OAP left in agony as medics bungle hip op
Monday 21st December 2009, 2:30PM GMT.
Sheila Kendal, 79, desperately needs an operation on her broken artificial hip but after the third cancellation she was told she would be better off having it done in the UK. Her daughter is about to pay almost £9,000 for a private procedure over there. (Picture by Peter Frankland, 0891395)
A PENSIONER has been left in terrible pain for the last four months because surgeons have failed to organise the hip operation she needs.
And the Medical Specialist Group, which employs all surgeons locally, admitted it had handled the OAP’s case badly and apologised for the ‘failure’.
Sheila Kendal fractured her 12-year-old artificial hip in August and has had three scheduled operations to fix the problem cancelled She was then told that her surgeon believed it would be better for her to be referred off-island for the procedure.
Her daughter is so disgusted by the lack of activity in her mother’s case that she is now preparing to pay for the 79-year-old to have the operation privately – and that could cost as much as £8,900 in the UK, according to privatehealth.co.uk.
Since the fracture, the pensioner, who lives in Rue de La Corderie, Vale, has had to use a walking frame or wheelchair to get around.
Mrs Kendal also received a letter from her Medical Specialist Group surgeon to say sorry for the way in which her case had been handled.
When contacted by the Guernsey Press, MSG chairman Dr George Oswald said the group would review its internal procedures in light of the case.
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What a disgraceful incident about this poor woman’s hip.
Any civilized community would have attended to the case with immediate affect.
As for the health minister I’ve hear
d some tales in my time, but that letter to the press was a disgrace, he should be kicked out.
only one thing he said was true.
There are bodies elected to see all cases–
I hope people will remember that when election time comes around.
The man is not fit to be in Office;
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Whilst Mrs Kendall’s plight is a shame, that we have only this one isolated story concerning HSSD failure speaks volumes for the excellent service Guernsey receives from it’s healthcare providers.
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Student Bob
Surely you must mean the only one reported,
there are many such cases, but people are fed-up being told we do our best; maybe they do.
My reason for writing in the first place; was for the plight of that lady; it must have been scary, then all the on off business is hardly a way to go about things now is It?
I’m sure a little more consideration could have been shown,
That is the substance of my posting; not the way it has been handled, Shame on the health minister; I’m not a vindictive man, but I hope he the Minister will have ailment and get the same treatment he deals out to that lady,
But perhaps I shouldn’t wish that:
A greater power than his will soon decide his fate
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Quite so Student Bob. My family’s experience of the medical profession here is generally extremely favourable.
Unfortunately we only hear the horror stories, as it’s those that sell newspapers.
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Looking through your well used Rose tinted glassess once again are you Student Bob??
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If you believe there is only one isolated incident,you surely live in cloud cuckoo land
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unforuntately i fear this is one of only a few that make it to the headlines. I have heard so many tales like this before. Make waiting times greater then make more cash out of people paying to go private to get pain and inconvenience over and done with. I’ve heard many a tale of Mr Adams and am disgusted he made it into office in the first place. HSSD need to sort this out as im sick of hearing of people who pay social security and taxes to be fobbed off til they are desperate enough to pay to go private and make them more money . Many of these stories dont make the headlines although they DO happen.
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Rose-tinted glasses? Cloud-cuckoo land?
Is anyone foolish enough to suggest that the grass is greener on the other side??
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No student Bob
I don’t think anyone thinks that,
However what people do think is the callous way this poor woman has had to suffer, because of the negligence of the Health minister.
I would fight with every possible way to alleviate that poor woman of her suffering, a double suffering now-
The pain of the hip and scurrilous mannner in which the health minister returned her appeal,
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No rose-tinted glasses Harrys Game , or the equally blinkered vision that because some errors have been made our healthcare system has suddenly gone to the dogs.
I don’t think anyone thinks this is the only cock up that HSSD have done. The point I think SB is making is that in general, healthcare here is comparatively excellent.
The story of this unfortunate lady is a sad one and I wish her well. Nevertheless, the MSG have admitted their error, apologised and are looking to make corrections. That is exactly the reasonable response I would expect from them and I commend them for it. Unfortunate situations like this are an opportunity to learn from our mistakes.
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Another attention-grabbing headline from the Guernsey Press that is once again blowing things out of proportion!
Although I can understand the frustration of this lady and believe that some aspects of the situation could have been handled better, if the hip replacement was indeen “broken”, “fractured”, “shattered” (words used in the article and Mrs Kendall’s letter), then this WOULD have been treated as an urgent case. The fact that the operation was cancelled on the mentioned occasions is regrettable, but these things do happen – people (yes, even doctors) get sick and are not immediately replaceable with others who are busy with other duties.
To have to wait a few weeks for a non-urgent operation is nothing. In the UK you can be on a waiting list for months on end! If the surgeon considered his competencies to not be up to scratch to deal with Mrs Kendall’s case, then this should have been decided at an earlier time I agree.
Mis-communication errors do occur in the health service everywhere, but also in any organisation, and although regrettable are sometimes unavoidable – we are all only human after all.
This really is a ridiculous story to have made front page headlines, but I guess “this is Guernsey”
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This case just highlights one of the many problems the MSG have. Operations being cancelled at the last minute as in pre med given and lying down in the theatre,being told about medical problems that require treatment then finding out it was someone elses file, this happened to me twice.
There is one way to get to the front of the waiting list just say you work for the health dept, it does work honest.
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Donkey’s life
We are trying to get a little honesty into this dreadful affair,
I think it is unfair to do as you suggest tempting as it might seem:
I think if people really want to help this poor woman, then rally your deputies into action, curse them, endless phone calls letters to the press. write to *SKY News’
Anything that comes to mind; get this health minister out;
I bet if it had been his family or a friend it would have already been seen to.
But an old age pensioner, they look on that as rabble.
So did the people in Paris many years ago, that is why they
celebrate July 14 Bastille day.
It needs an uprising in Guernsey to straighten out a few things.
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A balanced discussion here, which is good to see. As opposed to the banner headlines ‘medics bungle hip op” which implies a disaster ‘on the table’, not a series of mishaps which has led to the person concerned being left in limbo. But, MSG have acknowledged things did not go as they should have done, and have apologised to the lady. At least 2 of the mishaps were due to circumstances beyond their control. And clinical circumstances change, hence perhaps why the decision was made for this lady to go off island for her op. And yes, it would be quite wrong for MSG to discuss particulars in the media. And things would appear to have moved on, as stated. so maybe a resolution of her problems is imminent. I bet the press wont publish that news, when all is resolved.
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And why wouldn’t they publish any results?
You assume beyond your wit:
Now that the horse has bolted, they the people concerned with that poor old age pensioner. has decided to bolt the door.
Anything they do now will be because the ‘Press’ printed the affair; and to me that was indeed a feather in their cap.
I’ve no doubt when all this sordid attitude of the Health minister comes to light it will be printed. I have faith in the Press for such.
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eric
You read it wrong or I didnt make it clear enough.
Health workers do get to the front of the waiting list FACT.
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donkeys life – the health service needs health workers to run it. no good if they are all off work waiting for surgery. i have no doubt some health workers do get their surgery without having to wait, but most will wait along with everyone else.
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Health workers don’t have private health insurance as part of their pay deal – unlike most other non-states workers. Some pay their own, others have it through their spouses. I am sure that some of them without private health insurance may have been able to queue jump if the problems are urgent or otherwise going to keep them off work for a long period – that just makes economic sense surely? Keeping a nurse off work for 3 months waiting for an operation and then adding on the recuperation period is just throwing money down the drain. They will have to be replaced with other staff working overtime which is not cost effective – which is why most private companies pay for their staff to have private health insurance.
No system is perfect but the Guernsey system works 99% of the time.
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Amazed
your point about waiting a few weeks/months for treatment if in uk is by the by in my opinion. whether hip was fractured/shattered i.e critical or not, the uk have nhs free health care…..here we pay into it. through social insurance or health insurance. totally different ball game and you could expect to wait if your getting something free.!! point being we do pay either privately or in contributions and therefore we expect a greater degree of service. Hunter Adams disgusts me and the amount of complaints/comments i’ve heard over the years it wouldnt surprise me one bit if he said what was alleged. As someone else commented , we all need to remember this next election. MSG have already said they want to save money by making waiting times longer. Hunter Adam backed them. Im appalled. They amke a mint as it is. This poor woman had to get to the point of going under to be told “sorry, its been cancelled” now if that was me id be a nervous wreck. Ive already had a member of my family opt to go private , pay a fortune and get it doen quicker on a medical procedure. Is this not a ploy by MSG to encourage us all to do that? Theyd make a lot more money that way. Budget would come in well under spent if we all ran out of patience or couldnt take the pain anymore!!
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Melissa – “the uk have nhs free health care…..here we pay into it. through social insurance or health insurance”
Melissa – where do you think the funds for the NHS come from then? UK citizens pay into the NHS through higher taxes and national insurance contributions than we pay in Guernsey.
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paul le page
well they earn less!!
and at end of day at least no matter how poor you are you get free health care. like usa with no one getting treated without cash up front. we only get treated when it suits them even though we pay into social insurance system. thats why its not right. id rather opt out of social insurance system and pay insurance for private treatment when i needed it
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Melissa – Your social insurance payments cover more than your health care. They also cover sickness, invalidity and other benefits such as unemployment – not to mention your state pension etc..
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melissa – who earns less??
and it isn’t “free”. thats what uk residents pay tax for (and at a higher rate than here). Our system is nothing like the USA – everyone gets treatment, and of a high standard. And would you really prefer to pay for private treatment? Do you know how much that costs?? And with insurance, a huge number a medial conditions (pre-existing and chronic) are excluded.
We are fortunate to have what we have – i hope you don’t ever need treatment under the NHS – i think you would be shocked….
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Mrs B
Your comment ” i hope you don’t ever need treatment under the NHS – i think you would be shocked” is nonsense.
True some complain about less than acceptable service but the vast majority would have a good quality of treatment.
Someone with a broken hip would have immediate or almost immediate treatment in the UK.
It seems to have escaped your notice that Mrs Kendall has, some months after her unfortunate accident, been advised to see surgery in the UK.
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mrs B i have had a member of my family pay privately over here because they couldnt offer a reasonable amount of time to get operation done within. yes it costs a lot. But i think your deluding yourself if you think usa is free!! they dont treat anyone there without private medical insurance! my point was that we have a contract with msg and waiting times have to be within 6 weeks, hence recent reports that any longer would be unacceptable to states. If they are prolonging the time to make people pay to go private then do it within a week it seems like its all a big con to make us all go private and pay through the nose for it
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melissa – i am all too aware that treatment in the usa is not free – i never said it was. i have experience of their system.
stephen john – hip replacements do not “shatter”. if it had completely disintegrated it would have been treated as an emergency. The same goes for the NHS – a loosening of a joint replacement would be routine surgery and involve a long wait (longer than here in most cases). i waited nearly a year for surgery within the NHS!
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Mrs B, I completely agree.
Mrs Kendal’s hip hasn’t broken in the layman’s sense of the word, if it had, she would have had emergency surgery immediately, and certainly wouldn’t be hobbling about on a walking frame!! Artificial hips have a lifespan of 10-15 years before the various components work loose, or need replacing, and this is where Mrs Kendal is (probably) at. Going back in to repair or replace an artificial hip (revision arthroplasty) is far more complicated than the original surgery especially where there are complications – such as the ‘breakage’ as in Mrs K’s case.
In this instance, ironically, it seems the extra time to evaluate Mrs K’s condition has worked in her favour, allowing a proper diagnosis with the subsequent decision to treat her in the UK.
Wouldn’t it be worse to have undergone the surgery in Guernsey, only for the surgeon to discover that she would have to be referred to a specialist unit for additional surgery??
One more point…. I had a placement in an NHS trust last year, rehabilitating patients post-arthroplasty. Mrs K would have been waiting for 6-12 months for the surgery in the UK, and, more likely, she would have been refused surgery due to her age and *ahem* size – the risk would simply be too large for the potential benefit.
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Student Bob
Your comment “In this instance, ironically, it seems the extra time to evaluate Mrs K’s condition has worked in her favour, allowing a proper diagnosis with the subsequent decision to treat her in the UK”
More worrying, if your hypothesis is correct, is the length of time taken the Guernsey surgeon to reach a correct diagnosis.
Mrs B
Sorry to read of your less that satisfactory experiences in the NHS. I can only say that in this area the maximum wait for a replacement hip under the NHS is 18 weeks, and with a top rated consultant. private patients can have a new hip within four weeks.
It just shows the danger of making generalisations from a small number of individual experiences
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Hi SJ, I guess my point was Mrs K would have been more aggrieved if the surgeon had ‘dived’ in straight away for a routine revision arthroplasty only to be confronted with complications that he didn’t feel comfortable dealing with, therefore requiring MORE surgery from a UK based specialist to fully address the problem.
To be fair tho’, this is all educated guesswork. There could be any number of reasons for Mrs K’s specialist referral.
Going back to the original point though, it’s interesting to hear that the maximum wait in your area for an athroplasty is 4 1/2 months. That’s still about 4 times longer than Mrs K was due to wait for her first scheduled operation, kinda confirming that Guernsey really does, on the whole, have a truly exceptional healthcare service.
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Student Bob
The facts (assuming the Press is correct on these) are that the surgeon(s) were willing to dive in, as you put it, not once but twice.
The comparison of the maximum wait for routine hip operations of up to 18 weeks is not comparable with Mrs Kendall. The press report says her replacement hip was fractured (or breakage, as you put it. Depends on where you stand that might not be regarded as routine but emergency surgery depending on the patient.
You end one of your posts by suggesting Mrs Kendall might be refused treatmentin the UK because of age / size. Surely the Guernsey surgeon would be sure she would be able receive treatment before referring?
Whatever the facts are let us hope the lady receives appropriate treatment as soon as possible. Last August is quite a few weeks ago!!!!
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