I rang NHS24 late at night due to being in agony with pain from kidney stones. I only waited around 15 mins to be passed to a call handler. It took a further 20 mins to speak with a nurse, all the while I was in agony.
After speaking with the nurse I was told my local NHS24 care centre would contact me with an appointment. They phoned me relatively quickly at an hour or so after I first called and gave me an appointment in the early hours of the morning, which was a long wait but I said I would try to cope at home with the pain until then. I live rurally, so I drove down to the Victoria Hospital urgent care centre and arrived just before the appointment time.
When I pressed the security buzzer I was told I would have over an hour's wait time to be seen, despite having already waited several hours in agony. I was asked could I wait in the car and I said not really as I need pain relief. I was very upset, but I didn't feel listened to. I returned to my car as I was given no option. I was crying in pain whilst in my car, I was left for a further 15 mins in agony then invited into a waiting room. I then sat for another hour in a lot of pain to be seen. When I was seen I was given the pain relief injection which I knew would help and I was able to cope with the pain and return home for self care.
I felt very let down. I had phoned over 4 hours prior for urgent acute pain and I feel I was not dealt with appropriately. I am fully aware of how short staffed NHS Fife is, but the system that night did not serve me as a patient correctly and was far from patient-centred.
When I arrived at the urgent care centre a member of staff informed me that I was lucky to be getting in so quickly, which I felt was rude and was not an appropriate comment.
I use our NHS services for myself and my 3 kids regularly and have very rarely had to write a negative review. I hope this can be shared with the team and some improvements made as a result.
"I hope this can be shared with the team & improvements made"
About: NHS 24 / NHS 24 (111 service) NHS 24 NHS 24 (111 service) Victoria Hospital / Out of Hours Victoria Hospital Out of Hours Kirkcaldy KY2 5AH Victoria Hospital / Urgent Care Centre Victoria Hospital Urgent Care Centre Kirkcaldy KY2 5AH
Posted by Cavi2015 (as ),
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Update posted by Cavi2015 (a service user) 14 months ago