"Excellent treatment spoilt by poor admin and..."

What I liked

Professionalism of consultant and team, communication during treatment was excellent

What could be improved

Communication and timekeeping

Whenever I have had an outpatient or day surgery appointment it has seemed to be a block booking for the convenience of the hospital, not the patient. I am paid by the hour, so every long wait for an outpatient or follow up appointment costs me money. I (and most other business people) do not treat my customers this way, as it would be discourteous to keep them waiting with no information as to why they are waiting and for how long. Communication with the patients by the hospital reception/admin/nursing staff is poor to say the least.

The invitation to move to the next set of seats in an outpatient clinic and wait again does not constitute getting into the appointment on time, nor does being ushered into a consulting room on your own to wait for the consultant for another 20 minutes or so, which is what happened to me again today. It would not be so bad if someone, such as the nurses who seemed more concerned to open the box of Quality Street than to speak to the patients, would actually talk to the patients and advise what is going on and how long they have to wait.

The final straw for me today was that, after turning up early to ensure I was not late for my appointment, and then having to wait 30minutes to be seen, I was then asked if I was surprised to be there, as I did not need a follow-up appointment I had therefore wasted 2 hours of my working day and whoever was responsible had wasted several minutes of the doctor’s time

Apparently the consultant had not asked for a follow up, but when I left the day surgery unit, the nurse who discharged me rang me to say I did need an appointment and a letter would arrive shortly. This letter of course stressed how I must not miss the appointment as it wastes valuable resources when patients do not turn up.

It would be nice to know the hospital could return this courtesy by ensuring appointments stuck to the timetable advised more often and were only arranged when really necessary.

Anything else?

Despite the recent outbreak of Noro virus, there was no clear signage at the entrances to the hospital to remind all visitors to use the handwash systems, which would be simple to do and help avoid further spread of infection.