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6 months on and back where I started

Story from nhs.uk

"6 months on and back where I started"

About: The Berkshire Independent Hospital

After waiting weeks for an initial appointment, I attended a consultation with my consultant who was over 3 hours late for my appointment but seemed professional and a surgery appointment want forwarded through the mail some 6 weeks later.

As I was out of the country with work I cancelled the appointment and asked them to rebook.

I then relieved a letter explaining that because I hadn't turned up, my surgery was now cancelled!

I am now 6 months later waiting again to see the consultant and guess what, again so far they're over an hour late.

Just avoid this hospital if at all possible.

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Responses

Response from The Berkshire Independent Hospital 8 years ago
The Berkshire Independent Hospital

Submitted on 15/03/2016 at 14:48
Published on nhs.uk on 16/03/2016 at 01:30

I do apologise for the experience you have described, it is not in line with our usual process. It is difficult for me to fully investigate as you have not mentioned dates, Consultant or your details. In my 4 years at the Hospital I have never experienced a Consultant running 3 hours late for a clinic, due to the nature of their work the Consultants are occassionally delayed due to unavoidable reasons, often relating to the care being delivered at another Hospital. In these circumstances the Reception staff will always relay information to patients waiting and where there is severe delay patients are given the opportunity to reschedule. Where you have said that you received a letter cancelling your surgery, I am assuming your treatment was being funded by the NHS and in these circumstances we are contractually obliged to treat a patient within 18 weeks of the referral. We are no longer able to "stop the clock" for non-clinical reasons, hence you would be referred back to your GP.

I appreciate that i haven't been able to respond with definitive reasons for your poor experience but would be grateful if you could contact me directly at the Hospital to enable me to fully investigate the circumstances surrounding your experience.

The General Manager

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