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No call back from NHS24

Posted By marchwd59

"No call back from NHS24"

About: NHS 24 / NHS 24 (111 service) University Hospital Wishaw / Emergency Department

(as the patient),

I contacted NHS24 for advice and assistance from home at after a bad fall I had whilst out walking the dog. I hurt my back and shoulder and could barely move out my bed. I had not slept all night. I was asked initial questions by the call taker and advised a clinical advisor would call me back within 4 hours. I was given no initial advice. I was never recontacted. Therefore I feel there is either a failing by the call taker or a failing in the process. I reside alone, had I been seriously ill no one would have known or found me.


I subsequently had to drive myself to Wishaw A&E several hours later (whilst in a lot of pain) as I had not had any callback. 

I have no issues with my experience at Wishaw A&E. I was assessed quite promptly and an X-ray carried out accordingly. Pain relief provided to take away with me. 

My concern is that I was never recontacted by NHS24 in a time of need. 


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Responses

Response from Shona Lawrence, Clinical Governance Lead, Nursing and Care, NHS 24 4 years ago
Shona Lawrence
Clinical Governance Lead, Nursing and Care,
NHS 24

Submitted on 20/01/2021 at 10:38
Published on Care Opinion at 10:38

picture of Shona Lawrence

Dear marchwd59

Thanks for sharing your experience on Care Opinion. I firstly apologise for the delay in responding to your Care Opinion story. When I received this, I responded immediately as I was concerned at what you had shared, however it appears unfortunately IT gremlins prevented my response from being published.

I am sorry to learn of your fall which sounds extremely painful. I hope you are doing much better. Can I ask you to please get in touch with us directly so that we can explore why no return call was made? You can get us at Patient.Experience@nhs24.scot.nhs.uk

When patients are advised a return call will be made by NHS 24, we aim to do this within one, two or three hours, so it would be good to understand your reference to four hours. A review of your call will shed light on what actually happened, however we need some more detail from you to enable us to do this.

Your drive to Wishaw sounds like a real challenge and I am sorry you had to endure this.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Take care meantime

Shona

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Response from Jean MacDonald, Quality Improvement Co-ordinator, NHS Lanarkshire 4 years ago
Jean MacDonald
Quality Improvement Co-ordinator,
NHS Lanarkshire

Submitted on 22/01/2021 at 12:05
Published on Care Opinion at 12:05

picture of Jean MacDonald

Good morning marchwd59

Many thanks for taking the time to share your experience whilst attending our A & E department at University Hospital Wishaw.

I am pleased to see your experience was positive and that you received prompt attention and given pain relief to help you recover from your fall.

The A & E team will be pleased to receive your comments.

I hope you are on the road to recovery and wish you well for the future.

Best wishes

Jean

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Response from Shona Lawrence, Clinical Governance Lead, Nursing and Care, NHS 24 4 years ago
Shona Lawrence
Clinical Governance Lead, Nursing and Care,
NHS 24

Submitted on 25/01/2021 at 11:56
Published on Care Opinion at 11:56

picture of Shona Lawrence

Hi marchwd59

Thanks so much for getting in touch. It was a pleasure to speak with you and thanks for the additional detail which has enabled us to review your contact with NHS 24. It's always great when a Care Opinion author engages with us.

We've undertaken a bit of detective work this end. I know you were told you would receive a return call, however no call was received. When you mentioned a four hour timeframe, I suspected your feedback may be for the Out of Hours service and not NHS 24, however I just wanted to be sure. It may be helpful to explain that when NHS 24 passes a patients details of their local Health Board Out of Hours service for follow on care, we do this electronically. We provide a summary of the call to 111 and a timeframe in which further follow up patient care should be actioned. One of the timeframes used, is four hours, hence the reason I considered your feedback may need to be re-directed.

Our review of your call has established that the electronic connection between NHS 24 and your local Health Board failed. This is an unusual occurrence, however to ensure patient safety, we have a backup system in place which identifies such calls. This swung into action and your details were successfully transferred to your local Health Board. Therefore, in light of this, I have passed your Care Opinion story to your local Health Board so they can review this their end.

I'm pleased we were able to understand what happened from an NHS 24 perspective.

Thanks again for getting in touch and I wish you well in your continued recovery.

Take care

Shona

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