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Unacceptable waiting times

Posted By Tillytrot

"Unacceptable waiting times"

About: Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Glasgow / Bones, joint and fractures

(as the patient),

Attended Victoria infirmary in Glasgow in January and was advised at that time approx waiting time for total knee replacement was 13 weeks and op would be done at queen Elizabeth hospital. Then received a letter on a Saturday advising op would "be on 5th April or before". The following Monday I received a phone call advising they were not meeting waiting times and it would be June - did they not know that on Friday when they sent letter out! Then received another phone call to say still not meeting waiting times and op would be August! Now received a letter at weekend asking me to call re waiting times (same story as before). Why are they telling people approx waiting time 13 weeks when clearly it's not ( in fact more than double that estimate). What exactly is the problem? Think patients have a right to know. I understand emergencies come first but I think  this is beyond a joke now. Emergencies cannot account for this wait. Questions need answered. I have tried to find info on waiting times to no avail - shocking. Interestingly website asks to leave your positive comments! Suggest they have a venue on website for gripes also and an explanation or apology to patients like myself who keep being fobbed off with no explanation.

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Responses

Response from Jackie Baillie, Office of Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton 8 years ago
Jackie Baillie
Office of Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton

Submitted on 11/08/2016 at 12:45
Published on Care Opinion at 14:26

Dear Tilytrot

if you have not already contacted my office please feel free to do so. Ask for Lorraine on 01389-734214 and I will be happy to help you.

best wishes

Jackie

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Response from Lorna Fairlie, Patient Experience, Public Involvement Project Manager, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde 8 years ago
Lorna Fairlie
Patient Experience, Public Involvement Project Manager,
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

I work in a small team in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde which seeks to involve patients and carers in the work of the NHS. The biggest part of my role is in managing feedback projects across the Board area, one of which is Patient Opinion. It is my job to give our patients and carers the opportunity to give us feedback, and to make sure that this is passed to the right people to help us improve the services we provide.

Submitted on 12/08/2016 at 10:36
Published on Care Opinion at 11:30

Dear Tillytrot,

I'm really sorry that you have experienced such a wait for your operation, and I can understand the frustration you are feeling, particularly in terms of not getting the type of proactive communication about this that you would like and indeed expect.

There are two things here to address - first of all is to get more information to you about your personal situation. If you could get in touch with me directly to share some of your personal details, we can look into this for you immediately. My email address is lorna.gray@ggc.scot.nhs.uk.

The other issue is about the waiting times more generally and I have asked colleagues for an update on this which I hope to get as soon as possible.

Our Patient Feedback system on our website is absolutely for any comments or feedback our service users want to give, whether positive or negative and we encourage people to leave both, as every comment is of great importance and help to us. Equally, we encourage patients and carers to talk to staff about any concerns they have, or indeed to use Patient Opinion as a resource to get in touch with us so that there are lots of different ways for people to tell us about their experience.

I'm glad that you did get in touch, and I hope to hear from you soon so that we can see how we can improve on the communication you have had so far.

With best wishes,

Lorna

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Response from Lorna Fairlie, Patient Experience, Public Involvement Project Manager, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde 8 years ago
Lorna Fairlie
Patient Experience, Public Involvement Project Manager,
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

I work in a small team in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde which seeks to involve patients and carers in the work of the NHS. The biggest part of my role is in managing feedback projects across the Board area, one of which is Patient Opinion. It is my job to give our patients and carers the opportunity to give us feedback, and to make sure that this is passed to the right people to help us improve the services we provide.

Submitted on 12/08/2016 at 11:07
Published on Care Opinion at 11:30

Dear Tillytrot,

Due to ongoing capacity issues and high volume of patients being referred for surgery we aren't meeting the Treatment Time Guarantee at the moment.

We are maximising all available capacity and working hard to try to reduce the waiting time. On occasion if there is a specific specialist requested or required this can make the wait longer.

I am sorry that you have not received a date for surgery as yet, but please be reassured we are doing all we can to improve this. I would encourage you to contact my colleague Lorna above so we can provide you with a more personal response for your operation.

Regards,

Lynn Scott,

Associate Chief Nurse, South Sector

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