"Very Rude Switchboard Staff"

I had a great experience when I attended my recent allergy appointment; the nurses were friendly and the consultant gave her time in a constructive way.

I missed a call following up on this, so I called the phone number shown on the website to get in touch with the allergy team. Somehow I came through to Dermatology by mistake. The switchboard staff member was extremely rude to me. After giving her my hospital number and name she still insisted on referring to me as 'caller' which was really cold and impersonal. She actually gave me a good telling off for calling Dermatology instead of Allergy, and yet refused to give me their department telephone number. Eventually she put me through to the receptionist there who was clearly so embarrassed that this had happened.

This isn't the first time that switchboard staff have been simply awful when calling this hospital - they could do with some customer service training, to reflect the good service given by their colleagues! If this is a recurring issue, I recommend they review the numbers on the website.