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Care Opinion

Very long waiting times -

Story from nhs.uk

"Very long waiting times -"

About: Altrincham General Hospital

I have been visiting The hospital routinely for over 6 months now and routinely have to wait for anywhere between 30 mins - 1hr for my appointment - In fact, I am writing this review while I am waiting to see the doctor. I have already been waiting for 50 minutes.

Staff are fantastic although on my first visit I did witness a nurse burst into tears saying they couldn't take it any more - the nurse was quickly ushered away by a colleague. The first doctor I saw was not very understanding and did nothing to really help me with my condition, which put my treatment back a few months as you have to wait so long to get another appointment. Luckily the second doctor was much more helpful and prescribed my the correct course of treatment - the nurse was lovely and I can not thank them enough for their help and understanding.

Like all hospitals, Altrincham is doing it's best and the building and facilities are clean and new. However they must do something about the waiting times - how can you plan your day/evening around an appointment when it may take you up to a hour to get in? I have had to change appointments of my own due to the delays and have lost clients as a result. I understand some circumstances are out of the control of the staff but for this to be happening week after week shows that there is an issue that needs to be rectified when it comes to appointment times.

I have now been waiting for my appointment for over a hour in the time it has taken me to write this review.

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Responses

Response from Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 8 years ago
Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Submitted on 22/10/2015 at 10:51
Published on Care Opinion at 16:16

Thank you for your feedback. We are sorry to learn that your experience of Altrincham Hospital was not as positive as we would hope.

We are very sorry that you witnessed a member of the nursing team become upset and recognise that this must have caused you some concern. Please be assured that staff networks and management structures are in place to offer support to staff.

It is very clear from your comments that you experienced an unsatisfactory delay during your attendance and we apologise for the impact that the delay had upon you, as we recognise that this is unacceptable. We are able to confirm that the outpatient appointment system is currently under review to address such issues and offer an effective and efficient appointment service to patients from Altrincham Hospital. We are committed as a hospital to guarantee that patients do not experience a wait longer than thirty minutes after their allotted appointment time.

We are very sorry to learn of the poor service you received from the doctor, who sounds from your description to not have offered you any reassurance with regards to your on-going care and treatment. It was reassuring to read that you did come in to contact with staff who offered you a helpful and friendly service, and your treatment needs were met. I would like to thank you for taking the time to pass on your thanks regarding the staff who you found to be helpful and friendly and assure you that we will pass them on to the team at Altrincham Hospital.

As a result of the concerns you have raised in relation to the behaviour of both the nurse and the doctor, the Operational Manager for Altrincham Hospital will ensure that your complaint is fed back to the consultant and booking office team, to allow lessons to be learned from your experience. Your concerns have also been raised directly with the staff / department involved so that they can look into them so that other patients do not experience the same issues as you did.

If you would like to discuss your concerns with us in more detail, please feel free to contact our Patient Advice and Liaison Service on 0161 276 8686 or by e-mailing pals@cmft.nhs.uk

The Patient Experience Team

Central Manchester University Hospitals, NHS Foundation Trust

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