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Spine Surgery

Posted By Anx777

"Spine Surgery"

About: Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital (Wonford) / General surgery

(as a service user),

I have waited a couple of years for apparent urgent surgery. Original surgeon had a 4-year waiting list so was reassigned to another surgeon. Promised surgery October but got delayed, then possible January/February.

Had pre-op assessment September year before which ran out and had to go in for another one as given a date this year in March. Prepped 5 days before surgery re disinfecting whole body and got admitted for surgery.

In at 7.30am to be told I was first on the list at 9am. 9.20am Anaesthetist came in wearing their backpack as they had just come in and they apologised for not seeing me earlier. They ran through everything very quickly which straight away made me feel uncomfortable.

9.45am my surgeon came in to say that due to staff sickness my surgery had been put back to mid-afternoon. I sat in a hospital bay in disposable underpants and pressure stockings feeling sick as it was a serious surgery that I was about to undertake. I had not eaten since 5.30pm the night before and could only have water. Bloods had been taken, etc.

Surgeon came in at 2.30pm to tell me that my surgery was cancelled and I had to go home. No new surgery date was available and here we are 6 days afterwards and I have had no feedback or heard anything.

My anxiety levels are through the roof and I still have no date. I do not blame my surgeon but have put my life on hold now for over 2 years and am in severe pain 24/7 and am no further forward than I was 2 years ago. Feeling stressed and terribly let down.

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Responses

Response from Lisa Townsend, Patient Feedback Lead, Patient Experience Team, Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust last week
Lisa Townsend
Patient Feedback Lead, Patient Experience Team,
Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

I take patient feedback and work with all departments at Royal Devon University Hospital NHS Trust to implement service change and improve the patient experience.

Submitted on 28/03/2025 at 10:18
Published on Care Opinion at 10:18

picture of Lisa Townsend

Dear Anx777

Thank you for your feedback and I am so sorry to hear that your surgery was cancelled on the day you attended. I can understand this must have been frustrating and disappointing for you at time that you were already feeling anxious. As an organisation we are doing all that we can to reduce waiting times and although this was outside of our control I can only apologise.

Due to the anonymous nature of Care Opinion I am unable to tell from your feedback the type of surgery that you are referring to. If you have not yet received a new date please can I ask you to contact the department directly for an update.

You may also wish to sign up to MyCare. You can access all of your medical information, appointment details, test results and more on the app. Details on how to do this are available here https://www.royaldevon.nhs.uk/patients-visitors/my-care/

Our Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) are also available if you experience any difficulties in contacting the department directly. You can contact them via rduh.pals@nhs.net

Thank you again for your feedback and I hope that you are rescheduled at the earliest opportunity and back with us soon.

Kind regards

Lisa

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by Anx777 (a service user)

Many thanks for your reply to my story. I was having PCDF surgery under an Orthopaedic Spine Surgeon with a potential hospital stay of 2-3 nights. I did chase up the hospital re a new date but could not get through to any of the surgeons' secretaries for 2-3 days as her phone had been forwarded to another secretary who had also forwarded her phone to someone else so you ended up at the beginning of the loop with no one answering. I have already opted into MyCare and after receiving a message that there was a questionnaire to complete re my surgery decided to look at my portal only to find that I had been assigned a new surgery date but had not been informed via text or email as per usual re MyCare, so it was only by chance that I found out my new date. I eventually managed to get hold of a Manager who checked to see if I was definitely down for surgery as I had not been officially informed of this with no letter or details as I have to disinfect myself 5 days prior to surgery and wanted to make sure I had enough disinfectant lotion as had already used most of it for the first surgery that never happened. She assured me that I was down for that date and would get hold of a secretary in order to confirm by letter via MyCare. Today I received a very welcome phone call from one of the Spine Managers apologising profusely as to what had happened to me. She explained what had happened and restored my faith in the NHS. She chased the secretary and I have just received a confirmation letter detailing what is to happen, for which I am very grateful. The Manager was exceptionally reassuring so I feel I can now go forward in a more positive manner.

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