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Inefficient appointment system

Posted By Greenvalley

"Inefficient appointment system"

About: Dumfries & Galloway Royal Infirmary / Combined Assessment Unit Mountainhall Treatment Centre / Ophthalmology Scottish Ambulance Service / Patient Transport Service

(as a relative),

My dad was an inpatient in B3. I was asked to chaperone my dad to Mountain Hall for an eye consultation.

1. The ambulance booked didn’t have room for me, so I took dad in my own car from B3.

2. We were seen by the nurse quickly in the clinic, their care was great but they should not share equipment without cleaning between rooms.

3. We waited to be seen 2 hours by the doctor, dad was very ill & sore. We told the nurses at 1 hour we were still waiting & they all said this happens everyday at the eye clinic, they were very apologetic. I heard other patients ask the same questions. 

All staff were very embarrassed & apologised profusely. If we’d been delayed on a plane we’d have been offered water by 1 hour!  I phoned the ward B3 & asked for dad’s lunch to be kept. We saw the dr eventually 2 hours later. They were very apologetic. We survived on my mints from my handbag. Water was in the main waiting area but I didn’t want to leave dad.

We were helped back to the car & got back at 4pm, dad was exhausted & totally lost his appetite. I was upset & surprised how poor the experience was.  We left at 10:20 & got back to the ward at 16:00. The eye clinic was overcrowded & there were too many patients for that clinic. The doctors & nurses appeared to be overworked, they were trying to work & do the correct thing for the patients.  

Eye assessment/consults take time. There were too many patients to be seen in a very short time. I feel the appointment system needs to be reassessed & consider time for nurses' assessment, then the doctor's consult. It’s inefficient giving patients appointments every 10 minutes when the eye clinic was over loaded. 

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Responses

Response from Sara McMinn, Patient Services Team, NHS Dumfries and Galloway last week
Sara McMinn
Patient Services Team,
NHS Dumfries and Galloway

Submitted on 12/08/2025 at 11:54
Published on Care Opinion at 12:35

Dear Greenvalley,

Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback with us. I was so sorry to learn of your Father's experience, and for the upset and distress that this has caused you both. Long waiting times in clinics does not reflect the level of care that we aim to provide to any patient, and understanding our Patient's experiences is crucial for us to continually learn how we can improve our services and provide effective support.

Please accept our sincere apologies. I will ensure that your concerns are passed on to the relevant teams.

Many thanks

Kind regards

Sara

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Response from Sara McMinn, Patient Services Team, NHS Dumfries and Galloway last week
Sara McMinn
Patient Services Team,
NHS Dumfries and Galloway

Submitted on 13/08/2025 at 10:44
Published on Care Opinion at 10:44

Dear Greenvalley,

Further to my response noted above, I would also like to extend the opportunity to contact the Patient Experience Team directly, either by email at: dg.patientservices@nhs.scot, or by telephone on 01387 272733, should you wish to discuss your experience further.

Kind regards

Sara

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Response from Mark Hannan, Head of Corporate Affairs and Engagement, Scottish Ambulance Service 5 days ago
Mark Hannan
Head of Corporate Affairs and Engagement,
Scottish Ambulance Service

Submitted on 18/08/2025 at 10:43
Published on Care Opinion at 10:43

Hi Greenvalley,

I see my colleagues from NHS Dumfries and Galloway have already responded to your wider comments about the care your father received during his journey through the NHS. It is always really valuable when patients or their families take the time to provide feedback, particularly when things didn't go as well as we would like or where the care fell short of what we aim for.

I see that there has been offer from the NHS Dumfries and Galloway patient experience team to review his care but if there was anything from an ambulance service perspective you would like us to look into, please let us know by contacting sas.feedback@nhs.scot and we would be happy to review the notes relating to this case.

thanks

Mark

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