Care Opinion

Hard to understand the letter from Heart Failure team

Posted By Our story

"Hard to understand the letter from Heart Failure team"

About: Antrim Area Hospital / Heart failure

(as a relative),

I took my aunt to an early morning appointment with the Heart Failure nurse. After driving for an hour we went to Outpatient to be advise this was a telephone call and they weren’t able to see her.

I do wish to acknowledge the receptionist was very helpful and checked the telephone numbers were correct and advised us to drive home again. I also want to acknowledge the Heart Failure nurse apologised for the misunderstanding.

But I feel it is important I share this as the letter received clearly stated that the following outpatient appointment has been made for you at the Mid Ulster Hospital. Please report to Virtual Mid Ulster and bring this letter with you. Nowhere on the letter stated it was a phone call.

Attendance to appointments are crucial- my aunt is in her mid eighties and was exhausted by the whole adventure- one which could have been avoided if the appointment letter had been accurate.

Many services complain about non attendance, however in this instance we attended and they did not deliver.

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Responses

Response from Lauren Henry, Clinical Services Manager Cardiology /Rheumatology, Antrim/Causeway Hospital, NHSCT 4 months ago
We are preparing to make a change
Lauren Henry
Clinical Services Manager Cardiology /Rheumatology, Antrim/Causeway Hospital,
NHSCT

Submitted on 22/05/2024 at 15:24
Published on Care Opinion at 15:33

Hello my name is Lauren Henry, I am a clinical services manager for Cardiology in the Northern Trust. Sincere thank you for telling your story, this is really helpful we can develop the service. I will review this and update our letters.

I am sorry to waste your time with this appointment.

Warmest wishes,

Lauren Henry

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by Our story (a relative)

Thank you for listening- we only shared our experience because we would not want someone else to have a similar confusing experience- this little thing makes such a big difference to people like my aunt; we find the heart failure team exceptional in their knowledge and skill and in all our time with them we’ve never had concerns. Thank you for listening

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