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Care Opinion

Denial of Service

Posted By bmc875

"Denial of Service"

About: General practices in Ayrshire & Arran Renal (Kidney) Medicine & Dialysis

(as a service user),

Renal and Diabetic depts.

I object in the strongest possible terms to the use of 'telephone appointments'  instead of face-to-face consults.

The success of this type of 'consult' depends on too many variables. The ability of the patient to hear and understand what is being said, the ability of the caller to use the appropriate language and detail and the ability of the patient to respond fully to what is said.

Sadly, this technique does not help the patient one little bit.

I believe this is happening because it is easier for the Health professional.

I am having the same problem with my GP. I refuse to have telephone consults. So far they have conceded on one occasion. I feel they still operate a locked door policy.

Care to comment on this dereliction of duty?

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Responses

Update posted by bmc875 (a service user)

Looks like I am getting a very good ignoring. Fancy that!

Response from Danielle McNaught, Business Manager, Primary and Urgent Care, NHS Ayrshire & Arran last month
Danielle McNaught
Business Manager, Primary and Urgent Care,
NHS Ayrshire & Arran

Submitted on 26/03/2024 at 11:32
Published on Care Opinion at 11:32

Dear bmc875

Thank you for taking the time to leave feedback regarding telephone appointments. I am very sorry that it has taken some time for you to receive a response to your original post. I can only apologise and advise that this may have been due to a changeover of staff within the team, resulting in us unfortunately not being made aware of your original post, until you commented on it again a few days ago.

Whilst the Primary Care Team are unable to comment on appointment systems within Renal and Diabetic Departments, we are sorry to hear that you are experiencing issues in accessing face-to-face appointments with your GP Practice. Many GP practices operate on a triage-first model, where patients are initially assessed via telephone conversations before being invited for face-to-face appointments based on clinical need.

The Primary Care Team can liaise with the GP Practice to make them aware of your comments and ask them to look into this further. To do this, please can you send an email to HSCPAdmin@east-ayrshire.gov.uk (marked for the attention of Primary Care) providing your details and the name of the GP Practice you are registered with.

If you wish to remain anonymous, we can feed back your comments to the GP Practice for their awareness.

Thank you once again for sharing your experience with us and our sincere apologies for the lengthy delay in responding.

Kind regards

Danielle

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by bmc875 (a service user)

I'm hugely disappointed on two fronts.

Firstly It has taken six months to get a response which is then blamed on staff changeover.

Secondly, I feel that the response shrugs off the major part of my complaint, which was Diabetic & Renal telephone consults, and instead the bulk of this response is focussed on GP systems which was one small exiting paragraph.

On the brighter side, the problem with Renal has been resolved and I have since had two face to face appointments.

I resolved the GP problem by transferring to another GP surgery in the same Town. Chalk and cheese is apposite.

I reiterate that I'm extremely disappointed with this response. The problem appears to be systemic.

Response from Pamela Gibson, Patient Experience Facilitator, Nursing, NHS Ayrshire and Arran last month
Pamela Gibson
Patient Experience Facilitator, Nursing,
NHS Ayrshire and Arran

Monitor stories and provide administration for NHS Ayrshire & Arran

Submitted on 27/03/2024 at 10:41
Published on Care Opinion at 10:41

picture of Pamela Gibson

Dear bmc875

** I have edited this response to remove the error in my original response. I apologise for this error and for any additional upset it may have caused.

Thank you for taking the time and trouble to share your healthcare experience with us via Care Opinion.

I would like to reassure you that we are grateful for all feedback on our Services and whilst we always aim to provide a timeous response to any feedback received, we do acknowledge that occasionally we fail to do this.

Like my colleague, Danielle (who shares and responds to feedback for GP Services), I would like to offer my sincere apologies that I did not respond to your original post about the issues you raised around the Diabetic and Renal telephone consults. I am grateful to you for flagging this up to us and for giving us the opportunity to rectify this.

I am glad to read in your response to Danielle, that your initial issue regarding the telephone consults with the Diabetic and Renal services has been resolved and that you have since had 2 face to face appointments.

Please accept my best wishes and thank you once again for taking the time to acknowledge your care experience.

Kind Regards

Pamela

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by bmc875 (a service user)

You say in your response

"I am glad to read in your response to Danielle, that your initial issue regarding the telephone consults with the Diabetic and Renal services has been resolved and that you have since had 2 face to face appointments. "

This is still compounding the initial error. AT NO POINT have I said the issue with the Diabetic consults have been resolved. I have already pointed this out. My comments on resolution and 2 'face-to-face consults' related to Renal only - as I have been at pains to explain. They listened. They understood. They responded appropriately.

I have received a letter from the Diabetic Consultant confirming their stance - No face-to-face consults to be held until further notice. The consultant also advised me that my concerns have been raised with senior management.

I choose my words very carefully and re-read several times before sending. A technique I strongly recommend.

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