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Major problems with the telephone service

Story from nhs.uk

"Major problems with the telephone service"

About: Frenchay Hospital

What could be improved

I had really bad problems getting into contact with the hospital. I tried phoning for over two hours continually in order to check on the welfare of my flatmate who I am sole carer for, and could not get through to the ward.

Perhaps some sort of call waiting queue service would help? It is very confusing as it is hard to tell if the call is even getting through, despite checking the number twice with the switchboard and trying on two different phones. The ward number on the website also differed from the number I was given.

In the end I decided to go to the hospital and enquire in person as it was the only way I chould check if she was OK.

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Responses

Response from Frenchay Hospital 12 years ago
Frenchay Hospital

Submitted on 07/03/2012 at 10:59
Published on nhs.uk on 08/03/2012 at 04:01

Dear Anonymous – please accept my apologies for the unacceptable problems you experienced in making telephone contact with the hospital. I am very sorry that you had to visit in person in order to check on the wellbeing of your flatmate.

The recent difficulties encountered with the Trust’s new patient records system, while now resolved, has resulted in large numbers of calls to many departments. As a consequence we are aware that callers have experienced significant problems in contacting certain numbers due to volume of calls. All staff have been reminded of the importance off making sure that, where they are available, any answer phone services are switched on, contain an appropriate message, and that messages are responded to in a timely manner.

Wards do have more than one number assigned, and we have recently undertaken an exercise to check the numbers listed on the Trust Website, but if you would like to contact me on via the following link and provide more detail I will ensure the actual numbers you called are checked and answer any other concerns you have: complaints@nbt.nhs.uk

I have passed you suggestion about the call waiting service to the Information Management and Technology department. Once again please accept my apologies for the problems you experienced.

Kind Regards – Steve Sykes

Advice and Complaints Team Manager

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