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"My appointment"

About: Lincoln County Hospital / Cardiology

(as the patient),

My original appointment at Lincoln Hospital was at 10:30. It takes nearly an hour to get to the hospital. By the time I got there and to the clinic it was 10:25. As I sat waiting I checked my phone and saw I had a missed call. But they had left a voice message. Time of call was 10:16. The message was from the hospital telling me my appointment had been cancelled. They would get back in touch with a new appointment.

A few days later I received a text message (no letter or phone call, just a text message ) saying I had a new appointment at Lincoln hospital. The day before I rang the hospital to confirm this appointment. After 30 mins waiting to get through I was told yes this was definitely my new appointment.

The day of my appointment I had to be up for 6 in the morning. I left my house at 7:30 to give me enough time to get to my appointment on time. At around 8:20 I was still stuck in traffic and would no way make it to the hospital for 8:30. I rang Lincoln Hospital (twice) to let them know I was going to be late. I couldn't get through to anyone both times. Then (while still stuck in traffic) my phone rang and it was the hospital. This was now just after 8:30. Only to be told over the phone that my appointment was a telephone appointment.

I pulled over (eventually) and took my phone appointment. Which wasn't the best situation to take a very important appointment. After the phone appointment I went home. I had been on the road for over 2 hours by the time I got home. Totally stressed out and absolutely tired out and trying to work out what had just happened. I can not remember what I said in the appointment. Whether I mentioned my problems properly. It was all a blur. I still can't believe what happened. 

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Responses

Response from Laura Kearney, Outpatients Operational Services Manager, Outpatients, United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust 15 months ago
Laura Kearney
Outpatients Operational Services Manager, Outpatients,
United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust
Submitted on 18/01/2024 at 07:02
Published on Care Opinion at 07:02


Dear Peter827

May I sincerely apologise on behalf of Outpatients at ULHT for your poor experience. Unfortunately without the details of you appointment I am unable to provide a personal response, however I can only speculate that the short notice cancellation may have been due to industrial action or staff sickness.

We do our very best to re-appoint patients as soon as possible in these circumstances, and we will endeavour to contact patients with the details of a short notice appointment, however if this is not possible a letter is sent which is not always received in time.

I can only apologise further that after receiving a text message reminder for the rebooked appointment you were not informed when contacting us this would be a telephone consultation. I have reminded the Outpatient telephone teams to check patients are aware of how their appointment will be delivered going forward.

Thank you for your valuable feedback, please do get in touch with myself or via our PALS team if you would like me to look into this further.

Kind Regards

Laura Kearney

Interim Clinical Services Manager, Outpatients

Laura.Kearney@ULH.nhs.uk

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