"Clinically excellent; administratively poor"

I have attended UCH's endoscopy unit for two different procedures in recent months.

On both occasions, the nursing team were excellent; professional, attentive, caring and did a great job of alleviating my nerves. A credit to the department.

The doctors who carried out the procedures were also excellent, again, they were attentive, explained the procedures, and talked me through the procedure as it was taking place. Again, a credit to the department.

My named consultant was also excellent when discussing my symptoms, possible/likely diagnoses and discussing the plan for my care/diagnostic procedures.

However, my experience of the department's administration has been poor. It is very difficult to get through to this team via phone and email; I have attempted several phone calls/emails re appointments over the past few months, and;

- Given up on several calls due to extended periods on hold

- Had a couple of emails ignored

- Had to wait over a month for my first appointment, despite my GP making a rapid referral to the service; I was told that this was because someone had missed my referral/incorrectly processed it. It's fortunate that I chased it up (what about the patients who don't chase?), and that I don't have an urgent condition (what about the patients who do?)

It's a shame that the excellent clinical quality of this service is detracted by the poor quality on the administrative side; I note that another reviewer made the same observation 2 years ago.