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Frail 96 year ignored

Story from nhs.uk

"Frail 96 year ignored"

About: The Dekeyser Group Practice

Visited the surgery to try and book an appointment for my frail 96 year old mum as she has pressure sores that have become uncomfortable. I needed further advice on the management and further prevention of them. Also one sore in particular had been causing her pain and she should be seen by the Nurse Practitioner.

I was offered an appointment 2 weeks away, I found that unacceptable and asked for a home telephone call asap. Very grudgingly an appointment for phone call was requested for the following Monday. However I was directed to fill in a complaint form it I didn't like the service.

The receptionist's attitude left a lot to be desired, even though a patient/patient representative is polite and well mannered it doesn't always follow that this will be met in the same manner. I was appalled by the lack of basic good manners shown towards me and the high handed attitude and general lack of caring shown towards my mother.

Surely at 96 years a little bit of shear common sense on the receptionist's part would tell her that pressure sore left can become infected. Big problem is... receptionist think that they too are a health care professional without the years of Study and dedication to duty.

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Responses

Response from The Dekeyser Group Practice 5 years ago
The Dekeyser Group Practice

Submitted on 13/12/2018 at 13:01
Published on nhs.uk at 14:06

It is always difficult to respond to such a comment when there is a difference in opinion to the reason you initially came to the surgery as the receptionist recalls a different scenario.

The request for advise was actioned appropriately by the receptionist offering a call back the following day from one of our Nursing team.

The care and management of a house bound patient under these circumstances would have been taken up by the Community Team and the nurse you spoke to has organised this care to take place.

The reception team do not think they are Health Care Professionals however they have had the training to sign post patients to the most appropriate clinical member of the team or to other providers of care so that the correct care is provided and not all health needs need to be seen at the surgery.

If at any point you had stated that your mum was unwell and needed a home visit from a GP then the receptionist would have placed the request.

It is disappointing to read that you felt by offering the appropriate solution that somehow this reflected to you that she didn't have good manners or that in some way she was high handed.

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