A Typical Patient Journey

Imagine the following:

You have abdominal pain and have lost weight recently. You don't worry too much - you'd been trying to loose weight anyway and perhaps last night's dodgy curry is responsible for the aches and pains - but it doesn't get better. In fact, things get worse. Your back passage starts bleeding and you feel constipated.

So you go to your GP. He prescribes a bottle of lactulose and sends you on your way.

Not much happens. A few bouts of diarrhoea perhaps, but the bleeding is continuing and you still have abdominal pain. By now you've lost a bit more weight too. So it's back to the GP and this time he refers you to the hospital for a Colonoscopy.

The appointment letter finally arrives for your appointment! At last, this could all be sorted out! You book the time off work, read the Information Leaflet sent in the post and get that delicious bowel prep down your gullet. As you head for the hospital you feel nervous: you're not sure what to expect and suddenly the thought of going into work is actually appealing. But you know it's for the best.

You arrive at Endoscopy and the paperwork is completed. You are first on the afternoon list which starts in 15 minutes, so not long to wait. You're given an attractive gown to wear but struggle to tie it up so have to ask the nurse which is a little embarrassing, particularly as your bottom is far from inconspicuous. You grab a copy of some tacky magazine, sit down and wait...

Fourty minutes later, you've perused the entire collection of the Unit's naff magazines and are starting to get a little twitchy.

This must be a pretty horrendous journey to go through. And the ironic thing about it? The Consultant responsible for this list doesn't turn up because he's sunning himself at some five star beach resort abroad and has forgotten to cancel his list. So we have a waiting room full of patients to be seen, and no Consultant. This leaves us nurses no choice but to do the most humiliating thing possible in hospital politics - we have to beg another Consultant/Dr to do the list instead. Fortunately we find a Consultant to do it, but it's too late - we've sunk to an all new low!