British Snoring & Sleep Apnoea Association

Hi,

I thought that people might be interested in this news story from the BBC News Online website. I think we all know only too well what they are talking about!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5172346.stm

I read that yesterday and decided to call up the hosp re my diagnosis/treatment. They had no idea where we were at with it. My notes were at another hospital for something else.

The wait for the appointment, then the diagnosctic tests, then the over night CPAP trial, then the wait for the results. Nothing should take two years to diagnose and treat (and I am not neven being treated yet!).

I am now so pissed at the whole thing after a particularly bad week of snoring/lack of sleep etc that I have emailed the Patient Advice and Liaison Services as I want to know exactly why it has taken two years thus far, and still nowhere near to a resolve.


I also emailed the BBC when it had a "have your say" bit at the bottom of that page.


I'm thoroughly fed up.

Hi ya,

This is something that unfortunately I think most of us can relate to. I was fairly fortunate in that I was diagnosed fairly rapidly (once I realised I may have apnoea - my diabetes consultants misdiagnosed ME last year), my problem is that now, having had the cpap trial, everything has stopped. I have tried, my surgery nurse has tried, and my GP has tried, to find out what is happening about my apnoea. At every turn we have been met by no reply...usually an answerphone or 'I'll pass the message on'. When I phoned the hospital today they had no record whatsoever and could only guess what had happened to the results!

It has been one month since the trial and I haven't even see the consultant again. It's not like I'm not prepared to buy my own machine, I am, I just need the bloomin prescription.

On Monday I fell asleep on a bench in London, had a hypo (i'm diabetic to) and got very cold. The ambulance took two hours to find me due to a communication error between the PSO's who found me, the CAD room, and the London Ambulance Service...turned out I was only 5 mins walk from a hospital. Still, I got lucky, though I am still having problems with speech and shaking.

I have been off work for 2 weeks and have been signed off for 2 more due to the problems caused by apnoea. I now feel the only way to get things done is to make a complaint and threaten legal action. This is not a step I take lightly but one I have had to take before when I required knee surgery. On that occassion I had already waited 18 months to have reconstruction on a cruciate ligament with no sign of an appointment. I had my surgery 1 month after the NHS trust received my complaint. It shouldn't take this to get the treatment we require.