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A Recent Hospital Appointment

Posted By SGJ

"A Recent Hospital Appointment"

About: Good Hope Hospital / General medicine

(as a relative),

My dads appointment was at 10. 45am at Good Hope Hospital and 25 mins later he still wasn't called. I asked the receptionist if he had been forgotten as other people who came after were called. She told me that the Consultant my dad had to see was called into surgery so was running late, I understand that situations like this happens, but what would have been more customer friendly and courteous is if the lady on Reception had let us know that the Consultant was running late.

Elderly people do get impatient and its doesn't take a minute to keep them informed if a consultant is running late, to me that is good customer practice.

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Responses

Response from Marie Helebert, Patient Services Officer, Patient Services, Heart of England Foundation Trust 7 years ago
Marie Helebert
Patient Services Officer, Patient Services,
Heart of England Foundation Trust

Work with patients & families to highlight and address any issues relating to patient experience.

Submitted on 23/12/2016 at 10:10
Published on Care Opinion at 11:25

Dear SGJ

Thank you for your comments regarding your father's outpatient appointment at Good Hope Hospital.

I am very sorry that there was a delay on the day you attended. It is unfortunate but sometimes unavoidable that patients are kept waiting to see their doctor, but you are correct, we would expect that the Clinic Receptionist or one of the clinic nurses would ensure that patients are updated regularly and kept informed.

Usually, when there are general delays in clinic, the ladies on the Reception Desk make a tannoy announcement to ensure that all patients waiting in clinic are aware. I am sorry that this did not happen in your father's experience, and it certainly does seem from your comments he was waiting for a particular doctor who was delayed in surgery.

Please convey our apologies to your father and I would like to assure you that I will highlight your feedback to the Outpatients Department Lead Nurse, as well as the Administration Manager so that your comments can be used to as an example to reiterate to all of the staff in Outpatients, the importance of clear communication when there are delays.

I hope my actions are acceptable and please pass along my best wishes to your father.

Should you have any continued concerns, please contact a member of the Patient Services Team on 0121 424 0808 (9am - 2pm Monday to Friday, with a voicemail service in operation where your call will be returned at the earliest opportunity) or you can email us the details at:

bhs-tr.Complaints-ConcernsandCompliments@nhs.net

With kind regards

Marie Helebert

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