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"Practitioner's communication and interactive skills could improve"

About: Adult community health services / Podiatry Service

(as a service user),

Had a long wait for this appointment to come through. The appointment lasted for approx 25 mins. By the end of the appointment I had insoles to support my foot, advice on types of shoes to wear in the future and an exercise to do to help strengthen me. Therefore I am probably on a treatment path that will help me manage my condition. If not I was told I could seek further help within a window of 8 weeks. Therefore the appointment was successful in medical terms and I feel reasonably confident about preventing future problems.

What i think could definitely be improved are the practitioner's communication and interactive skills with their patient. The appointment was process driven and I felt there was an impatient edge to the practioner's voice and manner at times during the appointment. There was certainly no empathy and their manner and approach was not something I have previously experienced from other healthcare professionals. I feel this individual needs training or support with this area of their work. I am not particularly vulnerable but i would hate others, who are, to get a sense that they are asking questions that are stupid/impossible to answer or made to feel they had not listened properly to what they had already been told.

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Responses

Response from Sarah Johnson, Patient Engagement and Involvement Assistant, Patient Engagement, Somerset NHS Foundation Trust 2 weeks ago
Sarah Johnson
Patient Engagement and Involvement Assistant, Patient Engagement,
Somerset NHS Foundation Trust
Submitted on 07/10/2025 at 11:08
Published on Care Opinion at 11:08


picture of Sarah Johnson

Dear orangerz47

Sarah Marston, Operational Manager - Podiatry, has asked me to post the below response on her behalf.

'Thank you for taking the time to feedback your experiences of our service. It is important for us to learn from this and make improvements where possible.

We are very sorry to hear you were not happy with the way the practitioner communicated and interacted with you. This is certainly not what we would have hoped for.

Please be assured we will discuss with our team the need to show kindness and have gentle discussions as needed..

We are pleased that your appointment was successful in medical terms and has helped with preventing future problems'

Thank you again for taking the time to contact us, we really appreciate your feedback.

Kind regards

Sarah Johnson

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