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Care Opinion

I feel the DART scheme is pointless

Posted By Local593

"I feel the DART scheme is pointless"

About: Devon Access and Referral Team (DART)

(as the patient),

I feel the new DART scheme is pointless.

I asked a few times if the man taking my call needed my password or number and he didn’t take it. At the end of it all, I have to wait for an appointment from the hospital. I thought that it was DART’s role to fix the appointment?

It’s an absolute waste of time and next time I’d prefer to go to my GP. They are wasting NHS money on this service. You don’t need to fix something that isn’t broken.

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Responses

Response from Hayley Dusgate, Devon Access & Referral Team (DART) 11 years ago
Hayley Dusgate
Devon Access & Referral Team (DART)

Submitted on 14/11/2012 at 09:40
Published on Care Opinion at 13:01

Dear Local593

Thank for you for taking the time to tell us about your experience of using the DART service, I can only apologise that in this instance your experience was not a positive one.

Once your GP has decided to refer you for a consultant opinion, your GP sends you the information inviting you to contact the DART Team.

The DART team is here to offer patients a choice of time and place for their treatment, wherever possible, and to provide information that patients may require before they make their choice. The service has been designed, and is overseen by, local GPs who feel that this service is the best way for patients to make their appointments. At DART we are able to offer appointments to patients based on the referral letter information given by the GP.

In some hospital departments, it is more appropriate for your referral to be reviewed by a consultant prior to offering you an appointment. This is so the hospital can arrange for any additional diagnostic tests to be requested before you see a consultant, and at the stage of your first outpatient appointment the consultant will have any results ready to discuss with you. In these circumstances, we pass all the details to the hospital but are not able to book an appointment for the patient. We understand that this is not ideal but in the past patients have booked appointments only to have them re-arranged to accommodate any tests that are needed. To avoid causing patients the inconvenience of having to make additional arrangements, or change appointments unnecessarily, some hospitals find it better to contact patients directly.

I’d like to reassure you that, even though you feel this process is a waste of time, I can assure you your care will not have been delayed in any way. The date on which patients start waiting for their appointment is recorded and appointments are all seen ‘in turn’.

I hope that this response has gone some way to answering your questions but if not, please feel free to contact us again. Alternatively you can contact me directly on 01626 883766 on Monday to Friday from 9am until 4pm.

Kind regards

Hayley Dusgate

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