GP letter about DD’s missed hospital appointment

[MindatWork]

I was originally going to post this in AIBU but am too scared so just wanted to get others opinions on whether I’m being a bit precious. Apologies for length .

My 6 month old DD has been receiving outpatient treatment at the children’s orthopaedic clinic at our local hospital for the last couple of months. The administration of the clinic has been a nightmare with very poor communication between the reception staff and consultants’ secretary re appointment dates/times, regular 1 hour waits at clinic etc.

Her final appt was originally booked for the wrong date by the receptionist (a week after it should have been as she also needed an ultrasound booked for the same day), so I duly called when we received the letter and asked for it to be cancelled and moved to the correct date. All fine, we had the last appt and we’re now waiting for her check up next month.

This week we received a letter stating we had missed an appointment at the clinic (the wrong one which I’d asked the secretary AND the reception staff at hospital to cancel) and they had rebooked her for the next available date. This was copied to our GP.

We’ve now received a bit of a threatening/scolding letter from our GP advising that they’ve been made aware we missed a hospital appointment for our daughter and though there could be a reasonable explanation, they need to flag it because of the “possibility of neglect” !

I called them straightaway and politely explained it was a cock up at the clinic, but could/should I ask for this letter to be removed from her record? I know it’s probably an automatically generated letter and it’s good that they keep an eye on potentially vulnerable children but I find it weirdly upsetting that the word ‘neglect’ is now on my DD’s medical record.

Her treatment was upsetting enough after a difficult birth including a scbu stay and a very tough first 3 months, and we were meticulous in following every direction from the consultant.

Is it possible to ask for it to be removed or should I just leave it?

I'm not being disingenuous. I'm not sure why you would think I am.

If you go back to my posts and read them more closely, you'll see that I'm not asserting that the staff don't challenge. I'm asking whether they do.

I am not an insider, or some kind of politico agitating for the demise of the NHS. Quite the opposite! I'm just a very frustrated service user myself, and spouse and mother to people suffering with health conditions that have not been treated as well, or in as timely a fashion, as they should/could have been.

Not because of the competence of willingness of the clinical staff, but because of lack of appointments/cancellations, lack of up to date treatments, extreme rationing of services etc.

I believe you that the system is starved of cash. I agree with you about who is responsible for that, and what their motives are. I believe you about the hierarchy in the NHS. That is something that is very apparent to me, as a user of the NHS's services. I do think that is something that needs to change, though the over-deference to the consultant is not unique to the NHS, it happens within the private sector here, and in health systems in other countries too.

@Tolleshunt from my experience as an NHS worker the NHS is very old fashioned when it comes to admin and communication in a way that can be difficult for modern people to wrap their heads around. Many things are still based on passing sheets of paper around different departments.

There can be real resistance to the use of more modern methods. Please don't take this as a generalisation on older workers but there are a lot of individuals who have been in their jobs for a long time (from senior consultants to managers to reception workers) that simply refuse to consider changing how they work which can hold back entire teams.

There is also a lot of apathy. I once suggested it was ridiculous that 4 different departments were sharing a fax machine/photocopier/printer and that it was no wonder things were constantly going missing, picked up by the wrong person, disappearing into a huge pile, dumped somewhere etc when several dozen people all with different jobs were using it. It could mean something serious like an urgent referral being missed. I was completely shouted down because "it's always been this way"

People are saying this all about lack of resources, but NHS hospital admin has always been shit, even through the fully funded Labour years. It's actually more about the woeful lack of sensible, connected IT systems in hospitals. These errors don't happen often in the parts of the NHS that have decent IT - GPs, opticians, retail pharmacy, dentists. The continued use of fax machines is a joke but not a funny one.

OP I work in a hospital and yes sometimes the admin is not very good.

By not cancelling the appointment they have missed the opportunity to see another patient in the slot and have created extra work for your GP which costs the NHS money and they’ve caused unnecessary stress and anxiety for you.
It isn’t good enough and you are right to be cross.
I don’t think they’ll remove the letter but whenever a persons record is viewed it is viewed as a whole and the they will be able to see from the history on file that this is an admin error and not neglect. I hope that reassured you a bit although it isn’t ideal.

There can be real resistance to the use of more modern methods

Yes I work in data quality and staff are always saying ‘but that’s the way we’ve always done it’.
To which my response is yes but you’re doing it wrong and if you’re going to do it wrong you might as well not bother at all.
Because staff are busy they forget that there are real people at the end of the process and yes ok 99% of your letters and record keeping might but be correct that 1% where you didn’t check properly and did it wrong has the potential to cause some real harm or anxiety.

If I were you OP, I’d look at this:

ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/your-right-to-get-your-data-corrected/

I’d use the template letter to ask for data rectification.

I had this happen. My daughter had been ambulanced into hospital and I was with her while they were resuscitating her but because I didn't let them know we wouldn't be attending a routine outpatient appointment, they sent that.

I complained immediately and got an apology.

@Gamerwidow I think people can take it personally sometimes and get defensive.

Often it's more the case that a system works on a small scale but not a larger one, for example if a department has one 10 person clinic a week managed by a single secretary then a pen and notepad may be enough to keep on top of things, if it expands to having 4 different clinics per week and an admin team then you will need to change

I would say good for your GP.
so many children miss appointments through the fault of their parents alone and your GP is being proactive.
Wrongly as it happens.
My immediate thought is, put it in writing. Which I see has already been suggested and agreed by OP.

Tolleshunt yes, many times. It's like banging your head against a brick wall. It's a toxic environment and if I didnt enjoy contact with patients so much I would walk away.

I had this - I rescheduled an appointment as they never run on time and it was originally on the morning of a day I was due to be flying on holiday in the afternoon.
They messed up, sent me the new appointment but didn't cancel the original one.
They also cc'd my GP so I called the consultant's secretary and she arranged for another letter to be sent out to the GP, confirming that I had indeed rescheduled and not just not turned up.
I'd never knowingly miss an appointment - it costs the NHS so much money (plus I'd waited nearly a year for this !)

Ahh op I’ve had something similar. Got a scolding letter from our gp and my dc1 consultant that we had missed an appointment!

First I knew of said appointment was the letter saying we’d missed it, the day after I got the appointment letter dated and posted after the missed appointment letter.

I was not a happy bunny considering it was a bloody important meeting!