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News Item
Broken promises claim over Dorset clinics
09 February 2011
Dorset County Hospital and Dorset Primary Care Trust have been accused of ‘broken promises’ over their pain clinic service.
Campaigners have been calling for a reduction in the waiting time for injections they need to alleviate the chronic pain they suffer from. They claim that there have been no improvements in waiting times and that many patients were still not seen within the Government target of 18 weeks.
Dorset County Hospital patient governor Michel Hooper-Immins recently raised the issue at a meeting of the hospital’s council of governors.
“Pain clinic patients are being badly let down by the NHS in Dorset and some positive action is required – and soon.”
Assistant director of nursing at Dorset County Hospital Claire Damen said some extra sessions had been put on at the pain clinic in recent months but accepted the situation had not improved for many patients.
She said: “It is correct to say that the situation with waiting times for many of our current patients has not improved.”
Mrs Damen said the hospital and the PCT had been progressing with work on a new policy that would ensure that there was a clear clinical pathway for each patient, which would improve the situation for patients.
Director of service operation at Dorset PCT Jane Pike told the meeting: “I do acknowledge that we probably haven’t made the inroads into waiting times that we would have really liked.
“The critical thing is to make sure we get the clinical pathway right for the patients and it takes time.
Mr Hooper-Immins responded: “What worries me is that all this talk of pathways and protocols is masking the fact that nothing is happening.”
The PCT and Dorset County Hospital promised to keep the governors informed of the progress they are making.
Brian Barr are expert lawyers for people with chronic pain and fatigue conditions such as Fibromyalgia, ME/chronic fatigue syndrome, reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD / CRPS), myofascial pain syndrome, lupus, ankylosing spondylitis and chronic back pain. If an accident triggered your illness or if you have been refused a substantial payment under a permanent health insurance/critical illness policy or accident protection plan please contact us by clicking here or call us on 0161 737 9248.
