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They were kind, efficient and competent

Posted By Wilss8613

"They were kind, efficient and competent"

About: Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital (Wonford) / Fracture Clinic

(as a service user),

Late April at the Fracture Clinic, Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital (Wonford).

The appointments were all delayed (most people had been waiting an hour for their appt). I was due to have a weight bearing x ray. I was told to go to x ray even though my plaster was still on. We waited quite a while in x ray only to be told to go back to the main area to get the plaster off first. I know I wasn't the only person this happened to.

If the clinic was better organised, this would save the patients time as well as that of the professionals. Each patient should have a clear sequence of what needs to happen and in what order on their record to avoid issues like this and prevent tempers from getting frayed.

When I did get to see the professionals, they were kind, efficient and competent. It was just the organisation that was lacking.

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Responses

Response from Julia King, Clinical Nurse Manager, Fracture clinic and PEOC OPD, Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust 2 months ago
Julia King
Clinical Nurse Manager, Fracture clinic and PEOC OPD,
Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

I am responsible for monitoring overall service delivery, and the day to day running of both departments. I work closely with the Orthopaedic Consultants, Radiologists, Therapists, Trauma Nurse Practitioners, Orthopaedic Practitioners and Nursing staff to ensure cohesive care is delivered. I am very fortunate to have a dedicated team of staff, who work extremely hard to ensure patient safety is maintained, and that clinics run as smoothly as possible.

Submitted on 08/05/2025 at 13:48
Published on Care Opinion at 13:48

Dear Wilss8613,

Thank you for taking the time to leave feedback on your recent appointment in Fracture clinic, and I am very sorry to hear that despite finding the staff competent and kind that there were issues with the rest of your appointment.

I can only apologise to you regarding the fact that you were sent to have a weight bearing X ray whilst still in cast. This was clearly an error, and was most likely due to inadequate information having been provided to the HCSW in clinic.

99% of the time all of the clinics are pre-charted by the Consultant with instructions for the unregistered staff working in clinic regarding any interventions required during the appointment. For example, the clinic notes would indicate - Cast off, weight bearing X-ray and then review. Unfortunately due to other circumstances, this information can occasionally be missing or incomplete, and this has obviously been the case with your recent appointment, which I am extremely sorry for.

As Fracture clinic is a Trauma service we do inform all patients on either the appointment letter, or on the My Care patient portal to allow 2-3 hours for the duration of your visit to the department.

This is due to the sheer volume of referrals into our service who all need to be reviewed within a certain timeframe (usually 7-14 days), and although we allocate an appointment time, this is more for scheduling purposes (each patient has 15 minutes allocated).

This is not an accurate reflection of how long each patient will take as it will vary depending on the nature of your injury, and the treatment that requires initiating - for example application of a cast, X ray, review again etc. This then impacts the appointment times for other patients waiting, which is unavoidable.

As you can appreciate we are also limited by the amount of examination rooms that we have available in the department (6), and the business of other services such as X ray, which inadvertently then further impacts our waiting times in Fracture clinic.

I will ensure that this feedback is discussed during our weekly team safety briefing session and escalated back to the Consultants in clinic, to try and avoid this from potentially happening again.

Kind regards,

Julia King

Clinical Nurse Manager

Fracture clinic & PEOC OPD.

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