"A long wait"

Thank you for your feedback. We are sorry to learn that your experience of Trafford Orthopaedic Outpatients was not as positive as we would hope. It is important to us that comments are heard and seen as an opportunity provided to the service to make changes and improvements wherever possible.

The Outpatient Manager has apologised that you experienced such a long wait on the day of your attendance in the Trauma and Orthopaedic Clinic. The 27th March 2016 fell during a bank holiday weekend, when the clinic was not open. We have therefore checked clinic attendances for the period before and after the Easter Bank Holidays and there is nothing to indicate that waiting times had to be extended, so it has unfortunately not been possible to identify the specific reason for the delay you experienced. The Outpatient Manager has explained that clinics are often overbooked to facilitate the patient lists for specific doctors, but again this does not appear to be the case for the period up to and following Easter.

The waiting times should be updated regularly on the notice boards in the outpatient clinics and the Outpatient Manager offers her apologies that this was not the case on the day of your attendance. This has been discussed with staff in the clinic to remind them of the importance of keeping the board up to date and keeping patients updated verbally when waits become very lengthy.

We are also very sorry that you were made to feel anxious by the comments made by a member of hospital staff whilst attending for an x-ray, as this is not the standard of care we would expect. It is difficult to respond to all the posts in a full way, therefore if you would like to discuss your concerns with us in more detail, please feel free to contact our Patient Advice and Liaison Service on 0161 276 8686 or by e-mailing pals@cmft.nhs.uk