"Room for improvement in the eye department"

I'm following up a previous story.

This is the letter that I have sent to the complaints department at the hospital.

Dear Colleague,

I want to begin by thank the hospital very much for the long and detailed response to my first complaint. 

I’m sorry to be complaining again, but I emphasise that I’m doing this in the hope that it might lead to improvements.

I’m not unhappy with the care I have received.

Here are my new complaints.

1.I was told to come for my operation on date xxxx. Originally I was told to come at 7.30 am, but then the time was switched to 11. I arrived at 11, but at about 12.30 we were told the staff would now take their lunch break. I finally received my operation at 3.

Could it not have been possible to ask me to come at 1 or even 2?

2.This is trivial, but small things matter. When I arrived the receptionist was texting on their phone. They did not look up at me for a couple of minutes. The message sent by such behaviour is “You don’t matter. I’m the one in power.”

3.After the operation I was told I would need to be seen in two weeks. I was sent an appointment for date xxxx, for which I was grateful. A few days later I was sent another text saying my appointment would be on a later date.

(As I’ve said before, every appointment I have had—perhaps 10—has been re-timed. It surely can’t be efficient for everything to be done twice.) I rang to say that I couldn’t make that date and that I’d been told I should be seen in two weeks. I was provisionally given an appointment for date xxxx, but the staff member I spoke to said they would put me through to a nurse who would tell me whether it was important for me to be seen within two weeks. The phone rang and rang, and after about five minutes I gave up. I’ve assumed that the appointment date/time given will be acceptable.

I have been recommending to friends with eye problems that they avoid St Thomas’s and go to Moorfields, but it may be some comfort to you to know that a friend told me this morning that he has had similar experiences—of every appointment being postponed and long waits—at Moorfields.

I’m sure that it must be possible to do better, and I know that NHS Improvement, the Health Foundation, and the Nuffield Trust have all done work on improving patient flow.