"My mother's ongoing wait"

Dear Kwardor

I am so sorry to hear that your mother has been unwell and about her recent TIA. I hope that she has made a good recovery from this.

You have highlighted an issue which is really troubling and I completely agree that our waiting times in Cardiology are too long, much longer than we would like. For your mother, it seems as though, after her initial consultation, she is now waiting for more tests and that must be incredibly frustrating especially when something seems to have gone wrong in the meantime.

We really don't like any of our patients to wait at all but despite the measures we have put in place we, like many cardiology services across the country, remain really challenged. We have taken a number of steps to try and reduce waiting times where we can, including recruiting new permanent staff members and getting support from additional staff and services where possible. We work, in collaboration with our colleagues in general practice, to prioritise patients where we know there is urgency and we work very closely with our colleagues in the TIA service so I would expect relevant cardiac issues to have been addressed at that time, given what you have described. I am very sorry we haven't met your expectations and I know that the whole team will be saddened and disappointed to read about your mother's experience. We want to do much better. I would very much like the opportunity to look in to the issues you have raised around delays for your mother. I'm away from the hospital right now but if you would be happy to discuss this with me, please contact my secretary Sharon on 01324 566832 and we will arrange to be in touch. In the meantime I wish all the best to you and your mother.

Catherine