Hospital mix ups!

Sourcream

A major thumbs up to anyone who reads this in its entirety! I try not to be to the point! But its been a really frustrating experience. I just want to know if other people have experienced similar or am I the odd one out. This is in regards treatment in a Dublin hospital:

The initial interaction here begins by myself presenting to A&E going into shock after being unable to keep food down for a couple of days and finally throwing up blood. (No more graphic descriptors from here on in!)
I was an inpatient for 2 weeks with a number of tests etc done and was diagnosed with an extreme case of crohns, affecting me from the top to bottom of my digestive system.

After two weeks of treatment I was given a perscription for follow up medication for the period of 6 month to keep the crohns at bay. And informed to come back to the clinic to get a check up and another perscription nearing the end of the existing prescription.

As the prescription was nearing end I called the clinic. Oddly, they did not seem to have any record of me. And initially didn’t believe I presented at that hospital at all. Even after giving my name / DOB address etc. And assuring them that I was there for two whole weeks!

They asked me what my condition was, I told them it was crohns and was getting back in touch as my prescription was nearing its end.
I was asked what my blood results were from my last blood test. I didn’t have them on hand at the time so they asked me when was the last time I had one. I then informed the hospital that my last blood test was while I was an in-patient roughly six months previous.

Something that frightened me a bit was that I was then told that this is a massive mistake and its urgent that I should go into hospital immediately. A bit of a heavy sentence to say to someone!
I should have had a blood test every week for the first few weeks while on the medication to ensure there were not adverse affects on my immune system. I was informed an urgent appointment letter would be posted out to me for a follow up.

After waiting a week no letter came so I called and went through a very similar process as above. Again the person on the phone not knowing who I was or having any record of me. Bizarre!
I was instructed to call into the hospital to pick up blood forms in person, get bloods taken, then come back at an appointment time that was then given to me over the phone at this point (I wondered why they couldn’t have done that last time).

During these conversations, I was told there was a mix up in my hospital number(unique identifier within the hospital) that a 6 was confused for an 8 on some internal form which was leading to some of this confusion. This still didn’t make too much sense to me as I thought they could identify me by name/dob/address etc. if needed.

I arrived in to consult with my given appointment, the nurse told me “Well there’s no two ways about it, you were lost weren’t you”. But it was said in an every day sort of tone, no apologies, no explanation, just carrying on.
After discussing my condition with the consultants, I was told there would need to be another procedure done to assess my condition. As I am still getting regular flare ups and quite serious pain.
I was given a number of forms for further blood tests and various other prescriptions relating to preparation for my upcoming procedure. I was to receive the appointment in the post. On walking out of the consulting room, another lady rushed in the door passed me and asked did that “my surname” patient show up!? In a quiet but frantic sense, I just continued walking but got the impression they knew they had did something wrong and just wanted to cover the tracks by acting matter of fact and everyday.

Five days later I receive a call asking me was there a “Green Sheet” included in the middle of the prescriptions I received, I have checked and there was. This was in fact my “Urgent booking form” for my upcoming procedure. Which hasn’t been processed as it was meant to be an internally processed document and never given to me.
(It was the trace style paper so I presume I was just handed the copy, this was not the case)

During the call, after some rummaging and confused conversation I could hear in the background, I was told to email this form directly to an individuals email address which I didn’t recognise, then post the hard copy to the hospital so I can get in the system and queue for my procedure.

The last interaction which was just today was a message on my phone: “Hello, -FirstName-, is this your correct phone number?”

Currently scanning and emailing the booking form and heading to the post box.

This cannot be normal right? Am I an exceptional case or is our health system this terrible?

If it makes any difference I am lucky enough to have good health insurance etc. Anyone know how difficult it is to move hospitals?

coffeepls

I think that sounds all a bit mad alright. If it was me, I’d go and have a chat with my gp as he would receive any info from the hospital.

Unless that hospital is specifically specialising in your illness, I would’ve thought as a private patient you can ‘move hospitals’. But the current hospital would have to send your records over to wherever you move to. Isn’t that the problem though - your records being absent/missing/wandering etc?

Just wondering - are you actually being treated as a public or private patient? I see you started off going through A&E.

Hmmm. I’ve read through it again. Yep. I’d still go and talk to my gp. Get him/her to sort this out. You’ve enough on your plate without being the admin too

K.Flyer

Have plenty of experience of stupid admin errors in hospitals.
From experience I wouldn't be relying on your GP to get things sorted out as they have plenty of patients to deal with. We have found its best to get direct numbers to hospital departments and speak with people directly in order to get things sorted, rarely do we do anything through the GP after the initial referral, unless they just cannot find any trace of the referral.
You do have to pester them sometimes to get the finger out in order to keep things on track.
An example, a family member with a similar issue to yours was recently referred to hospital with a GP letter sent to the hospital marked Extremely Urgent. After a couple of weeks we rang the dept to ask what was happening, they said that they never received the letter, we asked them to double check, then they found it, and there was a flurry of "..Oh sorry, we need to see you here within the next couple of days".
Another was an MRI, Hospital sent us a letter saying the Consultant will review your MRI with you on, for example, Feb 1, 2017 then received another letter, please attend for your MRI in March 31, 2017.
Unwittingly they do make errors, you really need to keep a watch on things and ensure that follow ups, either with the hospital or your GP are done in a timely manner, otherwise your case slips to the bottom of the drawer.

Corruptedmorals

That is crazy. In the first place, labels are supposed to be used on all forms, prescriptions and every page of the chart, NEVER handwritten. Even with an incorrect hospital number though, they still should have been able to find you with name and date of birth. And to give you a form that should have been processed internally also. You absolutely slipped through the net but I'm not surprised the nurse glossed over it, probably just switched to patient care mode as you were there in person.

Hospitals unfortunately are understaffed in frontline admin staff too, as well as nurses and doctors. That can have a significant impact too. For instance, the filing room in the hospital I work in is understaffed and overwhelmed. We have problems everyday with locating charts, it's a massive waste of time and not fair for doctors not to have the chart or the patient either or for them to be delayed or cancelled until it is found.

Arbie

OP, that is a very poor experience you've had, but unfortunately not unusual. There are many reasons and excuses, but ultimately it should not happen.

Hospital managers and clinical staff actually do want to improve things, but issues need to be specifically highlighted.

Please, please write a formal letter to the hospital's patient safety department and copy in the outpatients department manager, the director of nursing, the clinical director, and the CEO. Just lay out the facts in bullet point form and explain that it made you feel unsafe/concerned. If you don't complain then the same thing is likely to happen to other patients.

Best of luck.