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My son is currently in the hospital. ...

Story from nhs.uk

"My son is currently in the hospital. ..."

About: Macclesfield District General Hospital

(as a relative),

What could be improved

My son is currently in the hospital. I live in Thailand and have called my son and tried to call several times but failed. Why is it I have to wait for an answering machine to do through a complete spiel on mobile phones etc? Pressing 1 doesn't bypass the message and I have to listen to the end. After dialing the ext.number, I was immediately diverted to the operator. After several ring tones, the answering machine informed me that all operators were busy. Needless to say I'm not happy about the unnecessary cost incurred which could be avoided if you could make your system a little bit more user friendly. e.g. allow pressing 1 to bypass the message. Then I only have to listen to it once and not every time. If the ext. is not available, I would prefer a logical message so that I could call again later.

Best regards

Jeff Hambleton

Anything else?

My son is current residing in a care home in Leek. Apparently he was moved to Macclesfield because of a lack of beds. His immediate family, sister resides in Bucknull, S-o-T. Why wasn't it possible to transfer to the North Staffs GI as my daughter requested? She has a small baby and yesterday was able to make the 1 hour drive each way so my son wasn't able to have visitors. In his current mental state, he needs both phone calls from me and visits from his sister.

Best regards

Jeff Hambleton

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Responses

Response from Macclesfield District General Hospital 14 years ago
Macclesfield District General Hospital

Submitted on 27/04/2009 at 14:16
Published on nhs.uk on 15/11/2009 at 20:46

We are sorry that you have experienced difficulties with the telephone system to which you refer. From your details it looks as if you are using the Bedside TV system to phone your son at his bedside. Bedside TV is provided by an external company and is unfortunately not managed by the Trust but given your experience we will look into the content of the answer machine message to ensure that others do not experience similar anxiety. We will also talk to the company about the routing possibilities to avoid unnecessary costs. Please be assured that the Trust do not seek to delay the callers and that we do not make any money from the provision of the Bedside TV service.

Unfortunately, hospital policy currently prevents the use of mobile phones on the wards. This is under review and although may not assist you at this time will hopefully demonstrate that we are continually striving to ensure that patient stay here is a comfortable and as stress free as possible in many ways.

There is also a payphone available for patients to use on request.

We are sorry to hear that your son has not been placed in a hospital closest to your daughter. For further information on the reasons behind the location choice please contact the relevant parties concerned with your sons ongoing care such as his GP or indeed the care home in leek who will have patient details to hand.

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