to *them* like im some kind of laboratory chimp.

These are the things that decide whether or not you keep your sanity dealing with the hospital side of having a long term illness.

But, there is now no doubt in my mind that there are definitely two classes of patient in this country, those who can pay and those who can't, and the difference in the treatment is huge.

B

BostonB

tbh wrote:

....but just curious as to people's experiences?...

I think I've experienced all the problems 1st and 2nd hand you usually hear about in the media. The health system is simply no longer working, and if you get sick, its really a lottery if you are going to make it out of a hospital. Though unlike others who have posted I don't think having heath insurance really helps at all. In some cases its actually slower than going with the public service.

Someone asked me did I think there was anything better in Ireland before the Celtic Tiger. It could be my memory playing tricks but I think 15yrs ago the system was much better, and you would have a better experience. These days if you get sick you might be better doing in another country.