"The lady who showed me how the ..."

What I liked

The lady who showed me how the home sleep study kit was used and setup was very professional and polite. She took her time to make sure I fully understood the procedure.

What could be improved

I was giving a piece of paper with two telephone numbers on to book a follow up appointment. I attempted to call these numbers over a period of 2 weeks - at one point myself and 4 of my colleagues were calling so that at any one time one of us was connected over a period of 5 hours. No one answered the phone. Ever.

I eventually tried calling the switchboard, who put me through to a lady who "worked in the other side of hospital". She explained that I would just need to keep calling the numbers. After some persuasion she said she would attempt to call them and put me through. This immediately worked.

While talking to the person on the appointments, they explained the earliest appointment I could have is end of June / start of July. That is almost 4 months away - for a simple follow up. I asked if instead I could have the results sent to my GP to discuss with him and I was bluntly told that if I wanted to complain I would have to speak to my referred doctors PA, and proceeded to give me the number for her . However the few attempts to call this number have gone straight through to an answer phone.

Anything else?

Its sad that my experience of the hospital started so positively with the sleep study technician, only to be thoroughly soured by the receptionists / appointment bookers who were not only unhelpful, but very very rude.