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A little more understanding

Posted By happy snapper

"A little more understanding"

About: North Devon District Hospital / Audiology

(as the patient),

When your Audiology department call a deaf patient who has peripheral neuropathy at 7.45 in the morning, I don’t sleep well, and this time is far too early for me, maybe they could ask what time would be suitable within their busy day, which I understand may be tricky but… I did answer the call but dropped the phone and the person calling me had rung off. I did phone back and was told the person I was supposed to be speaking to are unavailable and in clinic. Maybe a little more understanding could be helpful.

The previous scheduled call from the audiology department did not happen as when I rang to ask why, apparently your phone lines were not able to ring out but I was able to ring in?? Again a little more understanding please.

I was admitted to hospital and unable to take any other calls.

May I suggest that as an audiology department you may be rather more aware of some difficulties a patient who is deaf, has cancer and peripheral neuropathy has.

And despite not being able to contact that person on just two occasions you maybe write to them and ask them to contact you rather than totally discharging them.

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Responses

Response from Claire Banks, Head of Audiology (Northern Services), Audiology (Northern Services), Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust 6 hours ago
Claire Banks
Head of Audiology (Northern Services), Audiology (Northern Services),
Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Submitted on 03/12/2025 at 10:51
Published on Care Opinion at 10:51

Dear happy snapper

Thank you for raising your concerns with us. I am very sorry for the difficulties you experienced with the recent calls from our Audiology team. Calling at 7:45 a.m. was clearly not appropriate given your hearing needs, peripheral neuropathy and sleep difficulties, and we apologise for the distress this caused.

We understand how challenging this must have been. We recognise that patients may have individual requirements around call timings, and we should have taken this into consideration. Your feedback will help us improve how we plan our telephone appointment calls, particularly for patients with complex health needs.

We also apologise for the missed scheduled call and the problems with our phone lines. The issue with our phone lines was unexpected and I also understand your frustration at not being able to reach the person you were expecting to speak with when you returned the call. Again, we will look into this and discuss our processes as a team.

I hope you have made a full recovery following your hospital admission. We completely understand why you were unable to receive further calls because of this and I agree that, in circumstances where contact cannot be made, we should ensure that patients are not left without support. As your feedback is anonymous, I am unable to amend your clinical records to reflect this and as a hearing aid user, you will never be discharged from our service, so hopefully that will give you peace of mind.

Please let us know your preferred contact method and suitable times so we can make sure future contact meets your needs.

Thank you again for raising these issues. Your feedback helps us improve the service we provide to all our patients.

Kind regards,
Claire Banks
Head of Audiology

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by happy snapper (the patient)

Thank you for your response. I appreciate the acknowledgment.I have usually found The Audiology department and staff provide an excellent Service.Thank you.

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