"Bad follow up"

Thank you very much for the time taken to record your feedback concerning the communication issues between yourself and the Musculoskeletal Services Directorate on the NHS choices website following your recent appointment with your Spinal Surgeon at the Royal Victoria Infirmary. We would like to apologise that you were not contacted as advised by the Surgeon’s secretary to confirm the outcome of the multidisciplinary team meeting at which your case was discussed. We can only further apologise that when you attempted to contact the secretary, she was unavailable and were re-directed to an answer machine on two separate occasions. We note your very reasonable suggestion that should a secretary not be able to respond to telephone calls due to her hours of work her telephone should be covered by another member of the secretarial team which is eminently sensible will be taken forward with the team. We would like to take the opportunity to thank you for your extremely valuable comments which we have shared with the staff involved in your care. It is always helpful to receive such feedback from patients in order that we deliver our services in line with the needs of our patients. In your original posting – you have mentioned that your consultant was a neurosurgeon however, you have recorded your feedback with the Orthopaedics category. This response has been read and produced by the Musculoskeletal management team who manage the Orthopaedic team. As your posting is anonymous we are unable to check who your consultant is. If you do not feel that we have addressed the issue you have raised, please do not hesitate to contact the Patient Relations Team on 0191 223 1382.