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I appreciate there will occasionally be delays but we are ne...

Posted By Searcher719

"I appreciate there will occasionally be delays but we are never given any explanation"

About: Renal (Kidney) Medicine & Dialysis

(as the patient),

I had an appointment at the renal Clinic at 11: 40 but was kept waiting until 12: 40 without being kept informed about how long the delays were or why / what was causing them.

This is not the first time appointments have been running late, I always have to wait 20 minutes to an hour. I appreciate there will occasionally be delays but we are never given any explanation or told how long the wait will be.

When I raised this with the receptionist I was told ‘it was not for her to say there was a delay’!

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Responses

Response from Eunice Goodwin, Patient Feedback Manager for NHS Ayrshire and Arran, Quality Improvement and Governance Team, NHS Ayrshire and Arran 11 years ago
Eunice Goodwin
Patient Feedback Manager for NHS Ayrshire and Arran, Quality Improvement and Governance Team,
NHS Ayrshire and Arran

I respond initially to most of the posts and ensure they are passed to the appropriate team whether they are compliments, observations or grumbles. It is important to make sure all issues are addressed and I try to encourage that to happen for all the posts as required.

Submitted on 08/05/2014 at 18:01
Published on Care Opinion at 20:09

picture of Eunice Goodwin

Dear Searcher 719,

I appreciate it is a nuisance sitting in a clinic just waiting not knowing when you will be taken. As you say, delays do happen sometimes and are sometimes unavoidable. If only you had more information about the delay, you could have nipped away for a sandwich or a coffee and come back. I am sure it helps to keep stress levels in check a bit too.

To be truly person centred we need to communicate and unfortunately when people are busy, under pressure and trying to ‘catch up’ these maybe the times when we communicate least but it is most needed. It is everyone's responsible to keep people informed and I thought it was routine to let people know of any delays.

I will certainly pass this on to the relevant managers and teams for their consideration and response.

I am sorry this was your experience and I hope your experience is different next time,

Kind regards,

Eunice

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