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there is room for improvement

Story from nhs.uk

"there is room for improvement"

About: Uch at Westmorland Street

What could be improved

I have been to the Hert hospital on many occassion in the last year, there are several problems that need to be rectified

1) the ammount of money paid for reimbursment of travel cost for vehicle fuel is pitifully low I estimate that I am being short changed by some £4 I was given £7.40 but the actualy cost of fuel is £11.50 I checked this on google maps.

2) the staff at the front reception desk are not so helpfull , they seem borred sick they just dont have the energy to help people, the back office staff are very slow and dont apreciate that you may have a car waiting on double yellow lines to pick you up.

I got the impression that refunds of travel cost are not a priority of the Hospital admin, I can understand why people would not bother and just go home without claiming what is rightfully theirs to claim.

3) No help with travel or travel costs for close family members cost an absolute fortune for family

to visit every day aprox £1700 for minicab over 3 week stay. relatives on benefits will not be able to visit family in this hospital.

4) I could not get a hospital ambulance car to take me home as I was deamed good enough to take train, this dose not take into account the fear of underground confined spaces and if a person feels mentally incapable of taking such a jurney on their own something need to be done to help the poorly/ill.

5) Consultants dont talk or explain enough to you!

6) In my case I had a stroke when I told the Doctors they just clam up, dont know to this day why I had stroke no explainantion given.

P.S. I bet you wont post these coments on your website

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Responses

Response from Uch at Westmorland Street 12 years ago
Uch at Westmorland Street

Submitted on 20/07/2011 at 16:01
Published on nhs.uk on 21/07/2011 at 04:01

Thank you very much for your comments. It is very important for us to hear about the things we can do better, in order for us to try to improve services for patients. To reply to each of your concerns in turn:

1. The amount of money that we pay for travel is in line with other London Hospitals

2. I am very sorry that you felt our reception team were unhelpful - I have fed this back to the reception manager for her to take forward with her team, as it is important that all of our patients feel welcomed to the unit.

3. We recognise the importance of allowing relatives and visitors to visit patients in hospital. To this end, we offer hospital accomodation at a much reduced rate, to allow relatives to stay overnight. Obviously this will not be suitable for some of our visitors but I am afraid that we do not have money available to us to pay for travel for all our of patient's families. We encourage the use of public transport where possible to minimise costs.

4. Our criteria for hospital ambulance use is well defined, as we want to use it for those most in need. However, the team should always take into account the patients overall health when they are returning to their home following a stay in hospital and I am sorry that you feel that we did not do this in your case.

5. I am very sorry that you felt that the Consultants (and their medical team) did not explain things to you in detail; I would certainly expect all of our teams to communicate with patients and for patients to be fully aware and engaged in their care.

I hope this fully covers all of your points and thank you again for your comments.

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