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Care Opinion

Unnecessary waiting time

Posted By Dickdoc

"Unnecessary waiting time"

About: North Devon District Hospital / Covid Vaccination Programme

(as a service user),

I made an appointment for mid afternoon on a Saturday at the beginning of October and arriving 10 mins early I joined the queue outside for 20+ mins. Eventually I arrived at the vaccination point (the place where I received my jab) over an hour after my appointment. There were some elderly folk who were being helped out of the queue because standing for that length of time was making them somewhat unsteady. By the time I left the queue outside was twice as long and it was raining hard. Please don’t get me wrong, the staff and volunteers at the centre were excellent and very professional.

The point is that this is not an appointment service. Whoever is making the appointments hasn’t got a clue. It’s not rocket science to know how many jabs are given per hour, allow for a couple of DNA’s and make the appropriate number of appointments. It would relieve the stress on staff and patients.

You’ve got 9 months experience of this. You should be able to sort this aspect out.

Thank you for allowing my gripe and for the booster jab.

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Responses

Response from Lisa Townsend, Patient Feedback Lead, Patient Experience Team, Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust 2 years ago
We have made a change
Lisa Townsend
Patient Feedback Lead, Patient Experience Team,
Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

I take patient feedback and work with all departments at Royal Devon University Hospital NHS Trust to implement service change and improve the patient experience.

Submitted on 06/10/2021 at 11:24
Published on Care Opinion at 11:58

picture of Lisa Townsend

Dear Dickdoc

Thank you for your feedback. I have passed your comments on to Alpa Patel, Vaccination Clinic Manager.

She has asked me to apologise for the long delay that you experienced. The issues were caused mainly by a significant last minute shortage in staff that was unavoidable along with IT issues. She does appreciate your measured and objective feedback and has reflected on the issues that you describe and adjusted the appointment times for the future.

Thank you again for taking the time to leave us feedback. It helps us to improve our service.

Best wishes

Lisa

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by Dickdoc (a service user)

Staff shortages were not apparent and obviously I have no idea of problems with IT. If this leads to a more seamless service then I will be delighted. Obviously I am not likely to experience any improvement but I hope others will benefit.

it is very reassuring to know that changes have been made and I am grateful for you paying attention to my gripe. Normally complaints get brushed under the carpet, so I am not only impressed but grateful.

Dickdoc

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