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Referral Booking System

Posted By reddisa

"Referral Booking System"

About: Devon Access and Referral Team (DART)

(as the patient),

I have had persistent head pain for 18 months which has become progressively worse. GP eventually agreed to referral for neurology assessment and diagnosis. Ten days later I received appointment booking information.

When I telephoned, having been offered a choice of 4 hospitals, I was advised that the first available appointment was 11 weeks away and no other appointments were currently available. I was asked to choose one hospital to which my notes would be sent for assessment and an appointment would be made if considered necessary.

I felt no consideration was given to urgency.

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Responses

Response from Devon Access & Referral Team (DART) 11 years ago
Devon Access & Referral Team (DART)

Submitted on 06/02/2013 at 10:24
Published on Care Opinion at 10:42

Dear Reddisa

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with us, and I would like to apologise if you were not satisfied with the service you received..

Here at DART (Devon Access & Referral Team) we will endeavour to offer you a choice of the earliest available appointment at all of the local healthcare providers. When your GP sends us the details of your referral this will include details on whether it is a routine or urgent referrral and to some extent this will influence the appointments that are offered. However, this is a clinical decision made by your GP. At times you will appreciate that some services do get very busy but we always try to find the earliest appointment we can.

I would be more than happy to look into this further for you but would need some more details to do so. If you would like me to do this please could you ring our Patient Helpdesk on 01626 883888 ( we are open Mon-Fri between 9am and 5pm) and ask for Gemma Tremlett.

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