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Appointment cancellations

Posted By Ragsy

"Appointment cancellations"

About: Southern General Hospital / Neurology

(as the patient),

Once again Neurology Outpatients are cancelling appointments.

After having appointment cancelled with only one weeks notice earlier this year with no replacement given it took a frustrating month for myself and my GP to find out what was going on due to messages left for secretaries not being answered etc... finally I was given an appointment but two and half months after the cancelled one.

Now having been seen once again my next appointment was made for April, I made this just two weeks ago only to receive letter yesterday cancelling it and replacement appointment is not till June.

Appointments being cancelled does not allow for continuity of care. If your treatment has worn off as it only last 3-4 months to have to wait a further 2 months is far from ideal.

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Responses

Response from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde 9 years ago
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

Submitted on 05/01/2015 at 11:09
Published on Care Opinion at 12:05

Dear Ragsy

I am sorry that you have had such a frustrating experience of cancelled appointments and poor communication. This does not represent the standard of care to which NHSGGC aspires. If you would like me to take this further, please contact me on niall.mcgrogan@ggc.scot.nhs.uk.

Best wishes,

Niall Mc Grogan

Head of Community Engagement

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Update posted by Ragsy (the patient)

Thank you for your response.

Whilst I could contact you I don't actually wish to make an official complaint at this stage.

What is clearly needed is a review of Neurology procedures and improvements made. This is second time I have been affected like this and I know I am not alone, I know others who have experienced the same.

Assurances that a review will take place and improvements made is all I require for now.

Response from Lorna Fairlie, Patient Experience, Public Involvement Project Manager, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde 9 years ago
Lorna Fairlie
Patient Experience, Public Involvement Project Manager,
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

I work in a small team in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde which seeks to involve patients and carers in the work of the NHS. The biggest part of my role is in managing feedback projects across the Board area, one of which is Patient Opinion. It is my job to give our patients and carers the opportunity to give us feedback, and to make sure that this is passed to the right people to help us improve the services we provide.

Submitted on 02/02/2015 at 16:17
Published on Care Opinion at 16:24

Dear Ragsy,

I just wanted to follow up on your feedback above which highlights cancellation of appointments and how this affects the continuity of care for our patients. We continually review our services and feedback like this helps us to know what we are doing well and what we need to improve.

I spoke with the General Manager for Neurology who advises that there have been reviews carried out for services where it has been highlighted that there have been issues with waiting times. For example, the GON (Greater Optical Nerve) block service has been under review due to increased demand and a number of complaints - we've increased nurse capacity for follow up clinics and have for example revised arrangements for leave cover so that fewer clinics need to be cancelled. Similar reviews of other services will be carried out when such issues become apparent to make sure that they are always reacting to patient needs.

As Niall mentioned above, if you would like more specific information about the particular clinic you attend, or about your appointment scheduling then please do not hesitate to get in touch. You can do this through Niall on his email above or directly to me on lorna.gray@ggc.scot.nhs.uk.

With best wishes,

Lorna

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Response from Lorna Fairlie, Patient Experience, Public Involvement Project Manager, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde 9 years ago
Lorna Fairlie
Patient Experience, Public Involvement Project Manager,
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

I work in a small team in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde which seeks to involve patients and carers in the work of the NHS. The biggest part of my role is in managing feedback projects across the Board area, one of which is Patient Opinion. It is my job to give our patients and carers the opportunity to give us feedback, and to make sure that this is passed to the right people to help us improve the services we provide.

Submitted on 13/02/2015 at 15:08
Published on Care Opinion at 15:40

Dear Ragsy,

Thank you again for contacting us through Patient Opinion to highlight your experiences with cancellation of appointments. Following this, I understand that you have spoken to our waiting list coordinator and we have been able to resolve some of these issues for you.

As mentioned previously, we have reviewed this service to reduce the waiting times which patients were experiencing, however, some of these changes are very recent and I'm sorry that you did not have a more positive experience.

Yours Sincerely,

Susan Walker,

General Manager, Regional Services

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