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Microsuction Appointment

Posted By Earache

"Microsuction Appointment"

About: Devon Access and Referral Team (DART) Newton Abbot Community Hospital / General surgery

(as the patient),

My Doctor left a form for me to telephone for a Micro-suction appointment. I did so on the 22nd of May 2013. I was asked where I would like it done and requested Newton Abbot Hospital as I live locally.

The first appointment I could have was 21st of June. I had not had to wait this long before and suffered a lot of discomfort and some pain waiting for a month to have it done.

When I told the Doctor who did the micro-suction he was quite concerned as the system was changed some time ago to prevent patients having to go onto a 'waiting' list! He did say that he would raise questions about this and I am concerned that I will have to wait for a long time next time.

Thank you.

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Responses

Response from Project Support Manager - Devon Referral Support Services, Devon Access & Referral Team (DART) 10 years ago
Devon Access & Referral Team (DART)

Submitted on 25/06/2013 at 13:49
Published on Care Opinion at 16:35

Dear ‘Earache’,

Thank you very much for using Patient Opinion to let us know about your experience of using our service, it all helps us to make the service as user-friendly as possible.

It’s difficult to say without more details, but I think that the doctor you spoke to was talking about a slightly different problem than you were. If you were given an appointment by DART over the phone, even though it was five weeks away, then you were not put on a waiting list. The waiting list system that I believe the doctor was referring to was one where patients phoned us but we didn’t have any appointments available to offer, no matter how far in advance, and so we were having to send out appointments at a later date. This is the waiting list that is no longer in use but the problem of appointments being too far in the future unfortunately remains. I know that the clinics are run as frequently as possible and you will have been offered the first available appointment but unfortunately sometimes demand is so high that patients have to wait longer and for this, we can only apologise.

If you would like us to look into your details specifically and say for sure what happened, please contact Hayley Dusgate (who manages the microsuction clinics) on 01626 883766.

Best wishes,

Susan Pearce

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