The state of welfare

How ill does someone have to be to find out exactly what is wrong and how bad it is?

I apologise for this post but I need it to be some kind of catharsis. I am puzzled, dissappointed and quite despairing of what has become of the NHS and how it functions (not the people who work in it because they are as put upon as educators but the system)
Background.
At the beginning of October I had 2 weeks off work, I was diagnosed with a ruptured lumbar disc (slipped disc). In November I went back to work still sore but capable of doing the job. After 2 weeks I caught a bad cold and coughing fits put my back out again even worse than before. As a consequence I have had another 3 weeks off and will not be back until 2008.
All this while both my GP and physio both explained that although I had a cut an dried case the hospital would not accept a referral until I had been ill for at least 6 weeks. So GP finally referred me 2 weeks ago. YESTERDAY I got a letter from Neurological outpatients kindly telling me that yes they had received my GP's letter and that they would write to me 6 weeks before they had a date available in the clinic. Not even the vaguest idea of when this might be.
In the mean time with all this waiting, I am still not physically capable of standing (or sitting) in my class to deliver lessons. Mentally no problem but I can't stand for much more than 30 mins without starting to feel pain. This means that my employers are paying me full salary whilst being off work (not complaining obviously), but they also have to pay a supply teacher to be in my stead at around £200 a day (you do the sums 5 weeks, £200 a day.) My colleagues are having to set my classes up, so taking time out from their own classes and my own students are not benefitting from having a trained MFL teacher in front of them. The costs to my employers and my students are big.
BUT I will still have no idea about where exactly I have this problem and what needs to be one to sort it out (surgery / rest etc.)
Why can a GP referral not be seen asap? Why are waiting lists so long?  How much is all this costing. On a personal level I am hoping that I  will improve on my own and be able to return to work before I start to pay (i.e. when my entitlement to full pay stops and goes down to half pay.)

I will leave you with this thought. When I caught malaria in Cameroon i went to the hospital. Within an hour I had a blood test and was told to get the results  3 hours later.  My results showed a high level of infection, I was prescribed the right drugs had 2 weeks off work and went back fine. This is in a supposed developing nation. Ok so I had to pay up front whereas we have free at the point of delivery.
But I am just so annoyed at being left so long in limbo.

As an aside: I've been trying to think of ways to still invilve myself in my classes via the web and stuff. I've posted useful listenings to my int 2 class blog (thus far non of 'em have bothered themselves to download them.) I was also due to give a presentation to all S4's about the LAFTAS ( we are challenging them to produce films to promote the study of languages.) I did the presentation in keynote, then imported to quicktime. Unfortunately a couple of short films I had embeded in the presentation didn't work so I then imported the quicktime movie to iMovie cut out the offending films and reimpoted the originals in their place. I then sent it to iDVD, made the DVD and sent it to school (3 hours work in total). They are going to use it this week I think.
So I am still capable of doing some things.

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Comments

Adam,

I'm feeling for you up there buddy! With a sister who's a nurse in a healthy system which she despises, I can totally understand the frustration you must be feeling- alas your scenario's harder to resolve than other, lesser, cases, so by keeping your case on the waiting list they can address those of at least 3 or 4 other people- thus making the "waiting lists" seem shorter! Grrrrrr...

Used to wrok in politics a bit, man the system can be rubbish!!

Good luck, and happy playing with those web tools you've been putting off exploring,

Chris