You Said, We Did

December 2018 – Comments relate to Frimley Out of Hours GP Service – Frimley Park Hospital

“I have nothing but praise for Frimley Park hospital and the NHS for looking after me so well at a very distressing time for myself. The lovely nurse who diagnosed appendicitis in the out of hour’s appointment section through to the staff in A&E and on the ward. However I did have to repeat my symptoms and medical history about 7 times to different doctors and nurses and even eventually at 3am when I got to a bed, I was given a form to complete giving all the info that FPH should already have on me….name/address/doctor/next of kin etc. at a time when I was in chronic pain and very tired. Anyway as a result of it all I was operated on promptly the following morning for a straight forward appendectomy via keyhole and am recovering very well. Thank you FPH.”

We Said – Comments passed to Nurse, also passed to hospital to share with A&E staff. We acknowledge how frustrating it must be to have to repeat history and symptoms to different clinicians and this is something the whole NHS is working on to improve.

“I had to drive from Farnham to Frimley Park just to collect script at weekend rush hour. Should be able to fax to Farnham hospital outpatient.”

We Said – Whilst we can appreciate it may be difficult to collect and apologise for this, in order to maintain best practice in keeping your data safe, we do not have the facility to fax to Farnham hospital or staff based there to receive. It is stated governance policy to remove fax machines from the NHS for this reason. We are going to be introducing electronic prescribing soon which will allow prescriptions to be sent directly to the Pharmacy of your choice.

“I think it was poor, after spending a long time on the phone that I could not be seen. I had tonsillitis and do not feel a proper assessment can be carried out over the phone when I have not been seen. The service is normally like the GP, but this time I think it failed.”

We Said – The NHUC lead nurse has reviewed the clinical aspects of the case and has made contact directly with the patient who raised the concern to discuss. On average 50% of all concerns can be resolved over the phone saving unnecessary journeys and consultations.

“Signage for out of hour’s doctor is not clear at the hospital. The doctor we saw was really lovely and kind to my son and very reassuring to me.”

We Said – Thank you, your positive comments have been passed onto the clinician. NHUC is always keen to find areas that we can improve on and your comment has initiated a review of the signage in place.

“The phone call back was over 3 hours after the initial contact with 111. But the rest of the service was good and I am very happy with the way they treated my daughter (aged 4), and how clear and descriptive about the issue. Well done.”

We Said – We apologise for the delay in your initial call back. NHUC and NHS111 have been working together to provide the best possible service for our patients and we have recently introduced a change to the process which allows appointments to be directly booked at call handler stage, unfortunately, in this instance, instead of booking an appointment and asking you to attend an appointment they gave the impression that the next action was for a call back. We have fed this back to the NHS 111 Service and together will use your feedback to help us to continually improve this new option for children which we hope will benefit our patients and their carers. Thank you for your positive comments about your daughter’s treatment which we have shared with those involved in her care.

December 2018 – Comments related to Hantsdoc Out of Hours Service – Basingstoke & North Hampshire Hospital

“I Cannot fault the Hantsdoc team at all. The two girls that came out to me that night were amazing, friendly, polite, professional, also amazing people skills as well as medical. I am myself a former nurse and know what stress we are all under and I am not the best patient used to being on the other side. But this system is brilliant to reduce patient traffic in A&E and free up more NHS staff. Brilliant job, keep it up and again thank you for all your help and support on this occasion.”

We Said – Thank you for your positive comments, these have been forward to all those involved in providing your care.

“Whilst on the phone to 111, they suggested that if a clinician couldn’t call back in half an hour, they would send an ambulance. I feel this would have been a gross misuse of resources. I told the call handler I am a qualified nurse, but this didn’t seem to make a difference. I understand she only has my word for it, but I just wanted to access Hantsdoc. The call handler seemed surprised at my suggestion of this and advised that if I felt my child was deteriorating then by all means go to A&E. I didn’t feel she understood what I was asking for or why. Having then spoken to a nurse & GP and explained my child’s symptoms again twice more, it was agreed I would drive my child to Hantsdoc. Once there a nurse came & checked on my child within a few minutes and then the GP. We were home again in less than hour. Very efficient service, which should be promoted far more. I can understand why people end up going to A&E and then waiting hours (because it’s not the most appropriate service for them, so aren’t a priority) My child has been poorly before and an ambulance called via 111, which is why I didn’t want a repeat of that, as we waited hours to see a doctor in A&E when she could have been dealt with at Hantsdoc. Also the 111 nurse was very confusing as he told me to go to urgent care centre at Basingstoke Hospital instead of Hantsdoc. He clearly didn’t know about Hantsdoc.”

We Said – We have passed these comments to the NHS111 Service who provides the initial call handling for Hantsdoc. It is worth mentioning that by being co-located with the Emergency Department it means that if there is concern over which service is most appropriate sending to the Emergency Department may not be the inappropriate, as they would immediately stream the patient to be seen by Hantsdoc.

“Consulting room environment too small & cluttered feeling.”

We Said – We would agree that some of the rooms we currently use could be improved. We are currently looking into how we can improve our facilities, but retain our belief that the ideal location is at the Hospital because of the mutual support clinicians can offer each other.

“Time of waiting. 4 hours with 3 year old little girl is way too long. From 6pm until 10pm. Doctor who saw us was very professional and she was sure of what she was doing. Well done.”

We Said – We apologise for the length of your wait. As your initial attendance was at the Emergency Department they determined that the best course was to monitor the patient’s condition, and then decided that the patient was more suitable for Primary Care and referred to Hantsdoc but by this time you had already waited a long time. Thank you for the positive comment about the Doctor and we have shared this with them.

“I was told to contact 111 as I was having difficulty getting medication from my pharmacy. The Hantsdoc Doctor contacted me back within a couple of hours. A prescription was left for me to collect at my hospital – then take it to another pharmacy who had these tablets. So I didn’t have need to see or be examined by the duty doctor.”

We Said – Many thanks and your positive comments have been passed to the Clinician, we intend to introduce Electronic Prescribing shortly which will further improve on this service.

“The service was great. Thank you.”

We Said – Positive comments passed to Clinician, thank you.

“I was referred from A&E for a non-emergency appointment having been first assessed by an A&E nurse. The Hantsdoc service was much quicker than waiting in A&E and I really appreciate the referral, allowing us to get home earlier. The Doctor I saw was very reassuring, though I don’t think anyone was able to explain what may have caused the chest pain – perhaps because it was impossible to tell. Overall I was very happy with the service provided by all parts of the NHS we dealt with that evening. Thank you.”

We Said – Thank you for your positive comments, we have shared these with all those concerned with the care you received.

“I initially saw a pharmacist who said I needed to see a doctor and told me to phone 111. The call to 111 seemed a waste of time, and I didn’t feel I was treated sympathetically or that my symptoms were understood. I wish the pharmacist had told me to go straight to A&E. 111 didn’t make me an appointment with Hantsdoc, but said to go to my nearest A&E which is in Basingstoke. On arrival at the hospital, I couldn’t fault the care. The receptionist, nurse and doctor were all wonderful. I was so pleased that I asked for a questionnaire to put in the box. I did comment to my Husband about the environment, but the care was so good that it wasn’t really important.”

We Said – Thank you for the positive comments about Hantsdoc and the care you received. We have passed your comments about the NHS111 Service handling of your initial call to them.

Percentage of Patients who said they were either satisfied or extremely satisfied