"Communication with patients needs to be improved"

My mother - who is in her 80s and is hard of hearing -  recently received a phone call from the medical day unit at Musgrove Park hospital asking where she was and why she hadn’t attended her appointment. Unfortunately, she didn’t know anything about a hospital appointment but was very upset that she had missed it.  

At her last GP appointment it had been mentioned that she may need a blood test at the hospital but she expected to receive a letter or at least a phone call informing her of the date of the appointment.  The medical day unit told her in the phone conversation that she would have an appointment in April.

Mum asked them to confirm the appointment in writing as she is hard of hearing.  She didn’t receive a letter and the week before her appointment my brother phoned the unit on her behalf to confirm it was going ahead.  He was told the appointment was to test her cortisol levels and she would need to attend at 8am for the whole day.

Mum was very worried about what tests she would need to undergo. On the day, I took her to the hospital but we struggled to find the medical day unit. We had parked in the multi-storey car park and looked for signs as we walked through the Duchess building but couldn’t find any.  We asked members of staff for directions but they didn’t know where it was and asked to see the appointment letter as that would tell you which building the unit was located in!

We did eventually find the unit in the Queen’s building with the help of a porter.  As we had arrived slightly early at 7.45am the receptionist told us we couldn’t go into the unit’s waiting room and we had to wait in a corridor with no chairs, just trolleys.

When we were allowed to enter the unit, the receptionist was very helpful and took us to the room where Mum was to have her tests.  Unfortunately, I was unable to go into the room with Mum due to a lack of space but I waited in the corridor outside as she was nervous and I was concerned she may not hear the staff clearly.

The staff gave her some written information about the tests they would be doing and told her it would only take a couple of hours.  The staff looked after her well during the tests, providing her with coffee and biscuits too.

Mum was relieved when it was all over and I could take her home. However, her anxiety could have been eased in the first place if she had received a letter confirming her appointment and the information leaflet about the tests.  An appointment letter could have explained in which building the medical day unit is located, helping us to find it, and that the unit doesn’t open until 8am.

Communication with patients attending the medical day unit needs to be improved and consideration given to those who may be hard of hearing and anxious about their treatments.  I hope you are able to make these improvements so other patients have a better experience.