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Hardly any support given

Story from nhs.uk

"Hardly any support given"

About: North Middlesex Hospital

I've been waiting to sort my adult acne for nearly 7 years and finally got my appointment to be put on roaccutane. My first appointment was the worst doctor's appointment I ever had. The doctor made me feel uncomfortable, didn't explain himself when I asked questions and the nurse had to step in as he was making me feel confused. I felt incredibly rushed in my appointment bearing in mind that I told the doctor I suffer from depression and anxiety and all I was made to feel was nervous. My next appointments were with different doctors-- I see a different doctor each time which I hate because I don't develop a sense of familiarity with anyone, and I feel like they don't care at all.

The last appointment I had, I got given "enough" roaccutane tablets to last me until my next appointment and it wasn't enough. I haven't been taking my pills as required for about a week and when I called reception in distress to get some advice on what to do, no one answered the phone. I left two messages and no one got back to me. I've started developing cystic acne spots on my face again which are incredibly painful and all it's making me feel is incredibly depressed and disappointed with the quality of care from the staff.

Would not recommend at all and would really recommend going private if you can afford it-- the stress and anxiety caused by the STAFF/NHS procedures are not worth it. And the irony is that the drug is supposed to make you feel that way... I can safely say that I felt absolutely fine before I was made to feel absolutely ignored.

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Responses

Response from North Middlesex Hospital 5 years ago
North Middlesex Hospital

Submitted on 24/12/2018 at 11:24
Published on nhs.uk at 12:06

Dear Patient

Thank you for your comments, concerning the care and treatment received in our dermatology service. I am sorry that you did not have a good experience, and I would like to apologies for any inconvenience or distress caused. Receiving comments such as these gives us an opportunity to review how we provide care and allows us to make changes to improve care going forward.

Please accept my apology that you felt that your initial appointment felt rushed and this made you feel confused and uncomfortable. We always strive to provide excellent patient experience. Our clinicians always try to put patients at ease and listen to their concerns and explain their condition and the most suitable treatment. If this was not the case on this occasion please accept our apologies. We will remind our clinicians to ensure they clarify any concerns and confusion during the appointment while remaining friendly and approachable at all times.

I am sorry to hear that you feel that you are unable to build a relationship with your clinician as you see a different one each time. It is important to us to provide appointment to our patients in timely manner and all our clinicians work together to facilitate this instead of each having their own cohort of patients which frequently causes delays. I can assure you that all clinicians are suitably skilled and have access to all previous consultations to ensure continuity of care.

You raised concerns about only a small amount of tablets being prescribed. The type of medication that you are on is a controlled medication which can only be prescribed for a certain period of time requiring patient to return for a review prior to further tablets being provided. Please accept my apology if this is not convenient to you but is a necessary requirement for safety of our patients on this type of treatment.

Thank you for taking the time to let us know of your concerns. Once again, I am sorry that you have had cause to raise these concerns about the care you received and we hope we have been able to address these.

Kind regards

Paulina Gubala

General Manager

Community Outpatients

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