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Referral and long waiting times to secure an appointment

Posted By Gold972

"Referral and long waiting times to secure an appointment"

About: Telford referral and quality service (TRAQS)

(as the patient),

1) It seemed a considerable waste of time and resources to secure this appointment. The optician who I saw was notified that the cataract needed attention. He had to refer me to the GP who in turn referred me TRAQS. You then referred me to the eye clinic who arrange the appointment. Could the optician not have been allowed to refer me directly to the appropriate eye clinic?

2) The GP surgery advised me to telephone TRAQS once I had not heard from them within the agreed time slot. On doing so I was told that an appointment was available in Bridgnorth within a few weeks but if I wanted Euston House, it would be a minimum of 12 weeks wait. In fact the appointment the appointment has only today (31st October) come through for mid-December. Some discrepancy here? ?

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Responses

Response from Helen Handy, TRAQS & CAB Co-Ordinator, Telford and Wrekin CCG 9 years ago
Helen Handy
TRAQS & CAB Co-Ordinator,
Telford and Wrekin CCG

Submitted on 20/11/2014 at 16:12
Published on Care Opinion at 19:30

Dear Gold972

Thank you for taking the time to share your comments with the team.

to answer your points individually:

1) All GP practices within the Telford and Wrekin area have agreed to send all referrals via TRAQS. This is to ensure that patients are offered Choice in line with the NHS Patient's Charter which is the legal right of every patient being referred for treatment outside their GP/Opticians remit. In addition Opticians do not have access to the computer software to enable them to refer directly to the hospitals and offer Choice.

2) In line with the requirement to offer all patients Choice TRAQS offered you the first available appointment which was at Bridgnorth Hospital. You requested an appointment at Euston House however as there were no available appointments for Euston House you were advised that the waiting time was likely to be a minimum of 12 weeks. That is the information we have been given by the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust. If there are no available appointments released by the hospital that is the information we provide to all patients. I am sure you can appreciate that waiting times depend upon the volume of referrals the hospital receives and therefore the waiting time can vary accordingly.

I hope this has helped to answer your queries?

Thank you for sharing your comments with the TRAQS team and we wish you well for the future.

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