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She was called this morning by a hospital and told she had cancer in spine and needs to go in to start radiotherapy today!
Gets there and basically told it's fairly hopeless as it had spread but they won't give up on her.
My bil then asks to see a letter they are going to send out within a couple of weeks to them. Similar name, Anne with an E rather than without... But different DOD (by 20 years) and address.
He points this out to doctor and she disappears for a while to check. Comes back... Yes, wrong person!😵 WTF?!
They are going to investigate how it happened and let my sister know.
She could have ended up having her fist dose of chemo today and a biopsy.
Makes you appreciate life anew I suppose but still.
Wow! What a horrible cock up. Still better (for your sister) that way than the other I suppose...
WTF? I take it she is under the care of the hospital for something else anyway?
I might resist the idea of starting chemo tomorrow if some doc randomly phoned me up.
Yeah, she has a few health issues but not when remotely on the scale of the big C.
Mixed emotions for her and family. Got that T shirt and like you say suddenly you appreaciate life more.
Yeah, the other side of this is knowing some poor woman got some absolutely awful news today.
I worked as a pathologist in the NHS for 42 years. The incorrect ID of samples was a continuing issue for us. At one point we did a survey of patient wristbands and found that 20% of patients had one or more errors within the data on the wristband and 10% had either an incorrect name or NHS number!
Patient ID is a real issue in such a massive organisation but correct ID is the cornerstone of appropriate care.
My best wishes to your sister on her good news.
Great news that the mistake got picked up but I’m completely amazed any hospital gives a possible terminal cancer diagnosis out over the phone !!!
Is this normal practice?
https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/about-the-nhs/how-to-complain-to-the-nhs/
https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/
would both be worth a look.
Great news that the mistake got picked up but I’m completely amazed any hospital gives a possible terminal cancer diagnosis out over the phone !!!
Not surprised, the NHS is a ****ing disaster waiting to happen,
Best mate (now died) was told he had advanced osphegeal cancer by phone and no treatment was offered, i was told by letter that i had Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis and as there was no treatment available i would no longer see the neurological consultant but would be transferred to a ****ing useless MS nurse (who doesn't even know about new drug treatments for progressive ms, i had to show her online)
Don't waste your time with making a complaint, speaking as someone who has.
I’m completely amazed any hospital gives a possible terminal cancer diagnosis out over the phone !!!
so you think better to send a letter? add another 48 hours at least to the delivery of urgent information? Or should it be a singing telegram?
Not surprised, the NHS is a **** disaster waiting to happen,
having worked with healthcare people in many different countries I don't think their is anything particularly special about the NHS that makes that cockup more likely here, its certainly just as possible in the US, and most of Europe.
She could have ended up having her fist dose of chemo today and a biopsy.
Its not impossible, BUT anyone who has been in a hospital in the last decade will have noticed that there are frequent checks of patient DoB whenever drugs are being given, so likely to have been spotted then. I'd also have thought any surgeon was likely to raise an eyebrow if the person in front of them was 20 yrs younger than they should be.
Great news that the mistake got picked up but I’m completely amazed any hospital gives a possible terminal cancer diagnosis out over the phone !!!
Is this normal practice?
Its a bit surprising. I'd have thought, can you come in as soon as possible to discuss your condition and treatment options was more normal. Almost as surprising as called this morning seen this PM, and starting chemo today; almost like the person they were expecting to see knew what was going on. But its possible that in a panic to get people out the way before choron-a-mageddon they were keen to rush things along?
Please it was good news in the end must have been awful. Then chances of her getting near chemo stage would be extremely slim and they’d check all the details. The NHS is still run by humans so small mistakes can and happen it’s about finding ways to stop it happening again when it does.
The kind of thing every person diagnosed with cancer dreams of.
For the Doctor to come back and say its a mistake, and she has not got cancer.
I would have given the Doctor the biggest kiss she or he had since their teenage days.
I would be too happy to be complaining they had made a mistake - what a great mistake!
And the resultant delay in getting the correct information to the right person.
Better to be on the right side of that error.
Any large organisation makes lots of mistakes every day, its just a numbers game; the effort to reduce the number to zero would far outweigh the cost of the mistakes
@maccruiskeen. What I thought was a phone a phone call to come into the hospital to discuss things in person when dealing with such a possibly serious illness, which was exactly my experience after a (incorrect)lung cancer diagnosis.
Any issues with incorrect identification would be sorted out straight away.
Not sure why you’d assume anything else really, but a nice reply, well done.
My mum was told her terminal cancer was in remission after a trial of experimental chemotherapy.
We got a phone call a couple of hours later to confirm that they had looked at the wrong x-rays and there was no sign of improvement.
I don't blame anyone, but I try not to think about it too much.