Needing fairly urgent attention for a recurring medical problem my GP said he would refer me to the ENT department at Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital. Several days later I received a letter from DART informing me that I should telephone to make an appointment.
I assumed this would be with ENT. However, it appears that DART have to contact the ENT department with my details so that they (ENT) can send me an appointment. I was told to expect the letter from ENT in a couple of weeks. The only plus point was that they offered a choice of Hospitals. On the negative side they couldn't advise me on which of the Hospitals had the expertise or equipment to deal with my problem.
At present I fail to see what use this service is to patients, in the past my GP would have referred me directly to ENT. Now there appears to be an added layer of administration that increases the time from seeing your GP to treatment, increases the patient cost in telephone calls and even more concerning increases the cost of running the NHS. Surely the money spent on this department could be better spent on direct medical uses.
"An added layer of admin?"
About: Devon Access and Referral Team (DART) Devon Access and Referral Team (DART) Exeter EX1 1PQ
Posted by Geotish (as ),
Do you have a similar story to tell?
Tell your story & make a difference ››
Responses
See more responses from Susan Pearce