I am not 100% sure that the hospital has gotten my blood test results. Tiny complaint about the NHS is that it is a huge organization with a lot of bureaucracy. The treatment that I got was done at a specialist hospital in a Trust different from the home trust where my GP resides. To get the blood test without going back into London I needed to get my GP to request it. The GP office was great and made it easy to get the appropriate test. The results, however, will not automatically go to Charing Cross as they were not the requestor.
No matter how hard I pleaded policy is against them giving the patient any results. Not even one number. Ok, probably the same in the States but it is my blood after all!?!?!
I left a message with the appropriate folks downtown but the primary nurse that was expecting the result was out sick. I also sent an email to my neurologist but god only knows how many messages he gets a day. I will find a way to make sure the loop has been closed tomorrow one way or t'other. I feel fine and not really terribly concerned but all this effort to get a blood test today one would hope someone has seen it!!!
If I were the NHS I would make it easier for trusts to work across each other. It is silly that my blood test could not have been requested by Charing Cross but done by a hospital in a trust next door! It saved no one money and added a risk to my care.
I would also do something so that patients could have a closed loop communication via the Internet with their care providers. There are plenty of software solutions that would provide this capability off the shelf. Including ones that are open source (e.g. cost nothing to purchase).
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