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Care Opinion

Administration of appointments

Posted By Chri55ie58

"Administration of appointments"

About: Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

(as the patient),

I have gums that are rubbish. The students and professors at Birmingham Dental Hospital are brilliant and have, so far, managed to save my teeth. The administration side sadly lets the side down. The back of each appointment letter states how important it is to let them know if attendance is not possible. I received my letter on Monday to attend on Friday. I phoned and phoned but no answer so eventually left a message to state who I was and that I would not be there. This was obviously not picked up until AFTER the appointment in Friday as I received 2 letter ( same date) stating that 1: you did not attend write to us or else, and 2: another appointment date.

What a shame that for the sake of acting upon messages or answering the phone, 2 stamps, 2 letters and 1 appointment were wasted.

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Responses

Response from Alison Last, Associate Director of Patient Experience, Patient Experience, Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust 8 years ago
We are preparing to make a change
Alison Last
Associate Director of Patient Experience, Patient Experience,
Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Submitted on 04/11/2015 at 17:10
Published on Care Opinion on 05/11/2015 at 12:08

-Dear Chri55ie58

Thank you for posting your feedback, and I am sorry you have experienced difficulties contacting Birmingham Dental Hospital by telephone to let us know you would not be able to attend. We are currently looking at ways to reduce the volume of incoming calls (for example by changing how follow up appointments are booked) which will mean that patients who do need to speak to us are able to get through in a timely manner. We hope this will improve the experience of patients.

In the meantime if you still need to contact the hospital and are unable to, please contact Anne Smith, General Manager on 0121 466 5319 or alternatively you may contact the Trust Customer Service Team on 0800 917 2855 where one of our officers will be able to assist you.

Thank you again for your valuable feedback and I am delighted to read your positive comments and feedback about the care and treatment you have received.

Kind regards

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Update posted by Chri55ie58 (the patient)

Thank you for your prompt response. I do hope that improvement takes place as it is not the first time that I have been unable to speak to someone. The opening times on the answering message and the letter also differ by the way. It is a shame that such promising dental students are unable to get the most from their appointments and subsequent learning.

Kind Regards

Response from Alison Last, Associate Director of Patient Experience, Patient Experience, Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust 8 years ago
We are preparing to make a change
Alison Last
Associate Director of Patient Experience, Patient Experience,
Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Submitted on 05/11/2015 at 15:18
Published on Care Opinion at 17:46

Hi Again

Thank you for this additional information about the different information in your letter from that on the answerphone. I have direct message'd you via email to ask if I can call you to get more detail from you; this will help me to check which number you are calling so I can trace the correct voicemail facility and also check the source of the letter.

If you do not wish to email me your phone number, please do ring me on 0121 466 7128 and I will call you back.

Kind regards

Alison Last

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Response from Alison Last, Associate Director of Patient Experience, Patient Experience, Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust 8 years ago
We are preparing to make a change
Alison Last
Associate Director of Patient Experience, Patient Experience,
Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Submitted on 05/11/2015 at 16:41
Published on Care Opinion at 17:46

Dear Chri55ie58,

I am sorry my last message will almost certainly have been confusing - I was emailed by another patient at around the same time as you posted your response, and I assumed you were one and the same patient. But I can now see this is not the case. In order for me to look into the issues you have raised about different information on letter and answerphone, please can you telephone me on 0121 466 7128 or email alison.last@bhamcommunity.nhs.uk

Many thanks, and again my apologies for my mix up.

Kind regards

Alison

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