"Let down by admin"

My feedback isn't about the care I received. That was excellent. But it's about the admin side of things before the care.

I'd had a smear test, which always comes with a level of anxiety and you await the results. I had no results for weeks. Then on a Friday afternoon I was phoned and asked if I'd like to attend for a colposcopy and I should come in on the Monday. Now remembering I'd had no results from my smear test, this made me worried.

I asked the person on the phone - I've had no results and now you want me to come straight in, is there a problem? They said that they were just the administration staff and were just booking the appointments. So I said, well, could they tell me what to expect, what the procedure would involve, whether I had to have no food etc? And they said they couldn't tell me anything about what it would involve but that I had to be there at 8am. So I was worried, I thought well if they want me in the next working day, maybe I'm really not well. So I said I'd be there at 8 on Monday and that was the end of the call.

On the Saturday I got 3 different notifications. They've got an electronic system now, telling me I had to be there at 10am on the Monday. I tried to phone the number, but no-one answered. So I went to the hospital and to the Gynaecology department and spoke to a really helpful nurse. They looked it up on the system and confirmed that my appointment was 10am not 8AM. I asked the nurse if I needed to do anything in preparation and they said it would be helpful to take pain killers, which I'm glad they told me. 

Later that afternoon I got a letter in the post telling me that the results of my smear test had been positive and that I should attend for an appointment. There was an info leaflet too. I felt very worried. 

I went on the Monday for the procedure. The consultant and the nurses were brilliant. They really put me at ease. I want to stress that the care itself was excellent. But the administration side of things really let things down. All that weekend I was really worried about whether I had cancer and whether the procedure was going to be painful.

I want to leave this feedback because I think it's important that changes are made to the admin side of things. Treating people like this could make them very worried and some people might even be put off from even going for the procedure.