This is Care Opinion [siteRegion]. Did you want Care Opinion [usersRegionBasedOnIP]?
Care Opinion

No response from fracture clinic.

Story from nhs.uk

"No response from fracture clinic."

About: Leicester Royal Infirmary

To begin with we were very pleased with LRI A&E. We had to take our three year old there, as he had hurt his shoulder and was in a lot of pain, the staff were very sympathetic and looked after him well, we were seen straight away and didn't have to wait long for the x-Rays which showed he had broken his collar bone. The doctor told us we would need to go back a week later to the fracture clinic for more x-Rays and to make sure it is healing properly, he said we would get an appointment letter in the post, but when the letter came the app was for over three weeks time, not a week as we were told, we didn't think it was fair to make a three year old wait three weeks, what if it didn't heal correctly? We had a few questions, So I rang the number on the letter and that's when it went down hill, I spoke to a member of staff who gave me another number to ring but I got no answer, so I rang back and spoke with a different member of staff, who gave me a different number, still no answer. On one try someone did answer and very rudely told me I had the wrong number. They refused to tell me what department I had gotten through to and didn't even let me explain what I was after. Finally after a day trying to get through to the fracture clinic I had had enough and felt very disappointed and angry. All I want to know is why our three year old has to wait three weeks for a check up appointment at the fracture clinic when we were told he needed to come back in one weeks time, I never did get through to anyone in the fracture clinic even after ringing 49 TIMES! This I feel is completely unacceptable.

More about:
nhs.uk logo
Do you have a similar story to tell? Tell your story & make a difference ››

Responses

Response from Leicester Royal Infirmary 9 years ago
Leicester Royal Infirmary

Submitted on 28/10/2014 at 11:19
Published on nhs.uk on 29/10/2014 at 03:00

Dear Laura, Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with us, all feedback helps us improve our services. We have spoken to the Fracture Clinic who have apologised for the miscommunication and explained that perhaps the A&E team have unintentionally mislead you about the length of time for your son's appointment with the clinic. All X-rays taken for A&E patients are reviewed by the Fracture Team at the end of every day. If there is a problem, or they feel it would be beneficial to take another x-ray, they will contact you the next day to arrange an appointment. If however, the x-ray is reviewed and everything looks fine and they support the diagnosis of the A&E consultant, they will arrange for a normal follow-up outpatient clinic appointment - which will be sent by a letter in the post. The follow-up time for a collar bone fracture is in fact three weeks, so the appointment you were sent for your son is completely normal. Obviously, if you were expecting to be seen within a week, we can completely understand why you would be concerned. The clinic has also sincerely apologised for the problems you had getting through to the right person, although the department is very busy, we cannot understand why the phone wasn't answered. Either way, we are very sorry for this and will look into it for you if you choose to get in touch. Dawn Gethins, deputy sister for the Fracture Clinic is more than happy to speak to you if you would like more detail about this. It would be great if you could share details about the number you were struggling to get through to as well. Dawn can be contacted on dawn.gethins@uhl-tr.nhs.uk or by calling 0116 258 5430 (direct number), 0116 258 5898 (main office) or 0116 258 6635 (clinic). Dawn is very busy so hopefully, you will be able to reach her at one of these numbers even if she is not in her office. Kind regards Communications Team Leicester's Hospitals

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful
Opinions
Next Response j
Previous Response k