Dr Ahmed Mayet 2022-10-21 Person 5 5 0

I had severe pain in the artificial hip-joint on my right leg. I have had 3 such joints on that leg, dating back to 1988. Each was more complex than the previous one. the current one was fitted by Mr Charnley, a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon - Hip & Knee Specialist, at Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford, part of NHS Mid & South Essex, in 2008. It necessitated fitting a larger metal ball, over the existing smaller ball, together with a much larger replacement plastic cup, etc. I also had to wear a personally-designed corset for a couple of months after being discharged. Fourteen years is considerably more than my two earlier joints lasted. Hence, for the first time since 2008, I was in pain & could not weight-bear on that leg. The pain occurred on a Saturday, so my local GP Surgery was not available to me. On the Sunday, with no change, I decided to go to Broomfield A&E. They were excellent. In pretty short time, I saw an A&E doctor, who arranged for 2 X-Rays to be taken. These were subsequently examined by a Main Hospital Orthaepedic Surgeon, remotely. The response was 'no fracture'. the A&E doctor said that he would write on the above to my local Witham Surgery-Fern House. I subsequently found out that he had indeed done so, reiterating the 'no fracture' result but, did not, as I had requested, suggest that Fern House write to Orthaepedics, Broomfield, requesting a rapid appointment. This was obviously a great disappointment. I then contacted Fern House & asked to speak to a doctor on their 'same-day' scheme. Dr Mayet, not my formally nominated doctor, rang me back in mid-afternoon. I then pretty much reiterated the above background. To my delight, Dr Mayet - (a) said that he would write to Mr Charley ( who is still practicing 14 years later), explaining the matter & requesting an appointment in his clinic / (b) said that he would arrange, two days later, for me to be seen by a Fern House Physiotherapist, Natasha, & (c) sent me a helpful webb connection covering Hip Joint Problems. I duly met Natasha. After her examination, she supported the letter which Dr Mayet had already written to Mr Charnley; she also gave me an taylor-made Exercise sheet. To my considerable surprise, & pleasure, I was subsequently copied the response from Mr Charley to Dr Mayet; a response written only TWO days after my initiating telephone conversation with Dr Mayet. In the response, Mr Charnley said that he had looked at my two A&E X-Rays, & compared them with my last formal review X-Rays taken there in 2014 ( The biannual Review sessions were then discontinued). He indicated that there was no obvious sign that the joint had failed, summising that the discomfort might well stem from a small fracture of my greater trochanter. He ended by telling Dr Mayet that he would send me an appointment to be seen at his Broomfield Hospital clinic. The entire process, handled so rapidly, professionally & court'eously, was so impressive that I felt called to write, personally, to Dr Mayet, thanking him for his actions, & that of the whole Fern House Surgery, & the wider NHS too. I did so and, perhaps unsurprisingly, I received a rapid, warm text on my mobile phone, from Dr Mayet, thanking me for my letter. It is hard, in any conditions, never mind the current NHS financial difficulties - the workload backload a direct consequence of ever-increasing public demands - to image a more satisfactory series of events!