"curates egg"

The University Hospital in Cardiff has good and bad points. They have tried to treat me for about ten years and every time you need to see a diferent consultant the wait is long.

I was referred to for an urgent MRI scan in 2005 and told by the consultant it would be within three months, it was then re-assessed as non-urgent with an 18 month wait. The result of this was a referral to a neurosurgeon, I was forced to go private by another wait of 1 year to 18 months for an initial appointment. After seeing him I was advised that I need a Neurologist with another long wait.

I was referred urgently but then told of a 9 month wait - this was chased up by my GP which got it within four months. Then I was given the brush off and signed off in in less than half an hour with a diagnosis that had been tried years before and proved wrong then.

The UHW nursing staff are very good - caring, helpful and do their best. The Hospital is let down by the fact that to get anywhere towards a diagnosis for chronic conditions you have to pay to see a consultant to avoid wasting time by being dismissed by a consultant who has not read the notes and has pre-decided to pass the buck.