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Care Opinion

Ridiculous waiting times at fracture clinic

Posted By Lesmarlu

"Ridiculous waiting times at fracture clinic"

About: Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham / Trauma & orthopaedics

(as a carer),

I waited over 3hrs for a clinic appointment, attended a routine fracture clinic appointment in outpatients at QE Hospital Edgbaston. Everyone was complaining no communication between patients and staff.

I enquired about how long our wait would be was told there was 13 people in front of us our appointment was 9. 45am we didn't get seen until 1. 10pm.

To make matters worse seats were available in waiting area however I was told to give up my seat by a member of staff to a patient but yet I was the only person singled out despite having health problems myself that make standing difficult, other carers and relatives were allowed to sit.

Also mixed messages were given one minute we were told it was a twenty mins wait then it was we would be seen by 11:30am, poor communication all round.

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Responses

Response from Patient Relations & Experience Manager, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust 9 years ago
We are preparing to make a change
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust

Submitted on 27/01/2015 at 11:24
Published on Care Opinion at 11:52

Thank you for taking the time to provide feedback about the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham. We welcome all feedback and would like to assure you that all comments are taken seriously and acted upon as part of our ongoing commitment to improving patient experience.

We are very sorry that you did not have a positive experience in the Fracture Clinic and experienced a significant delay. This is certainly not the type of experience we aim to provide as we understand the frustration and inconvenience this can cause. I have forwarded your comments to the senior staff responsible for the Fracture Clinic; they are keen to investigate what happened and feedback to you directly. To help with this please could you make contact with us via the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) at your earliest convenience.

PALS can be contacted by phone 0121 371 3280, by email PALS@uhb.nhs.uk, via the hospital website http://www.uhb.nhs.uk/pals-form.htm or in person by dropping in between 9am – 5pm (Mon-Fri) to the PALS office located near the Information Desk in the main entrance of the new Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham.

Response from Patient Relations & Experience Manager, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust 9 years ago
We are preparing to make a change
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust

Submitted on 06/02/2015 at 16:46
Published on Care Opinion at 17:07

In addition to our previous response; the senior staff responsible for the Fracture Clinic have provided some further information in relation to actions being taken to improve the waiting times and patient experience:

They would like to reassure you that they are working on several developments to improve the waiting time in Fracture Clinic.

A group has been set up specifically to focus on improving waiting times for patients. This group is currently reviewing the booking rules and appointment slots for these clinics.

The team are also trialling electronic ordering of Imaging (X-rays, scans etc.) to simplify the process for patients who also need to attend Imaging after they have attended Fracture Clinic,

Nursing staff have been reminded that delays in clinic can now be communicated to patients via the Plasma Screens in the waiting areas and have been reminded to continue announcing delays to patients.

In addition, we are now receiving regular reports on waiting times to allow us to establish why the delay has occurred. This will help us to plan future clinics more effectively.

We are hopeful that these actions will improve the waiting times and experience for patients attending the clinic and will be monitoring this closely to ensure this happens.

Thank you again for taking the time to feedback on your experience.

If you require any further information please make contact via our PALS team.

PALS can be contacted by phone 0121 371 3280, by email PALS@uhb.nhs.uk, via the hospital website http://www.uhb.nhs.uk/pals-form.htm or in person by dropping in between 9am – 5pm (Mon-Fri) to the PALS office located near the Information Desk in the main entrance of the new Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham.

Update posted by Lesmarlu (a carer)

This is a very poor excuse has this has happen again on Wednesday 4th February waited nearly 2 hours and 30 mins as for the staff they were not helpful again in this playing musical chairs asking Patients to move down from reception to sit in a cold corridor in which they are being pushed and knocked every time someone else passes. There is no point in complaining as the staff will talk about behind your back making you feel uncomfortable. Very poor Communication again - It does seem that they is lack of organisation in that adds to waiting times

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