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Really upset and disappointed

Story from nhs.uk

"Really upset and disappointed"

About: Manchester Royal Infirmary

On 6th March 2015 I visited my GP, who referred me to MRI for an abdominal hernia repair.

I received a phone call from appointments at MRI only a few days later offering me an appointment on 30th March at 10am, at his point I was very impressed with the service.

I booked the day off work on 10th March, as I was leaving my house the postman brought me a letter cancelling my appointment, the letter implied that I had cancelled the appointment, which I had not.

I spent the next 2 months making phone call after phone call, leaving messages on answering machines and never once getting a "human" answering the phone or having a call returned. The only time I managed to speak to a real person was the main reception number, who transferred me to the various answering machines.

After contacting the Patient Liaison Service I was given an appointment on 18th May. I booked another day off work and attended my appointment, and referred for surgery. I attended a pre op appointment on 16th June and was informed that my surgery take place within 6 weeks of this appointment.

since the 16th June I have heard nothing. I have made probably about 100 phone calls to machines of people that don't return calls. Even Patients Liaison is a machine. I once managed to speak to the secretary, who stated that she didn't have any information regarding my surgery and gave me the number for the operations manager. Ive left several messages on this number but have had no reply (surprise, surprise).

On the operations managers voicemail it gives a number for a clerical manager. This goes through to another voicemail that informs you that calls will not be returned.

Meanwhile the abdominal hernia, that required minor surgery, had worsened significantly. I am now in constant pain and am still desperately trying to contact somebody that can help me.

Thanks MRI....... for nothing.

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Responses

Response from Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust 8 years ago
Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust

Submitted on 27/01/2016 at 09:54
Published on Care Opinion at 12:25

We were very sorry to receive your comments and concerns via the NHS Choices / Patient Opinion website about your experience regarding you’re cancelled out patient’s appointments at the Manchester Royal Infirmary. Whilst the cancelling of patient’s appointments is sometimes unavoidable, it is our expectation that this is done with as much notice as possible, as we understand that this is inconvenient. We must also apologise for the repeated difficulties you have experienced when trying to contact the surgical department to rearrange your appointments as this is not the standard we would expect for any of our patients.

It is very difficult to be able to investigate the specific issues of your case without having more of your details, so that we can offer an informed explanation regarding the delay you have experienced receiving a date for surgery and provide you with a date when this will take place.

We take all issues surrounding patient care very seriously and would very much like to hear from you directly about this. If you contact our General Surgery Department on 0161 266 6655 between 9 – 2pm (Monday – Friday) we can discuss this with you in person.

Response from Manchester Royal Infirmary 8 years ago
Manchester Royal Infirmary

Submitted on 11/02/2016 at 13:59
Published on nhs.uk on 12/02/2016 at 01:31

We were very sorry to receive your comments and concerns via the NHS Choices / Patient Opinion website about your experience regarding you’re cancelled out patient’s appointments at the Manchester Royal Infirmary.

Whilst the cancelling of patient’s appointments is sometimes unavoidable, it is our expectation that this is done with as much notice as possible, as we understand that this is inconvenient.

We must also apologise for the repeated difficulties you have experienced when trying to contact the surgical department to rearrange your appointments as this is not the standard we would expect for any of our patients. It is very difficult to be able to investigate the specific issues of your case without having more of your details, so that we can offer an informed explanation regarding the delay you have experienced receiving a date for surgery and provide you with a date when this will take place. We take all issues surrounding patient care very seriously and would very much like to hear from you directly about this. If you contact our General Surgery Department on 0161 266 6655 between 9 – 2pm (Monday – Friday) we can discuss this with you in person.

The Patient Experience Team

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