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Care Opinion

Trying to get an appointment at the booking office

Posted By DIN DON

"Trying to get an appointment at the booking office"

About: Somerset NHS Foundation Trust

(as a service user),

Have been trying to get an appointment all day at the appointment office. Tried at least 12 times over two days, all I got was a voice saying all lines were busy please try again, this all very well but every time I ring it must be costing me money. Why can we not make appointments online? 

Cheddar Medical Doctor ask for an appointment to be made, but had a letter from Chard Hospital booking office to make the appointment it was the Chard office, for a podiatry appointment, it was this office I rang twelve time but unable to get a through, so I sent the hospital an e-mail and someone rang me saying they were sorry, but they are short,staffed, having a problem to man the phone.

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Responses

Response from Emma Davey, Director of Patient Experience and Engagement, Somerset NHS Foundation Trust 5 years ago
We are preparing to make a change
Emma Davey
Director of Patient Experience and Engagement,
Somerset NHS Foundation Trust

Submitted on 01/02/2019 at 11:05
Published on Care Opinion at 14:35

picture of Emma Davey

Hi there,

Thanks for getting in touch with us to share your difficulties getting in touch with our booking team and I am really sorry that this has caused you such frustration and that you have tried to ring us so many times.

We are really aware of the challenges trying to access our booking lines at present and completely agree that this is not good enough and much to our disappointment, you are not the only person who has been having difficulties - as such, the service manager has been working hard to source additional support for the booking office team and has also asked for support from our IT colleagues with regards to the many reported concerns about the telephone queue system. Please do not worry that you will need to be re-referred if you are not able to get through as we know that we do not have a robust system at the moment and that people are trying hard to get in touch as described in their appointment letter.

Regarding online booking - we would LOVE this to be an option. It has been discussed a number of times over the last few years for both MSk and Podiatry Services as it would absolutely revolutionise the way that our Services can be accessed and is something that other Trusts have been using for some time. We are exploring this option as part of our workforce planning for this year and are in discussion with our IT colleagues to support us with this development.

I hope you will be reassured that we are taking these issues seriously and are determined to ensure we have an efficient booking system back in place very soon. In the meantime, please do get in touch with our PALS team on 01278 432022 if you would like to chat this through further.

Kind regards,

Emma

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