The Good Old NHS

Duly attended the plastics unit at Southmead Hospital at 09:30 yesterday for my dislocated thumb. On the way I spotted a new hotel being built in Filton.

If you know Filton, an hotel called the "Village Hotel" is a piss-take - Filton is the most heavily industrialised area of Bristol, being the engineering epicentre (Airbus, RR, etc.).

I was was seen immediately on arrival. A registrar surgeon said that I indeed had a torn ligament and I could have an operation that day. An appointment was made for 14:00. We were told that if an emergency came in or there were complications with operations before mine, then we could end up getting bumped - which is fair enough.

Went home and returned by 13:30. At 15:00 we were given our own preparation room where I changed and answered some pre-op questions. The nurses asked what I was in for and I said I'd come for a head transplant, which caused some hilarity. Then we waited, and waited, and waited. We were given several updates throughout the day, but apparently and emergency came in there were complications with the op before mine.

The anaesthetist had seen us around 17:00 and asked for my height and weight to determine the right dose of GA. I said my weight was 78 Kg when I came in, but it was now 75 Kg, as I hadn't eaten all day.

At 19:30 the surgeon from the morning consultation came to see us and told me there was no chance for that day, but I could reschedule for 07:30 on Thursday; the patient immediately before me had suffered breathing problems which had extended her operation by an extraordinary length. It's just one of those things.

I'm one of those people who can't just sit patiently doing nothing for hours on end in a 4m x 4m room. If I'm not doing anything, the only alternative is sleeping/ It's such a pity that when you're waiting for an operation they can't put you in an induced coma while you're waiting. 

I certainly can't complain - surgery is unpredictable - and I was surprised that I had the chance of having the operation the same day. It's not a highly efficient production line where you know, to the second, what's going to happen next. The poor woman before me was fighting for her life, but the surgeon told me I'd be surprised at the number of people who complain vociferously about the wait and in the main they're elderly, precisely the cohort that are most unpredictable to operate on because they present the greatest number of age-related complications.