I’m paying price of bad decisions in the NHS
I AM a recipient of a pacemaker which was first fitted in June 2000 at Manchester Royal Infirmary.
Since then I have been monitored and cared for by the cardiology department at North Manchester General Hospital. The level of professionalism in that department has been second to none. The car park and drop-off point is close by and the ground is flat.
My pacemaker is now due a box change and an appointment has been made on September 22 at Fairfield General Hospital, Bury. I attended Fairfield on August 31 for a pre-op assessment.
For those who are not familiar with Fairfield Hospital, it is built on a hill – the hospital at the top and the car park at the bottom. I tried to get a nearby blue badge space but there are only two and both were taken.
I therefore had to park on the general car park at the bottom of the hill. Remembering that I am a heart patient with congenital heart failure, it was an ordeal for me to walk from my car, up two flights of steps to the hospital entrance. I have no one to drive me so I have to take myself as it would take close on two hours each way on public transport and the walking would be worse.
My appointment on September 22 is for 8am. It is not possible to travel from Moston to Fairfield on public transport at that time.
I have been informed I won’t be allowed to drive myself home after the procedure and I can’t stay at the hospital overnight.
I tried to book NHS transport to get me there but after answering all the questions honestly, I was told I didn’t qualify for NHS transport.
Perhaps I should have told a few porkies. They referred me to a volunteer driver scheme but they couldn’t help as I didn’t live in the borough of Rochdale.
My only option is to go by taxi. I have been quoted £20 each way dependant on the traffic. I am a 70- year-old senior citizen who has worked all his life and paid his dues throughout.
Whoever made the decision to transfer the pacemaker service from NMGH to Fairfield, obviously didn’t think it through.
I was always under the impression that the NHS was people focused, as the letter head proudly says, Quality-Driven, Responsible, Compassionate.
It seems to me this only applies to the sharp end and not to the decision and policymakers at the top. It is controlled by financial budgets with little thought given to the end user.
I am left with no choice but to pay the £40, which is a big hole in my state pension and take comfort from the fact that there are many people worse off than me. Trevor Stringer, Moston