Care Opinion

Poor service again from administrative staff

Posted By Nurse2222

"Poor service again from administrative staff"

About: Community Sexual Health & Reproductive Services

(as a friend),

My partner and I have finally managed to obtain an appointment within the psychosexual service.  This initial appointment was a positive experience, with the nurse specialist being understanding, empathetic and supportive.

However, further issues have arisen when trying to book follow up appointments via the specialist’s secretary.  The phone number provided seems to automatically go to a voicemail on every call and requests a message to be left.  Upon leaving a message (and sending an email via sexual health admin), specifying an appropriate time for the secretary to call (since my partner works full time), the secretary phones and leaves a voicemail (as did phoned at an inappropriate time).  We have attempted to phone back since at various days/ intervals and again are directed to ‘leave a voicemail message’.

It seems like NHS Tayside sexual health service have a lot of barriers to patients trying to access the care they desperately need.  I strongly suggest the current accessibility of appointment booking for specialist services is reviewed, especially for the many patients who are trying to book in and around full-time employment.

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Responses

Response from Claire Black, Admin Team Lead, Sexual and Reproductive Health, NHS Tayside 15 months ago
We are preparing to make a change
Claire Black
Admin Team Lead, Sexual and Reproductive Health,
NHS Tayside

Team lead for NHS Tayside Sexual and Reproductive Health Service. Team consists of reception staff, administration staff and secretarial staff

Submitted on 24/08/2023 at 11:20
Published on Care Opinion at 11:20

Dear Nurse2222,

Thanks for taking the time to provide your feedback and your partners experience.

I am delighted that they have found our Nurse Specialist a positive experience and I will ensure that this is shared with the nurse and the wider service, particularly as this is such a small speciality within our wider Sexual and Reproductive Health remit.

I am sorry that you and your partner feel that there have been many barriers to access our service and this should not be the case. Our waiting lists are managed by one of our admin team and sometimes there will be occasions where they are out of office or dealing with other matters and their voicemail service will be active. Our service is a Monday - Friday service that operates on a 9am - 5pm basis and as such we are contactable and offer appointments within these times. We do not communicate via email with our patients at this time and the email address given to you previously was in relation to that matter, this is why any email sent by your partner would not have been seen in a timely manner. I am certainly willing to investigate if this would be something that the service can introduce and will speak with our Information Governance team within NHS Tayside as we do need to ensure patient confidentiality and that we are satisfying GDPR.

If your partner would like to contact me to discuss this further and for answers that relate directly to their experience then they can contact me via tay.tsrhadmin@nhs.scot and I will monitor this inbox for any communication from them and arrange a suitable time to call or meet with them.

Once again thank you for your feedback and I hope your partner continues to feel supported by our specialist nurse and that any future contact with us is a more satisfactory experience.

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