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Diabetic Department Answering Service

Posted By waterloo

"Diabetic Department Answering Service"

About: Vale of Leven General Hospital

(as the patient),

I have been telephoning the Diabetic service at the Vale of Leven Hospital since early morning but its being transferred to Paisley nurses which has the same answering message that they are still closed for the holiday season and messages will be only read at certain times and still to contact NHS 24.

I find it very frustrating for myself that you can only contact the department at certain time of the day which is not very professional when the diabetic team in the RAH In Paisley dont know the situation

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Responses

Response from Lorna Fairlie, Patient Experience, Public Involvement Project Manager, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde 8 years ago
Lorna Fairlie
Patient Experience, Public Involvement Project Manager,
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

I work in a small team in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde which seeks to involve patients and carers in the work of the NHS. The biggest part of my role is in managing feedback projects across the Board area, one of which is Patient Opinion. It is my job to give our patients and carers the opportunity to give us feedback, and to make sure that this is passed to the right people to help us improve the services we provide.

Submitted on 12/01/2016 at 15:34
Published on Care Opinion at 17:08

Dear waterloo,

I appreciate your frustration here and am aware that you have raised this issue before, both on Patient Opinion and with the service itself. The day that you called the department was a public holiday and so there were no staff available at the Vale of Leven diabetes centre. Voicemail messages are checked regularly so that the nursing staff can return patient calls, and the number for the Diabetes Specialist Nurses at the Royal Alexandra Hospital is provided for patients who would like to speak to someone as soon as possible. Patients are also given numbers for NHS 24 if their query is urgent.

I do appreciate that when you have questions about your condition it is always more comforting to talk to the people who usually care for you and who understand your health and situation, and so I know that the alternatives provided during public holidays will not always be ideal for all patients. I do hope however that you can see that we try to provide as many alternative options as we can for patients on these occasions and ensure that there is always help and support for patients should they need it.

Best Wishes,

Lorna

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Update posted by waterloo (the patient)

Dear Lorna the 5th and 6th of January were not public holidays for the Diabetes team as I have been advised. I have now raised a written complaint in relation to not getting a response from them when I called. Thank you for taking the time to reply to me.

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