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Waiting time to be seen at out patients

Posted By Fedupwaiting

"Waiting time to be seen at out patients"

About: St John's Hospital / Trauma & orthopaedics

(as the patient),

I have an extremely painful hand and wrist. I have finally been put on the waiting list for the plastics unit at St. John's. I telephoned the dept to ask the average waiting time and was told a minimum of 3 months. I can't imagine having this for another 3 weeks. Why the long wait NHS lothian?

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Responses

Response from Stuart Wilson, Director of Communications and Public Affairs, NHS Lothian 10 years ago
Stuart Wilson
Director of Communications and Public Affairs,
NHS Lothian

Submitted on 31/03/2014 at 14:51
Published on Care Opinion at 19:04

Dear Fedupwaiting,

I am sorry that you have been told about a three month waiting time.

I really need to know more about your case to find out the reason for this.

If you have already been seen as an outpatient and listed as an urgent case then there is not a three month list and we and would endeavour to get a date within no longer than 6 weeks.

If you have been seen as an outpatient and listed for surgery by a consultant who has specified that they themselves are to do the surgery but as routine priority then it may unfortunately be the case that you would wait longer than three months. This is due to a lack of capacity for operating time.

We have recently been granted permission to refer such patients, where suitable, for surgery at external provider facilities where the respective consultants work, however some of the consultants do not have operating time with these providers.

If you were able to e-mail me on stuart.wilson3@nhs.net I can look into this in more detail and get a more comprehensive answer for you.

Best Regards,

Stuart Wilson

Director of Communications and Public Affairs

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Update posted by Fedupwaiting (the patient)

Thank you for the reply to my posting of 3 weeks ago.

I have emailed you to provide further details. I have noticed that other NHS boards such as NHS Ayrshire and Arran have given a telephone number along with an email address as a point of contact. This may be helpful in future replies that you may make.

Best wishes

Response from Stuart Wilson, Director of Communications and Public Affairs, NHS Lothian 10 years ago
Stuart Wilson
Director of Communications and Public Affairs,
NHS Lothian

Submitted on 07/04/2014 at 15:53
Published on Care Opinion at 17:46

Dear Fedupwaiting,

Thank you for your response and for getting in touch with me. As you know I have managed to sort out your issues and hope that your appointment goes well.

My apologies again for the inconvenience you have had over this. Thank you also for the advice on putting in a phone number. I will certainly do that in the future.

Best regards,

Stuart R Wilson

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Update posted by Fedupwaiting (the patient)

Thank you very much for your help in this matter. Credit where credit is due. Well done NHS Lothian. Keep up the good work.

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