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Appointment administration

Story from nhs.uk

"Appointment administration"

About: William Harvey Hospital (Ashford)

My mother visited for a consultant's appointment and was surprised not to have received an appointment confirmation letter.

On asking in the department she was advised that there is currently a six week backlog with letters due to lack of secretarial support.

This is clearly not compatible with appointments needed at 2 weeks notice. The only other notification she had was via an automated message which required entering dob in a specific format which was not easy to understand for an elderly person.

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Responses

Response from William Harvey Hospital (Ashford) 7 years ago
William Harvey Hospital (Ashford)

Submitted on 07/12/2016 at 18:38
Published on nhs.uk on 08/12/2016 at 01:30

I am so sorry to learn about the confusion caused by the lack of the confirmation letter.

It is sadly true that there is a back-log in sending letters and I must apologise for this as it is clearly unhelpful in situations such as this.

For those who have the relevant technology a text or automated message is often more acceptable than a letter, but I can well understand the difficulties for your mother.

I hope that the actual appointment with the consultant was satisfactory and is helpful with progressing your mother's condition.

Please let her know how sorry we are about the problems she encountered.

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