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Mount Gould Care Centre

Posted By matrix

"Mount Gould Care Centre"

About: Sentinel Healthcare Southwest Community Interest Company / Referral & Appointment Booking Team

(as the patient),

Attended Mount Gould Care centre - my appoinment with the Doctor was very productive. The wait of over 1/2 hr (unexplained) was unacceptable - my appointment only lasted about 10 minutes.

Having to go through an national rate number (0845) which in my opinion is a profit making effort - I think these numbers get a percentage of the call costs to the NHS. I feel this is discrimintive to those on low incomes and inappropriate for a health care department to indulge in.

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Responses

Response from Neil Parsons, Business Manager , Clinical Assessment and Treatment Services, Sentinel Healthcare 13 years ago
Neil Parsons
Business Manager , Clinical Assessment and Treatment Services,
Sentinel Healthcare

My role is to oversee the Sentinel services and ensure we provide the very best services to our patients

Submitted on 28/01/2011 at 13:23

Dear Matrix

Thank you for adding your feedback and taking the time to comment.

I apologise that you had to wait for 1/2 hour for your appointment. Unfortunatly delays can occur but the team continue to work as effectively as possible. However I will notify the team as it would have been helpful for someone to keep you informed and explained the reasons for your extended waiting time.

From previous feedback we have started to investigate alternatives to the 0845 number. This at the moment is still ongoing but we have established that it costs no more than a local rate call when ringing from a landline, but when calling from a mobile phone it is charged at a higher rate.

We have now mentioned this on our initial letters to patients to ensure that people are aware of this and the other contact methods that are available to them. As a start we now have an email address as an alternative way for patients to contact Sentinel and encourage patients to use this or call direct from a landline.

Best Wishes

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