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"Attitude of call handler"

About: Emergency department / GP Out of Hours

(as a service user),

I recently called Out of Hours at Altnagelvin at 1:30 pm - my son had a temp at 40.8 Along with a cough, sore throat and just very unwell. Told 3 hour call back, then called at 5:30 am had no call back told will be 7 hours, still nothing (which I appreciate is a bank holiday weekend). Called back a told now 9 hours.

Asked the call handler what time of calls they were now on to try get an estimate of when I could try to speak to someone about my very sick 2-year-old. To which I got the answer of I think you're very selfish and unfair keeping me on this call longer than I should be when I need to take other calls.

A very patronising and rude member of staff, who said your son is not urgent so take him to hospital in that case. I live in hope that I might get an anti biotic, but not looking promising at this rate. 

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Responses

Response from Western Health & Social Care Trust 2 weeks ago
Submitted on 12/04/2024 at 14:57
Published on Care Opinion at 14:57


Hello Deb88

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with the Out of Hours GP service. We were sorry to hear that your experience was not a positive one. We experienced a very busy bank holiday weekend and as a result it took longer than we would like to triage some of the calls we received. We always prioritise those Patients who are clinically urgent before routine calls.

We would appreciate if you could kindly contact our General Manager, Deborah Ward at deborahm.ward@westerntrust.hscni.net with more details on the date and times when you contacted the service so we can investigate your concerns further.

Kind Regards

Western Urgent Care

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