"Delays due to poor appointments management "

Reference: Appointment at 11: 15, Chipstead Outpatients Department.

East Surrey Hospital, Redhill

Complaint – I had an 11: 15 appointment but was not seen until 13: 00. No one, except the consultant, seemed to care.

Had been phoned 1 week before to remind me of appointment, so out of courtesy I arrived for this appointment at 10: 55 and checked in at the reception desk. I was not told of any delay to my appointment. Not until I was sat in waiting room did I see a notice board saying the doctors schedule was running 1 hour late.

At 12: 10 a nurse came to apologise and say the delay was extended. Told me two people in queue in front of me. At 12: 20 nurse returned and changed notice board to say the clinic was running 1 hour 55 minutes late. Nurse told me that the doctor had been scheduled to work the night shift in the hospital so the outpatient clinic does not open until 10: 00. Despite this, the appointments department had given outpatients 09: 00 appointments.

I asked at reception why they could not telephone outpatients with later appointments to say they are running almost 2 hours late (after all they had sent reminder telephone calls earlier). I was told “they were too busy”, something which was not apparent whilst watching them. A delay warning could have saved expensive car parking fees and allowed me to do other things.

I had experienced a similar circumstance on my previous appointment (on April 30th) when my appointment was 90 minutes late. The reception at that time informed me that too many follow-up outpatients had been called in at the same time as new patients. The new patients were given priority to see the doctor. New patient arrivals’ files were repeatedly placed on top of the follow-up patients’ piles.

Sitting in the waiting room one is forced to watch a television screen proclaiming how good East Surrey hospital performance is. The money spent on these selective claims would be better redirected in improving the management of the appointment and attendance system. It’s obvious “A” does not talk to “B” to see if things are running smoothly and correctly. No one in administrative management seems to care.

I attend the clinic because of severe migraines which are brought on by stress. The management of the outpatients department just increases these stress levels.