Horrendous booking experience
haven't even been. I was referred by my surgery for back pain. I rang two on 11th September and was offered an appointment for 2.30pm on 19th. I carefully enquired about likely the clinic was to run on time and how long the consultation would take, because my youngest needs collecting from school at 3.15pm, but was given all necessary assurances. I received a confirmation by email.
The day before my appointment was scheduled, they rang to cancel. I'll admit, I cried on the phone due to the pain, but I was told the best they could do was rebook me one week later. This is bad enough in itself, as I have two disabled children (lots of lifting and manual handling of them) and a busy job. They didn't send me another email confirmation, so I put it in the diary for 2.30pm on the 26th.
Today I got a reminder email from the clinic the appointment telling me it is at 3pm. I rang Joints and Points, explained all of the above and for the first time I was told they had rebooked me at the later time. The operator (Jamie, I think) was short and did not apologise for the time being changed or the failure to communicate. He coldy stated that's what they had done that he could rebook it for another week, or I could leave it. I replied "What and remain in pain for the rest of my life....I'll get back to you".
I rang my husband who agreed to cancel his work meetings and cover after school care.
When I rang Jamie(?) back, I was told he had cancelled my appointment but said he would rebook it. Who knows when he would rebook it, as once again there is no booking confirmation.
I wish these people thought about the consequences of their actions. One again I got tearful, so when a few minutes later I had to lift my eldest into the house in his wheelchair, and struggled, I just broke down. Unfortunately, my crying triggered a meltdown in my autistic youngest. The thing is there are probably loads of their clients with challenges just like mine, they all have something they need help with, and they obviously don't care.
Reply from Jointsandpoints
Thank you for your time to put this across. Unfortunately this is an NHS service run by your GP Practice as as such we have very little control over clinic times and availability. Last week the GP clinic closed the practice for appointments so we had to rearrange all appointments where we could. The appointment offered was the only one available to you as your were listed as a a priority. We will of course try and book you in again but there is limited availability under this NHS triage service. Jamie is an excellent administrator who works with a disability and I think that you could appreciate that everyone has challenges to cope with in their life.