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Care Opinion

It seems a very long winded way to make an appointment

Posted By Lead769

"It seems a very long winded way to make an appointment"

About: Telford referral and quality service (TRAQS)

(as the patient),

I still cannot understand why you have to write a letter (sent at I think 1st class post) + then ask us to ring you.

If the GP gives you my phone number why couldn't you have phoned me directly + then an appointment could have been made earlier + saved money. It seems a very long winded way to make an appointment

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Responses

Response from Helen Handy, TRAQS & CAB Co-Ordinator, Telford and Wrekin CCG 9 years ago
Helen Handy
TRAQS & CAB Co-Ordinator,
Telford and Wrekin CCG

Submitted on 20/02/2015 at 16:45
Published on Care Opinion at 16:58

Dear Lead769

Thank you for taking the time to respond to our request for feedback.

I am sorry that you feel that the process is long winded. However, I can assure you that the TRAQS team do attempt to contact all patients in the first instance by phone using the contact numbers provided by their GP practices before we send out contact letters. Unfortunately not all of the contact numbers we have from the practices are correct which means that we have no option but to send a letter asking the patient to contact the TRAQS team to arrange an appointment. The TRAQS team also send out a text message to any mobile numbers we have received from the GP practice asking the patient to ring in and speak to a member of the team.

We do all we can to ensure that several attempts have been made to contact patients before sending out a letter asking the patient to contact the TRAQS team to avoid any unnecessary delay in the booking process.All of our letters go via 2nd class post with the exception of Urgent referrals when time is of the essence and we send these via 1st class post.

Thank you again for providing feedback to the team

In addition we rely upon patients to keep their GP practice informed of any changes to their contact numbers but often find that the numbers on record are out of date or no longer in use by the patient. Unfortunately this adds to the delay in being able to speak to the patient and arrange an appointment.

I hope that this information has reassured you that the TRAQS team make more than one attempt to contact the patient before sending out a letter?

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