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Unacceptable Service by Outpatients

Story from nhs.uk

"Unacceptable Service by Outpatients"

About: Kettering General Hospital

What could be improved

This reply is on behalf of my wife who had an operation on the 14th March 2011, the operation was fine and was part of her ongoing treatment which has been going on for over a year.

The main reason the treatment has gone on for so long is appointment after appointment at the Main Outpatients Department for follow up checks has been canceled by the hospital, the most recent shown below

She was due to go back on the 19th April, this was canceled and replaced with the 26th April. We informed them we could not attend this date as we were out of the Country on this date, we had informed them of this back in March after the operation. A new date was given for the 21st June, then last week we received another letter canceling this and giving a new date for the 26th July.

The reason always given is "because of unforseen circumstances" I can understand the date slipping a week or so but 3-months I find this totally unacceptable, and causes unnecessary stress for my wife.

We have complained befor but it gets nowhere, I intend to follow this up with my Local MP and the Heath Minister

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Responses

Response from Kettering General Hospital 12 years ago
Kettering General Hospital

Submitted on 25/05/2011 at 12:13
Published on nhs.uk on 26/05/2011 at 04:00

Thank you for raising your concerns relating to your wife’s appointments at the hospital. I am sorry to learn that you were dissatisfied with the appointments process.

I understand your frustration with the term “unforeseen circumstances” , unfortunately appointments may need to be cancelled at short notice due to emergencies within the hospital, staff sickness or unplanned events

The Trust is now striving towards patients having directly negotiable appointments. This will allow for patients to negotiate their next appointment with the reception staff upon leaving the department or be given a card with a date upon which the patient should contact the hospital to arrange their next appointment.

Regrettably without further information regarding your wife, we are not able to look into the specific issues raised with regards to her appointments.

I would be more than happy to review your wife’s appointments and the reasons for the cancellations experienced. If you would like me to do this, please contact me on 01536 492000 asking for Carolyn Ginns.

Kind regards

Carolyn Ginns

Head of Nursing for Clinical Services

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