"Not helpful and rude"

Called NHS 24 following advice from my GP Surgery who stated that my daughter should go to minor injuries for an X-ray and to phone NHS 24 for an appointment as it would save us a long wait in A&E.

I called and explained the situation to the advisor who then passed me to a nurse. I again explained what had happened as I was calling about a lump on my daughter’s collar bone and shoulder pain related to same. My daughter is currently on the wait list for autism assessment and nurse insisted on talking to my daughter which was fine but I had to explain that due to her being autistic she may struggle to communicate properly on the call. Long story short the nurse advised I go back to the GP as I had apparently been given the wrong advice.

I challenged this at this point as I had already been on the phone for over 1 hour and so she put me back on hold. I was then passed to an extremely rude nurse  who refused to let me speak and was very argumentative with me the moment she got on the call. She also refused to advise me of her surname in order for me to make a formal complaint due to her unprofessional attitude and so I asked to speak to the manager, who again also refused to inform me of his surname in order to complain about the above.

I have now been left with a lot of uncertainty and a daughter who still has not been able to access a medical professional for an X-ray. I was also told that I could not just self present at a&e because they are the ones who make the appointments - again I would prefer not to do this anyway as my daughter is awaiting diagnosis for autism and would struggle to wait in a busy A&E department.

The callers I spoke to on the call had no compassion or understanding and again we have been left in limbo not knowing what to do for the best. We have now since had to call the GP back who have since told me again that the advice from NHS 24 is wrong and that I should just present at minor injuries. What chance have the public got when we are being passed from pillar to post ! I am now waiting on a phone call from the GP again to find out what the next move should be. This is not good enough and more needs to be done to make sure services are putting patient care first and not politics of who is responsible for what referral! An X-ray is an X-ray no matter when an injury happens surely ?

I would like this call looked into as it’s been extremely upsetting.

GP has been fantastic and understanding so there has been no complaint from that end but they have advised that Clydesdale works slightly different to other departments and they are currently trying to find a solution to the X-ray situation and I am awaiting a call back from them.

I also felt judged on the call because of how long it’s taken to notice the injury but as I explained to the GP and have mentioned above my daughter is awaiting autism diagnosis so I assume her communication and feeling towards pain may be a lot different to a neurotypical person experiencing the same type of injury which is why it has taken a while to put the dots together.

Just to conclude I am a mother who has only tried to follow the correct steps in order to have my daughter x rayed only to be met with rude and unhelpful staff. I have been left extremely upset and frustrated at the whole situation and am no further forward in a solution for my daughter. I feel completely let down and in all honesty I’m really losing hope for the future of the NHS. I am seriously considering looking at private health care for the future.