Letter cancelling appointment arrived too late
A WARMLEY man arrived at hospital to find his appointment had been cancelled by post – but the letter arrived after he set off.
Nigel Seabourne had taken a £20 taxi ride to Southmead Hospital to be sure to arrive on time for the 9.30am appointment, only to find that it had been rearranged and that details of the alternative slot had been sent to his home address.
-
When he arrived at the Avon Orthopaedic Centre on Friday he was told that a letter would probably have arrived that day. The original appointment had been arranged about six months ago and the 45-year-old said he asked if there was a chance of still being seen that morning.
But the receptionist told him that would not be possible as people were waiting for their scheduled appointments.
Business Cards From Only £10.95 Delivered www.myprint-247.co.uk
View detailsOur heavyweight cards have FREE UV silk coating, FREE next day delivery & VAT included. Choose from 1000's of pre-designed templates or upload your own artwork. Orders dispatched within 24hrs.
Terms: Visit our site for more products: Business Cards, Compliment Slips, Letterheads, Leaflets, Postcards, Posters & much more. All items are free next day delivery. www.myprint-247.co.uk
Contact: 01858 468192
Valid until: Sunday, May 26 2013
"When I turned up I was told 'sorry sir but your appointment has been rearranged, have you received your letter?' She had a look and said the new appointment had been sent out two days before and I 'should receive it today'.
"I said if I had received the letter I would not have made arrangements to be there.
"They said I could wait to be seen but that patients with allocated slots would have to be seen first, but I said I had an allocated slot at 9.30am.
"Another patient came up to me afterwards and said it was 'absolutely disgusting' and that I should make a complaint about it."
Mr Seabourne, who has been suffering problems with his knee following a cruciate ligament repair, said: "Lo and behold, when I got home there was a letter saying that sorry my appointment had been rearranged for September 28, but what if I sent them a letter saying I was not going to make it and then phoned on the day to ask if they had received my letter?"
A spokesman for the hospital trust said: "We fully recognise the importance of keeping appointments as they are given but sometimes the need to rearrange is unavoidable. If we do need to change appointments at short notice every effort is made to contact the patient by telephone.
"It would appear that on this occasion the message did not get through in time and we are very sorry to Mr Seabourne for the inconvenience this has caused."
Comments
by fairycakesx
Wednesday, September 05 2012, 11:12PM
“What a joker.....the nhs is trying to provide the best service it can, on a pittance. These issues can happen! Was he expecting chauffeur service? This has happened to me also but we all have to accept that emergencies happen, things come up and although frustrating, they tried to help out where they could. Why do I suspect this man will be looking for compensation next? Waste of newsprint.....”
by artglad
Wednesday, September 05 2012, 5:38PM
“Yet another non-story?”
by Bristolexpat
Tuesday, September 04 2012, 11:04AM
“Are they not able to call/text/email etc in this day and age.
Could he have rang on the morning of the appointment to reconfirm before setting off?
An inconvenience I'm sure but why he's running to the papers over this I don't know.
I agree with Tody, get over it mate and move on.”
by CurtisHewitt
Tuesday, September 04 2012, 10:54AM
“"what if I sent them a letter saying I was not going to make it and then phoned on the day to ask if they had received my letter?"
I can't say for sure, but I imagine they'd be mildly annoyed.
I very much doubt they'd run to the press, mind.”
by Tody123
Tuesday, September 04 2012, 10:52AM
“Get over it mate, things like this happen in life, its annoying, but not an excuse to run to the press.”
by dayofthedog
Tuesday, September 04 2012, 10:44AM
“Hardly the scoop of the century is it?
Zzzzzzzzz”
by katachua
Tuesday, September 04 2012, 10:38AM
“So they sent the notice by second-class post (as they do) two days before the appointment was due? If Warmley is anything like Horfield, it would have been delivered at about 12:30 on that day, THREE HOURS AFTER the time of the appointment. Didn't anybody at Southmead have the nous to send it first class? Or isn't that NHS policy?”
by Jonnyfandango
Tuesday, September 04 2012, 10:36AM
“Why on earth did he get a taxi?
He was also offerd the opportunity to wait. I know it's not ideal but im sick of people trying to exposed the NHS as some sort of error strewn monster. It's not, for every clerical/clinical error there are thousands of successes. Imagine if everyone of them was reported?”