Just buggered up a hospital appointment I’ve waited 8 months for!

[JustlookingNotbuying]

I am so very annoyed with myself today.
I have ongoing digestive issues. Trying to get an appointment with a gastroenterologist over the last few years has been a bloody nightmare.
I had a face to face appointment November 2021 after waiting months and months.
My appointment was the first one of the day. I arrived on time. Waited and waited. The waiting room became busier and busier. An hour later I still hadn’t been called in so checked with reception, they said I was still on their list.
My phone then rang, it was the consultant’s secretary. She was ringing to cancel my appointment - wtf! I told her I’d be sitting in the waiting room for over an hour. She apologised and said she thought my appointment was a telephone consultation but advised to sit and wait it out, she explained there were two gastro clinics running that morning and my consultant’s colleague had not turned up due to an overnight emergency so my consultant was basically running two clinics at once.
Needless to say he was as stressed as hell and the appointment was a waste of time as it was literally over in 10 mins. I had a list of my issues etc but there was very little time to go over everything.
So I was given an appointment for today (8 months later!).

Its a telephone consultation for 9.15. I have waited by my phone since 9am.

At 9.40 he rings. I have a new phone and instead of swiping right to answer I stupidly swiped left (as with my old phone) and swiftly cut the bloody call off (I could have cried).
Though he may try again, at least once but no, he just left a voicemail asking me to rearrange the appointment.
I am so upset and frustrated. A long 8 month wait and half a day off work for nothing.
I tried ringing the secretary back straight away but she’s not answering so I’ve had to leave a voicemail.
I am so, so angry with myself for such a silly mistake. Now I’ll have to wait another age and meanwhile my digestive issues are still ongoing.

I feel your frustration, it's so hard to get into the system. Take a deep breath, all is not lost. Keep ringing the consultant's secretary every day, you need to be advocate for yourself and be firm but polite. Your phone had a fault and cut off, you need another appointment urgently, you are happy to take any cancellations at any time. Ring every day if you have to, being too passive won't get you anywhere.

I have gastro issues and feel your pain, keep pushing.

Oh no -this is exactly the kind of thing I'm prone to .It's the stress .

Absolutely this
Keep ringing the consultant's secretary every day, you need to be advocate for yourself and be firm but polite. Your phone had a fault and cut off, you need another appointment urgently, you are happy to take any cancellations at any time. Ring every day if you have to, being too passive won't get you anywhere.
Great Advice .

Thank you both. That is great advice Goldenphoenix. I am still so bloody annoyed with myself!

Complain to PALS

My hospital’s website has the contact details, email and phone, of the consultants and their secretaries. They have been responsive to me on email. Make it as easy for them as you can in your email. Don’t waffle on (not saying you did this, but my mum is prone to way more detail than needed and it doesn’t help her in these situations) and include details of the missed appointment and your NHS and hospital numbers so they can locate you easily. Good luck. I would be so upset too.

I can't understand why the consultant wouldn't just try a second time at least, unless it's a great ruse for their waiting list times, hugely frustrating :(

Definitely contact PALS and explain what happened. I had something similar and they managed to, at the very least, help with the communication challenges which arise whenever I need to contact the hospital. Be kind to yourself, it’s easily done and the doctor should certainly have tried once more to call.

I'm pretty sure they have a policy that they are meant to try 2-3 times before giving up. You should put in a complaint.

Ugh I had something similarly frustrating. Waited 18 months for a telephone appointment. Waited by the phone. No call. About FIVE HOURS late the consultant called. I had to leave a work meeting to pick it up but didn't do so quickly enough and missed the call. Immediately phoned the hospital and left a message with someone saying I'd waited five hours, I couldn't keep the WHOLE day free. They said they'd speak to them and get them to call me back. No call back.

The next day I got a copy of a letter sent to my GP saying I had FAILED TO SHOW UP FOR MY APPOINTMENT THEREFORE I WAS DISCHARGED.

I wanted to murder them.

Immediate email to PALS and complaints who confirmed hospital policy is to call TWICE.

Eventually spoke to the consultant who tried to justify not calling back 'you have to answer the phone you know.' You called five hours late!!!!!!!!

Send them an email and call straight away op.

Out of order for him to only try once.

Just another reason why the NHS is on its knees. The OP has already said it was her unintentional mistake that caused the call to be missed.

It takes me 1-2 hours to answer a complaint received via PALS. I cancel a clinic to generate that time. A simple call to the secretary or outpatient manager to ask that missed or unanswered calls are re attempted later in the clinic would suffice.

Yes, OP has self flagellated as we have been taught to be grateful for any scraps the poor NHS gives us. But it is not 'her fault' she missed the call. She pressed the wrong button but the consultant couldn't be arsed to try again even though he must know how desperate she must be for the appt.

If somebody calls once and the call cuts off why would you not try again immediately? The person could be in the toilet or washing their hands or anything. You don't sound like people get very far when they complain to you 🙄

A simple call would suffice? It literally never does. The NHS only sort shit out when I formally complain.

They get everything they ask for.

To answer this complaint, given it'd normally reach me 6-8 weeks after the event, I'd have to get the phone records from the hospital switchboard, and the clinic logs to work out out the timings of the phone call, how the clinic was running etc.

I'd always apologise - either unequivocally if it's an oversight or omission on my part, or with extenuations if any existed. In my clinics, they're generally overbooked, and I try to balance making the patients in the waiting room late, vs the person on the phone - I generally figure those in the waiting room are a higher priority as they're away from food / drink / comforts, plus paying for parking. If the clinic is running late, I'll generally ring again at the end, but, I don't have to. NHS consultants are paid in time, not people seen or treated, it's the hospital's responsibility to ensure adequate resources , not individual consultants.

For what it's worth, I'd never just walk out of a clinic or theatre list once my time is done, and I don't know any consultants who would.

What for?

Thank you all, I am really annoyed that he didn’t call back a second time. As you say, there could have been a host of reasons why I didn’t pick up the first time, and he was over 20 mins late for the appointment, if I turned up 20 mins late for a face to face I no doubt would be turned away.
Himawarigirl sadly, I can not find the secretaries email anywhere, all I’ve got is her number which goes straight to voice mail, I’ve left two messages but no call back so far!
Bigwetdog that is just awful. I’ve had similar with GP telephone appointments where I’ve had a 10am appointment and they’ve called me back late afternoon. They did that to me 3 days in a row!
FixTheDog I worked for the NHS for 20 years, you know full well that the reason the NHS is on its knees is because it is poorly managed, under staffed, under funded and too much ‘dead wood’ ie management! Please don’t put the blame on the patients. PALS is there for a reason and if they are getting more and more complaints then there is a good reason why.

About what??

I’ve left 3 messages throughout the day asking for someone to contact me, its now 7pm, nothing so far.

I had a similar thing @Bigwetdog !! I was told categorically that due to Covid it was a telephone consultation only. This was by 3 different people, hospital appointments, Neuro nurses x 2. No phone call, chased, told to wait by department. No call. I then got a Did Not Attend email that evening + paper copy letter & discharged back to the GP. I was very angry, rang them & vented. Was put back swiftly into system & got an appointment quite soon. Now I attend whatever I'm told & am on guard duty with my phone even in the hospital loo. Feel for you OP.

Thats ridiculous what if you were mid shit or something?

Just another reason why the NHS is on its knees. The OP has already said it was her unintentional mistake that caused the call to be missed.

Did you miss the part where OP was literally sat in a waiting room for an hour to be told her appointment was cancelled? Then had to wait another age for an appointment? This is exactly the kind of thing PALS is for.

A lot of people working in the NHS now have no empathy for others

About what??

About how incredibly difficult it has been for them to actually get an appointment with someone for their medical issue.

@JustlookingNotbuying if its salford, I can help you with email for the Secretary.

Well here's an interesting thing ,
PALS doesn't actually deal with complaints
__though they can give you info about the complaints procedure and help resolve problems when using the NHS (like consultants and secretaries being hard to contact ? )

How can PALS help?
PALS provides help in many ways. For example, it can:

help you with health-related questions
help resolve concerns or problems when you're using the NHS
tell you how to get more involved in your own healthcare

PALS can give you information about:
the NHS
the NHS complaints procedure, including how to get independent help if you want to make a complaint
support groups outside the NHS
PALS also helps to improve the NHS by listening to your concerns and suggestions.

www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/hospitals/what-is-pals-patient-advice-and-liaison-service/