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"Visit to Exeter Sexual Health"

About: Sidwell Street Clinic / Exeter Sexual Health

(as the patient),

Not very pleased with myself for having possibly contracted an STI, I registered with Exeter Sexual Health and booked an appointment online. As it involved a week's wait for an appointment I thought I'd phone to see if there was one sooner. This was less successful as it was a queue of 13! But I waited patiently and learnt the computer system was down. They did however give me helpful advice to keep an eye on online bookings, in case a cancellation came up.

It did and I went along to Sidwell St yesterday. The downstairs reception people were friendly but upstairs a bit dour. Small thing but a warm friendly welcome really sets the scene.

I had arrived 20 mins early but was called in 30 mins late. Music a bit too loud in the waiting area for my taste, but hey. I watched all the medical people going in and out of doors, like in a play. They didn't seem very smiley so I just read my book.

Things changed the moment my medic Jack appeared. 100% in every way: unbelievably helpful, friendly, informative, non judgemental. The fastest typist I've ever met. Gave me total confidence. I mentioned I was in a bit of a rush and he fast-tracked the whole thing. Amazing!

The charming woman who dealt with my samples - didn't learn her name - was also delightful, and fun (she had a vampire-themed tourniquet).

In the end my diagnosis was slightly unclear - we need to wait for the other results - but the visit was as reassuring as it could possibly have been. Jack is a star.

Thanks team Exeter Sexual Health.

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Responses

Response from Colette Pearse, Admin Lead - Exeter Sexual Health Service, Sexual Health Service - Exeter, Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust 2 months ago
Colette Pearse
Admin Lead - Exeter Sexual Health Service, Sexual Health Service - Exeter,
Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Submitted on 16/09/2025 at 16:41
Published on Care Opinion at 16:59


Dear Rustle,

Thank you very much for taking the time to provide feedback following your recent visit to our service. We were sorry to hear you experienced delays with the phone system when trying to contact our reception team to book an earlier appointment. We’re pleased however, that you were eventually able to get through and that our team could offer advice and explain the reason behind the delay, which was due to IT connectivity issues affecting the whole Trust on that day. Unfortunately, this did cause some delays for patients trying to reach us by phone and also with our booked clinics. We appreciate your patience and understanding.

Our team always strives to see patients on time wherever possible and to ensure everyone feels welcomed when accessing our service. We always work hard to keep our clinics running as planned, and it’s possible our team may not have appeared as smiley as usual because it was a challenging few days. We sincerely apologise if this impacted on your overall experience, as providing a friendly and approachable service is very important to us.

We’re glad to hear you received a warm welcome when you arrived at main reception and will be sure to pass on your comments regarding your experience checking in at our first-floor reception desk. We'll also pass on your lovely feedback to Jack – (the fastest typist in the West!) - and are pleased to hear that your consultation was helpful, informative, and non-judgemental. We hope this helped to make up for the initial delays you experienced.

Lastly, we will ensure we pass on your very kind comments to the owner of the vampire-themed tourniquet!

Thank you again for your valuable feedback—it means a lot to our team.

Kind Regards

Colette

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