Private Clinic Experience

I want to give you a rundown of my experience of a private clinic. As you will see, I was not very impressed and so this may come across as a bit of a rambling rant. If that’s the case, I blame the drugs. If it comes across as coherent, I hope to initiate a discussion about public vs. private healthcare.

After fasting from 9 o’clock the night before, I arrived at Galway Clinic feeling more than peckish and crying out for a cup of coffee. My appointment was for 8.30 a.m. so I felt quite confident that I’d be up and supping a strong black one by 10.30. How wrong I was. At 10.30 I was still waiting to be admitted.

Finally I was brought down into the unit and left waiting again and feeling quite cranky at this stage.
I was brought to the operating theatre at about 1.00 and met the anaesthetist. Scary woman. As soon as she found out I was a smoker she started glaring at me and lecturing me.
“You’ll cough your lungs up for at least 45 minutes when you wake up. All you lot do.”
She was like one of the Witches of Eastwick. What a vision to pass out to!
Anyway, all went well with the operation. I came to starving rather than coughing! Where was that witch? I wanted her to witness my lack of lungs around me.

I asked for a cuppa and was told to wait a while. A while!!!!! I got my cuppa at almost 5 o’clock.

Being a smoker, the cuppa triggered a craving for big fat rollie. I wasn’t sure how stable I was going to be on my feet so I thought to ask permission to leave the bed. Bad idea. I was told not to leave the bed and to wait until someone could escort me in a wheelchair.
“Would that be long?” I asked innocently.
“Yes”, was the answer. “We don’t have anyone to spare for that kind of job”.

So I played with the t.v. thingy which also had internet. I managed to freeze the whole thing in under 15 mins and nobody knew how to sort it out. Mental torture so it was.

I waited and waited and eventually took my chances and slipped past the rear guard and up and out of the hospital I went . All I needed was the soundtrack for the Pink Panther.

Dinner. Ha. In fact HA HA. Two slices of ham on a bed of shredded iceberg and sweetcorn. Sweetcorn has always disturbed me. I think its because it comes out the same shape and form that it went in. Anyway, it didn’t fill me. It didn’t come anywhere near filling me. So off I went again, slipping past the evening shift to hunt and gather. A couple of mars bars and a bag of Tayto completed my evening meal. And here was me looking forward to the grub before I went in, thinking, in my innocence, that the grub must be good in a private clinic.

The lack of privacy is one of the hardest parts of being in hospital. I was surrounded. And they all want to nod at you, wave at you, give you looks of sympathy/empathy etc. I am way too grumpy for any of that mullarkey. I lowered the portcullis and closed off the curtains. Unfortunately this did nothing to block out the snoring and coughing and the bloody mobile phones.

The highlight of the night was the techie nurse who gave me a piece of wire to shove in a minute hole in the t.v/internet thingy, which sorted it out.

Hygiene. Hmmm, not good. There was a pile of towels and nightclothes in the corner of the shared bathroom from the time I went in to the time I left. It was all quite grimy in that room. I won’t complain too much about it as I didn’t say anything to anyone about it and I probably should have said something.


Breakfast. Even more of a joke than dinner. HAAAAa. One sausage, one rasher, two mushrooms quartered and a boiled egg. Tight as a badger’s arse.

Anyway that’s almost the end of my little story. The final bit was the farce of two nurses arguing over the text of my instructions for home care. Basically they were impossible to understand and the nurses had very different ideas of what they meant. Talk about confusing. I ended up ignoring both and making my own instructions up!

So, in my humble opinion, private healthcare sucks. It seems to be very driven by profit. Tight with staff, tight with meals and tight with hygiene. I know that I got it all for free on the oul’ treatment scheme and so shouldn’t be biting the proverbial hand and all that but if I had to pay through the nose for health insurance and this is what I got, I’d be well pissed off.

This is much worse than the spooky thread, floatingingalway. We should have sent you a pizza.

I seem to remember that there is very little regulation of the Private Hospitals.

In what sense, cactus? In comparison to public hospitals I mean.

http://www.imt.ie/news/2008/03/cosmetic_surgery_to_carry_heal.html

http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2006/07/23/story15891.asp

http://www.irishhealth.com/index.html?level=4&id=12085

Quote :

The Government is seeking the advice of the Attorney General in relation to examining care at Barrington's, which is not a state-owned hospital.

A licensing system for public and private hospitals is planned by the Department of Health, but this has not yet been introduced.

Health Minister Mary Harney said if it is discovered that the care was inadequate in any of the cases being investigated, the appropriate follow-up care will be offered.

http://www.irishhealth.com/index.html?level=4&id=12085

As the patients concerned had breast cancer, that remark is chilling.

Thanks, I'll have a read.

Not meaning to worry you there floatingingalway. Sounds like you have come through the ordeal.

You will heal much quicker if you don't smoke, but it sounds as though I am at a lost cause with that one.

Machine Nation should start a get people off the cigarettes club... that said I have no idea how many people here smoke and I would be of no use in the group as I don't smoke... have the odd cigar though but I don't think they will do me much harm - more for the laugh than anything.

Hmmm.

My initial response is to have not too much sympathy with you - you admit you were cranky from the beginning. There are clear medical reasons - some outlined on a previous thread - why you can't eat and or drink before a procedure and afterwards too for a while.

What strikes me is that as far as I can see, you didn't draw these issues to the attention of anyone who might be able to do something. You didn't tell the nurses you were hungry, you didn't ask for more bread with your supper, you didn't suggest that someone clear away the towels or request that the bathroom be cleaned. You didn't request a doctor to clarify the interpretation of the prescription. The latter two points there are the more significant. That a nurse is like one of the witches of Eastwick (whom I recall to have been very good looking women in the film version), is not an important point.

You went in, as far as I can gather, for elective surgery that required an overnight stay, probably because they knocked you out. As a consumer of that service, you have responsibilities as well as rights. Have you done anything about those?

I'm sorry that your experience wasn't pleasant but it's not clear to me what you were expecting or, indeed, what you felt you were entitled to apart from more to eat.

Quote :

So, in my humble opinion, private healthcare sucks. It seems to be very driven by profit. Tight with staff, tight with meals and tight with hygiene. I know that I got it all for free on the oul’ treatment scheme and so shouldn’t be biting the proverbial hand and all that but if I had to pay through the nose for health insurance and this is what I got, I’d be well pissed off.

The latter point is a strawman. Regardless of who is paying for the service, you're entitled for it to be good enough. The fact is you are 'well pissed off' - what have you done about it?

Re cactus' point above about regulation. It is interesting, I had never thought about a difference in regulation between private a public hospitals and I would be interested to know more.

However, I think it is important to differentiate private clinics providing niche services, eg fertility treatment or cosmetic surgery, from those established private hospitals which provide almost a full acute service often with the same professional staff as are working in public hospitals. From what I have seen in the media regarding cosmetic surgery alot of those carrying out the procedures are flown in from outside the jurisdiction and their qualifications are never adequately appraised. Furthermore, you are absolutely mad going for such an invasive procedure (as many are) in a small clinic inside a converted house without the backup of a full medical team in case of emergency. When I was born my mother (a doctor) wouldn't give birth in a private clinic because in her mind they did not have adequate acute neonatal care in case of emergency.

HIQA is the body charged with aligning the regulation - which should never have been allowed to be out of alignment in the first place.

The word 'hopsital' does seem to be bandied about a little too freely. I agree with johnfás' comment about the distinction between the services offered. Many so-called hospitals are merely conveyor belts for shifting people through the system - whether it's for elective surgery or testing or specialist care such as plastic surgery. On the other hand, it's true that sometimes private hospitals can pay for the kind of equipment that other hospitals can only dream of and perhaps therefore don't have the same reliance on staff...?

Hope you`re ok floatinggalway.

johnfás wrote:

Re cactus' point above about regulation. It is interesting, I had never thought about a difference in regulation between private a public hospitals and I would be interested to know more.

However, I think it is important to differentiate private clinics providing niche services, eg fertility treatment or cosmetic surgery, from those established private hospitals which provide almost a full acute service often with the same professional staff as are working in public hospitals. From what I have seen in the media regarding cosmetic surgery alot of those carrying out the procedures are flown in from outside the jurisdiction and their qualifications are never adequately appraised. Furthermore, you are absolutely mad going for such an invasive procedure (as many are) in a small clinic inside a converted house without the backup of a full medical team in case of emergency. When I was born my mother (a doctor) wouldn't give birth in a private clinic because in her mind they did not have adequate acute neonatal care in case of emergency.

The same lack of regulation appears to apply here to hospitals treating cancer as to clinics providing botox injections.

Botox, now there is something I have never understood alot about. I went trying to find out about it on Google not too long ago but without much luck. The reason being that my friend had been at his GP earlier in the week and noticed that it was now a service offered - I found it a bit peculiar but I suppose it depends very much on the location of the practice.

I hope your feeling better too, floatingingalway. Complaining in hospital is fine in theory, but a bit like complaining in a restaurant - they ways they can get you back are too horrific to contemplate.

These things should all be looked after by staff and management, with a long stop of outside inspection. It is quite enough to have to deal with being sick, without having to sit up on the operating table and ask the surgeon if he has washed his hands.

It seems odd to me if we pay with taxes for private clinics, but don't have power to inspect.

Hope you are feeling better after the botox treatment FloatinginGalway. Look on the bright side, you can now run for public office. When it sets you are just left with a permanent smile for the camera. It also helps you to tell lies with a straight face. Hillary Clinton used too much so don't get carried away like this person

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4851828503187729293&ei=N0kKSdDIG4igqgKIpvmVCg&q=botox+disaster

johnfás wrote:

Botox, now there is something I have never understood alot about. I went trying to find out about it on Google not too long ago but without much luck. The reason being that my friend had been at his GP earlier in the week and noticed that it was now a service offered - I found it a bit peculiar but I suppose it depends very much on the location of the practice.

Before I left my last job I was under a lot of stress. I wasn't sleeping, I was working all hours and I was drinking a lot of coffee. As such I developed a nasty twicth in my eye and being a little concerned about my general health and wellbeing at that that stage (see below) I went to my GP. He offered me botox to kill the twitch.
I was a bit shocked and declined the offer, however I did question him about the drug itself. We had a great discussion about it and he explained that it's not just for yummy mummies with wrinkly foreheads.

It can be used to treat so many things, not usually life threatning but often small things which have a huge impact on a person's quality of life, including twitches (more surious than mine, i hope) and things like excess sweating. It's quite a nifty thing all told.

But back to the topic at hand. Earlier this year (well late last year really) I became progressively ill. It ended up I was missing days off work left right and centre (which is very unusual for me) I ended up being out for a few weeks in a row and attending my GP two to three times a week. He was treating me for an illness but it turns out it was much more serious than that. After the two weeks he sent me to Blanchardstown Hospital, and after waiting for 12 hours I was seen, blood and other samples taken I was sent home and told I would be waiting 2 weeks for an appointment with a gastroenterologist.

It turns out I was waiting two weeks for a phone call from the administrator to arrange to arrange (yes) for an appointment which I was told would be 6 to 10 months away. At this stage I now weighed 8 stone (I'm 6 foot) and looked like death, I couldn't eat, I didn't have the strength to leave the bed, it was awful.

I had also decided about three months previous not to renew my VHI cover because I was "never sick". Anyway... I called a private clinic near me and explained what the situation now was. I called them on Tuesday morning, I has an appointment with a consultant gastroenterologist (who turned out to be an ex-Harley street consultant with more qualifications than I could count) the very next day. I arrived in and was seen at the exact time of my appointment and I was booked into theatre for a colonoscopy three days later Friday, they could have done it the same day only I hadn't been fasting, took blood in the mean time and had the results on Thursday evening.

Being my first time having anything close to major surgery (colonoscopy requires general anaesthetic) I was VERY nervous. I had my own nurse who looked after me from the moment I went in on Friday morning to the moment I left that evening and even called me on Saturday to see how I was. I also suffer from a serious case of belonephobia (severe fear of needles) and the who surgical team were fantastic about that too. The hospital was spotless, the staff were excellent and there was minimal mess and fussing about.

Bearing in mind that I was not covered under any medical insurance nor by VHI they didn't even hound me about payment before or after came in that day because I was in such a heap.

As it happens the first colonoscopy didn't get the whole why in and needed to be done again. But because of what the consultant had seen (he wasn't happy) he sent my file on to several on his colleagues for further analysis without charge. He also didn't charge me his own fee (i just paid the theatre fees) for the second endoscopy and having seen the results of that extended it to include a esophagogastroduodenoscopy also.

After this I was still very unwell and being unable to find the cause and was called back in on a weekly basis for more test and while I was charged for the tests the consultant never charged me his fee, the hospital also didn't charge their standard charge. Finally they found what was wrong with me and from when I first attended to when I started treatment it was about a month in total. All the time I was worried sick (regardless of what the several consultant gastroenterologists who were now looking after me were telling me, but at least I didn't have cancer).

I was also reffered to a dietician to help me put on the weight I'd lost and for months after that I still got calls from the gastroenterologist to follow up on my health owing to the curious and complex nature of my illness.

I was out of work for almost three months altogether and he also wrote a letter to my employer explaining why it was necessary for me to be out of work for that length of time (which saved my job for me too)

About two months ago I recieved a letter from Blanchardstown Hospital telling me my appointment has been arranged for Janurary, almost a year later.

I was very ill and I was worried sick, I could have been screwed on medical and consultants fees, I wasn't. It wasn't cheap but it was worth it. The hospital staff from the receptionist to the nurse, anesthetist to consultant were fantastic. I was never left waiting nor wanting and the hospital was spotless, more like a hotel than a hospital. I couldn't eat but the provided me with tea (and the when I revealed I didn't drink tea, hot chocolate) and nutritunal supplements to stop me from wasting away. I coudn't have recieved better treatment nor would I in Blanchardstown Hospital, not least because I would have been dead by then. It ain't all bad.

You can also thank AT for bringing me back.

Glad to hear of your positive experience cookie, hope you are feeling better/do soon.

Interesting points regarding botox.

Kate P wrote:

Hmmm.

My initial response is to have not too much sympathy with you - you admit you were cranky from the beginning. There are clear medical reasons - some outlined on a previous thread - why you can't eat and or drink before a procedure and afterwards too for a while.

What strikes me is that as far as I can see, you didn't draw these issues to the attention of anyone who might be able to do something. You didn't tell the nurses you were hungry, you didn't ask for more bread with your supper, you didn't suggest that someone clear away the towels or request that the bathroom be cleaned. You didn't request a doctor to clarify the interpretation of the prescription. The latter two points there are the more significant. That a nurse is like one of the witches of Eastwick (whom I recall to have been very good looking women in the film version), is not an important point.

You went in, as far as I can gather, for elective surgery that required an overnight stay, probably because they knocked you out. As a consumer of that service, you have responsibilities as well as rights. Have you done anything about those?

I'm sorry that your experience wasn't pleasant but it's not clear to me what you were expecting or, indeed, what you felt you were entitled to apart from more to eat.

Quote :

So, in my humble opinion, private healthcare sucks. It seems to be very driven by profit. Tight with staff, tight with meals and tight with hygiene. I know that I got it all for free on the oul’ treatment scheme and so shouldn’t be biting the proverbial hand and all that but if I had to pay through the nose for health insurance and this is what I got, I’d be well pissed off.

The latter point is a strawman. Regardless of who is paying for the service, you're entitled for it to be good enough. The fact is you are 'well pissed off' - what have you done about it?

Kate P, if we all had your confidence about complaining we'd be living in a country that runs like clockwork. Unfortunately, not all of us have that confidence. I admitted in my opening post that I should have said something about the bathroom. When the staff are obviously over stretched and you feel like shite, complaining is not the easiest thing to do.

I am fully aware that you can't eat for a while after surgery but waiting for three hours ....come on!
FYI, I did ask for and receive an extra slice of bread with my dinner but I was still hungry after that. There was very little staff around and so this made approaching them about anything very difficult.

What was I expecting? I was expecting a service well delivered, plain and simple. What did I get? Read my opening post.

With regards to my reference to the Witch, I think you picked me up wrong. My experience was that it was as if she was willing me to cough for 45 mins after waking up, as in casting a spell so to speak. I couldn't give two flying ducks how good looking a person is as long as they do their job.

I didn't write the post to get any of your sympathy. I wrote it to outline my experience of a private clinic and to initiate a discussion. I was put out and disappointed with the standards and but not "well pissed off". My point was that if I had paid for the service I would have been more than put out and disappointed, I would have been well pissed off.

Botox - no way, never. I was having veins removed from my legs. Has the same numbing effect as botox for a while but does nothing for getting one into public office, youngdan, unfortunately. Thanks for your good wishes all and sundry.

That is even better news as you will need to be able to do plenty of walking while you go door to door. As a matter of fact get cracking immediately and gain some sympathy votes. You can't go wrong. Depending on the voter just take the persona of a different poster here. Between the lot of us we have enough hairbrained ideas to keep the whole flucking lot of the fools happy.

youngdan wrote:

That is even better news as you will need to be able to do plenty of walking while you go door to door. As a matter of fact get cracking immediately and gain some sympathy votes. You can't go wrong. Depending on the voter just take the persona of a different poster here. Between the lot of us we have enough hairbrained ideas to keep the whole flucking lot of the fools happy.

I love it - the HOBBLE factor!

Interesting stuff, floating and Cookie. Hope you both feel better now.

Let me tell you my Galway Clinic story!

In 2001 I needed an abdominal ultrasound. It is a ten minute procedure. I contacted Merlin Park (an old decrepit public hospital in Galway) and they did the scan within a week or two for free.
Fast forward to 2008. I needed another abdominal ultrasound. This time the waiting period for Merlin Park would be 6 months.
So I went to the Galway Clinic. Waiting period was only a week or two. They charged me €250, most of which I got back from the VHI. But they did the wrong scan!!
So, I had to go the Galway Clinic again the next week to get the correct scan. This time it cost in order of €400 and I can't claim any of this back from the VHI, as they don't cover abdominal ultrasounds.

I think its a good example of what we can expect with the growing influence of private healthcare in Ireland. At first it seems great that you have the "choice" to go to a private hospital. But soon you will see that choice eroded or removed.
I have sung the praises of private healthcare in Germany on these forums before, so I have no idealogical problem with it. But it is the way we are implementing it in Ireland that I'm wary of. Also, we don't get good coverage from our health insurers.

BTW, to tell you something positive about the Galway Clinic.. I attended a cardiac specialist there for an ECG. He was excellent. Very quick, very professional, and spent loads of time talking to me about my condition, even though it doesn't really effect my heart.