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Physiotherapy Department

Story from nhs.uk

"Physiotherapy Department"

About: St Marks Hospital

I have been receiving physiotherapy treatment for an ACL knee injury for the last year. My current physio is excellent and I have seen huge improvements in my balance & leg strength using the exercise programme he has designed. I have lots of confidence in their knowledge and exercises. Previously I have attended a lower limb class run by staff who were also very personable and professional. I cannot praise the physio treatment enough!

My complaint is with actually booking the appointments. I have found it extremely difficult to actually book into sessions. Why in 2017 can it not be done online? It is a stupid system !!!! To remember to call first thing in the morning to book 2 weeks in advance is ridiculous. & when I have called on Mon/Tues this week all of the appointments had already gone. I actually went into the hospital physio reception today & they still weren't able to book me an appointment. It is now 4 weeks until I can see my physio and that's if I get a chance to ring the phone number tomorrow morning & actually get an appointment for 2 weeks from now. I did not find the receptionist staff very helpful today and I felt like I was an inconvienice. But they are just probably frustrated with the stupid system. I have actually had an operation on my knee so if it is to be a success it is really important that I regularly update my rehabilitation programme. Surely I should be able to book in an appointment? Why can I not leave a message with someone to book me in?

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Responses

Response from St Marks Hospital 6 years ago
St Marks Hospital

Submitted on 26/09/2017 at 11:16
Published on nhs.uk at 11:31

Dear Clare,

Thank you for your posting and kind comments. We are pleased that you were happy with your treatment at St Marks Hospital. I have shared your feedback with staff and they were very appreciative of this.

We are sorry that you have been experiencing problems when booking an appointment. I have been in touch with our MSK Physiotherapy Lead and I can respond accordingly. In response to your comments,we do not have the option to book follow up appointments on line; only the first appointment.

We have a phone queuing system to help manage the telephone calls and two options on the phone lines; one for booking appointments and another for cancellations and queries.

We manage the demand by increasing the number of staff answering the calls, to ensure that there are enough to accommodate this. We also have an answerphone facility for cancellations and queries and we log and respond to messages on the day if this is not answered in person.

The St Marks Hospital reception team are able to book an appointment up to 10 working days ahead.

We have this system in place as historically, when we book further ahead our Did Not Attend rate increased considerably.

The team may not have been able to book an appointment as there wasn’t an appointment available in this timeframe.

If this happens on more than one occasion we contact the clinician to alert them that there is a capacity issue with their diary, look at what can be done to resolve this and contact the patient. Our Reception staff are normally very helpful and welcoming and we are sorry that you felt like an inconvenience. This is not the attitude that we promote amongst staff. if a patient highlights that they have any concerns about the frequency of the appointment we would contact the clinician and either the clinician or Admin would respond to the patient.

It is unfortunate that you have had a difficult experience when booking your follow up appointments and we would like to apologise for this. We appreciate your feedback and will consider this moving forward.

I hope that this addresses your concerns. If I can help further, Please do not hesitate to contact me. Alternatively, you could contact your local Healthwatch organisation for assistance. Contact details can be found on our website; www.berkshirehealthcare.nhs.uk

Yours Sincerely,

Trevor Lyalle

Patient Advice & Liaison Service

Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Tel: 0118 9605027

E Mail: bht@berkshire.nhs.uk

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