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"St Marys House - poorly run service"

I was assesed by the Crisis Team and refereed to St Marys House(North East Leeds CMHT) before Easter.Last week I phoned to find out if I had any upcoming appointments, and I was told not yet because they had a backlog and I needed to be discussed in the MDT. Over a week after the MDT i still do not know what is going on.I phoned 0113 855 6150 on Friday morning and asked to speak to someone from the North East Team. The woman asked me who I wanted to talk to. I explained that I wanted to speak to someone who could tell me about upcoming appointments. She asked who with, and I told her I did not know/, and she started mumbling about how that was not helpful because the North east Team was in another building, and she did not know who to transfer me to. She then forgot to put the hold music on, and so I heard her complaining to her collegue about me.I think it just shows that perhaps the people who answer phones need to shadow the clinical team as part of their training.I am a patient, The Crisis Team just told me they were referring me to the CMHT, only after further phone calls did I find out I was refereed to St Marys House. Then.... obviously patients are not instantly assigned a care-co ordinator, so how can I know who to ask for when I phone St Marys House.Surely there has to be an easier way to find out about appointments. I need to know about appointments because I need to know if I need to cancel my holiday. Past experience with CMHTs has taught me that they send letters out 3 days before appointments, and expect you to drop everything. If you don't they call it a failure to engage.I got through to someone from the North East Team despite the initial grumpy woman, She was the admin on duty and dealing with referrals so she couldn't find out for me, but she would get back "as soon as possible". Soon as possible is not a time! how are patients supposed to plan their lives.Now I have to stay near my phone all day waiting for them to call back.All my other medical appointments happen with out me needing to do so much chasing. When I was refered to cardiology, it took 4 weeks, but I rang the main LGI number, and they transferred me to Outpatients who used the electronic system to tell me, how long appointments usually take.I was not expected to know the direct number for cardiology or what consultant I was assigned to.

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Responses

Response from Linda Rose, Head of Nursing and Patient Experience, Nursing Professions and Quality, Leeds and York Partnership NHS Trust 4 years ago
Linda Rose
Head of Nursing and Patient Experience, Nursing Professions and Quality,
Leeds and York Partnership NHS Trust
Submitted on 14/05/2019 at 12:17
Published on Care Opinion at 12:17


picture of Linda Rose

Hi

Thank you for providing your feedback and I am sorry that you have had the experience you have described.

It doesn't sound helpful and though I am always appreciative of feedback as a way of learning to improve I'm still disappointed that a member of staff representing our services complained to a colleague about you asking questions about your own care provision.

I know that sometimes when staff are really busy, having to do the work to find a solution to an issue raised can feel like an additional or even inconvenient task- but it is what we are here for and I don't expect anyone to feel that they are being treated as an inconvenience. I do apologise for this and the service manager will reinforce the standards and behaviours expected of all of our staff to his teams.

There is also a learning here in terms of the lack of information around your appointment. I will ask the service manager to review the current system in place in addition to sharing and reflecting on this posting with his teams.

If you would like to discuss your feedback further with the service manager, please contact the PALs service by calling 0800 052 5790 or via email on pals.lypft@nhs.net who will support you in making contact with the leadership team of the service.

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