"Poor management and patient service"

I am having treatment for cancer have routine blood tests made every month to eight weeks. I tried to make an appointment for these routine bloods yesterday (9/4/24). I was unable to even get on the phone queue to speak to a receptionist until after 4pm in the afternoon. After I finally got on the list at no. 10 position, it took over 20 minutes to speak to the receptionist. When I explained that I needed an appointment for routine bloods and an appointment for my second Shingles injection I was subjected to a list of questions about who authorised the tests, what the last dates were and it became obvious that the receptionist was under training and unsure of what was required. After 20 more minutes I was no further forward in making the appointments and I felt that I was continuing to be interrogated about my previous test schedule and I was not believed that the tests needed doing. The requirement for these routine bloods should have been clear on my records.

When we moved on to the Shingles injection the interrogation continued. As a patient I was made to feel that I was calling under false pretences and should have waited for a health professional to contact me to tell me I needed the bloods and shingles injection.

I understand that staff need training and none of this was the receptionists fault, but the way appointments are being managed is unhelpful and time wasting. To be on the phone for over an hour just to make a couple of routine follow up appointments cannot be the best way to manage appointments especially if there are more patients waiting to get through.

I discovered a lump whilst on holiday and as I need to be aware of the potential for secondary cancers, I needed to make a further appointment to see a doctor. I attempted to make an appointment the next day. Once again I was unable to get in the appointment queue until after 10am. I was then told I there were no more appointments and I needed to call again the next day. I will therefore need to call 111 to find out an alternative way to see a doctor.

I am really unhappy with Fellview Healthcare’s management of patient’s appointments and communication standards. I had occasion to complain about the poor communication standards before and was reassured by Professor Howarth that the management issues were being dealt with and set to improve. This has clearly not happened and appointments have got worse. Whilst I understand the need to ensure that appointments are valid and not a waste of resources, but I cannot believe that there are that many people who call in to make a bogus routine blood appointments and warrant this kind of patient treatment. I do not have any faith that Fellview Healthcare will improve anytime soon and my wife and I are actively considering changing to another practice.