Mri Scan

[paris]

Poor hubby has a trapped nerve in his neck and in alot of pain. Hes on morphine and many other pain killers. Been waiting for an mri scan so the dr can decide if and where to operate. Just got the letter from the local hospital to say he has an appointment for...........6TH FEB 2007. And thats an emergency appointment aswell, hes been waiting for 12 weeks already.
How long has anyone else been waiting for hospital appointments ?? jan x[evil]

[danc1ngwitch]

this wait seems so long when in pain... I can only imagin the pain i am sorry ta hear... I was also told yesterday that they no longer start women who is over due in Wick... the Dr. said that if i did not go myself then they would have to put me to raigmore, this is a nightmare as wot will ma other kids do...Lucky i aint due yet...lol

[funky-dunky]

Hi this aint got to do anything to do with mri scans but i need a camera to my heart and i have been waiting since march to get this done and i finally have an appointment for 10th august 07 to get this done..


I hope your husband will be ok. and i wish him all the best.

[paris]

Is this wick hospital funky-dunky ? were in lincolnshire . cant belive its taken so long for an appointment.Makes me mad ! jan x[evil]

[funky-dunky]

no i have to go down to inverness for the scan and i have to go to glasgow or edinburgh for my operation..
how is your hubby?
i wish both off you all my luck for your hubby to get better.

[ginajade]

My partner waited a long time for his scan. Also an urgent referral. Expect a long wait for the results too.

[paris]

no i have to go down to inverness for the scan and i have to go to glasgow or edinburgh for my operation..
how is your hubby?
i wish both off you all my luck for your hubby to get better.
Thanks for that ! Hes a very active person most of the time DIY gardening ect but most of all we have motorbikes and he cant ride either of them at the moment or drive the car. Hes a typical man though, got a cold on top of everything else but thinks its the flu .lol. Like everyone to feel sorry for him if you know what i mean. jan x

[paris]

My partner waited a long time for his scan. Also an urgent referral. Expect a long wait for the results too.
Its not right having to wait for emergency appointments is it ? Nothing we can do other than wait. Were not in a position to go private either, £600 for an mri as ive already asked. jan x

[hobbes1962]

I had two done over two years ago now. The first one I waited about four months for and the second one I got about a month later.

Neither were an entirely pleasant experience:lol:

[ett23]

Poor hubby has a trapped nerve in his neck and in alot of pain. Hes on morphine and many other pain killers. Been waiting for an mri scan so the dr can decide if and where to operate. Just got the letter from the local hospital to say he has an appointment for...........6TH FEB 2007. And thats an emergency appointment aswell, hes been waiting for 12 weeks already.
How long has anyone else been waiting for hospital appointments ?? jan x[evil]

Unbelievable that you have to wait this long for hospital appointments up there. I live in Tain and my daughter needed an appointment to see the paediatrician in Raigmore, and within 2-3 weeks after seeing the doc and being referred we were at our appointment in Raigmore. We also needed a further appointment for an ultra sound scan and it's only taken 3 weeks to be seen!!! :confused

[Bill Fernie]

I am sorry to hear about the lengthy delays in getting access to the scanner in Inverness.

This is why I have been pressing for one to be placed in Caithness General for the past couple of years.

I first took the matter up after the trust failed to accept the cash on offer from acharitable trust after oneof the staff had written to aks for the omeny. It all fell aprt over running costs.

Howver myself, George Bruce and others have been pusing for this to be reviewed and it has been ongoing for a long time. There appears to be light at the end of the tunnel and Caithness may eventually get scanner.

My concerns as with maternity issues wwas partly the long journey for many people to Raigmore assuming they could get an appointment for the scanner. Further I was concerned that some people might get abetter result if they had much faster access eg Stroke victims where brain damage might be alleviated or stopped if the correct drugs could be given quickly.

The North Highland Community Health Partnership where I go representing Highland Council gets updates on the progress towards the scanner and although it is slow - still due to financial pressure and staffing issues it is still on the agenda and moving forward.

June 2006 Minutes Say
CT Scanner
It was reported that Ross Mackenzie, Margaret Brown and Sheena Craig had examined the activity statistics for the use of the Raigmore CT Scanner by patient postcode and had thereby identified resource transfer monies. The figures had still to be finalised but it is estimated that around £30k revenue costs remained to be identified. It has been suggested that clinical governance monies not already ring fenced could be allocated to the scanner project. This could adversely affect the development of the Community Equipment Store. A paper would be submitted to the DHS Operational Network in August when it was hoped that approval for the scanner project to proceed would be given.

Later Minutes are not yet published but can be found in due course at
http://www.nhshighland.scot.nhs.uk/About%20Us/CHP/North/index.htm

So there is hope that we will get scanner into Caithness General to make it easier and faster to get the scans. There is a lot more to this but suffice to say things are still moving - albeit grindingly slowly.

[paris]

Were in Lincolnshire now, nearer the big hospitals but still have to wait all this time . jan x

[Fran]

In January the hospital consultant ordered a thalium scan at Raigmore for me.By May I still hadnt heard and was surprised at the delay ao i went to my gp who contacted the hospital, and I had to cancel my holiday. In august, I had to cancel my holiday that I had changed, again. In September i finally had my scan, but it is now November and i am still waiting for the results.
I thought this was a one off but my friends husband in shetland had to wait longer but he does have his result.
It would be interesting to know how many patients have died while waiting for these scans or their results. Plus the worry and stress can agrevate their condition. these scans are usually done before heart surgery.
I think this time wait is completely unacceptable, and if any more of you have waited so long for a thsalium scan please contact me as i am on the Caithness Patients Council and have brought this up with Caithness Patients Council as well as Raigmore Patients council.
Like Bill, I too am fighting for a CT scanning machine for wick, as in previous post some time ago. Caithness were offered one free but said they could not afford to run it. The expense of ambulances running patients down to Raigmore for this scan would pay for the running of it. As I said before, patients aren't fit for these trips, especially in the winter.

[paris]

Dr just been out as hubbys having a very bad day. Told him the scan was for feb, to which he then said yes but then its about a 6 month wait to see the nerosurgon and 5/6 months after that before you can get an op done,.
I asked about going private for the whole thing £10,000 . :( So poor hubby will be in agony for the next year. !! Dr now saying its a trapped nerve in neck due to a slipped disk in the neck !!!! jan x

[lorraine_2406]

In January the hospital consultant ordered a thalium scan at Raigmore for me.By May I still hadnt heard and was surprised at the delay ao i went to my gp who contacted the hospital, and I had to cancel my holiday. In august, I had to cancel my holiday that I had changed, again. In September i finally had my scan, but it is now November and i am still waiting for the results.
I thought this was a one off but my friends husband in shetland had to wait longer but he does have his result.
It would be interesting to know how many patients have died while waiting for these scans or their results. Plus the worry and stress can agrevate their condition. these scans are usually done before heart surgery.
I think this time wait is completely unacceptable, and if any more of you have waited so long for a thsalium scan please contact me as i am on the Caithness Patients Council and have brought this up with Caithness Patients Council as well as Raigmore Patients council.
Like Bill, I too am fighting for a CT scanning machine for wick, as in previous post some time ago. Caithness were offered one free but said they could not afford to run it. The expense of ambulances running patients down to Raigmore for this scan would pay for the running of it. As I said before, patients aren't fit for these trips, especially in the winter.


At the age of 11 i was diagnosed with a rare diabetes its called diabetes insipidus and after a year of the docs in wick wondering what was wrong with me i was sent to raigmore was there for 24hrs and they knew exactly what was wrong after giving me a ct scan which i had to go back and fore to raigmore all the time for check ups and more ct scans and now at the age of 31 there is still no ct scanner in wick and i cant see them getting one either

[Emms]

There is nothing worse than being in constant pain - especially when you know that the only reason you are in that situation is because of hospital waiting times.

I collapsed at work in February and was taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary by ambulance. I was told that I would need my gallbladder removed and waited four days (with no food or drink) while they waited for a surgeon with a free 'operating slot', and was on a constant supply of morphine. On the fifth day they decided to discharge me with strong pain-killers and said they would send me an appointment for the op as soon as possible. Although I was in a lot of pain, I wasn't going to die and so was no longer an emergency.

Unfortunately the pain-killers were not a patch on the morphine and I spent almost three weeks of misery in bed. I couldn't keep food down and lost two stone (that was actually a bonus) before getting my appointment card - - for an operation three months later. When I complained, my consultant said the only way to be classed as 'priority' was to call an ambulance and be admitted to hospital as an emergency again. I didn't feel that was morally right and told him so. He said the only other way to get a quick operation was to go private.

I didn't really want to go private but couldn't see any alternative so I made an appointment with Murrayfield hospital on the Tuesday night. Guess what --- it was the same consultant from Edinburgh Royal Infirmary!. I paid £4,500.00 and he operated on thursday morning. My pain was gone along with a huge chunk of my savings. I also felt guilty that someone at E.R.I was not getting their op. because I could pay for mine.

Not sure what the moral of this story is but it still leaves a really bad taste in my mouth. Something is just not right and I sympathise with everyone who finds themself in pain because they are on a waiting list.

[frank ward]

The Raigmore MRI scanner was privatised a couple of years ago. Although the unit is staffed by NHS workers, the ownership, repair and maintenance is in the hands of an unknown company that the Board has refused to divulge.

The Board chairman admitted at the time that the sell-off was a short-term reaction that would place the board in financial difficulties in the medium/long term.

Perhaps these chickens are now coming home to roost?

On top of this I believe the board faces a further £10million cut in funding.

Before the privatisation I was examined by my GP in Dornoch and was wheeled into the Scanner within 3 weeks. That was for a pain in my achilles tendon - hardly a life-threatening complaint.
The scan revealed the problem, I was operated on within 6 weeks.

[scotsboy]

What did they wheel you in on Frank? Heard some stories about trollies, wheelchairs and gas cylinders flying through the air and attaching themselves to the bore of the MRI unit.