I got a surprising and unexpected message from my local hospital

BrianMcFaddenfan24

Hi everyone,

I was playing a game on my phone when a text message notification popped up at the top of my phone's screen, so I closed my game and opened my text messages to see who it was from.

Only to my surprise, it was from the cardio respiratory department at my local hospital letting me know that there is a delay with appointments due to staffing issues and that there's currently an 8-9 month wait for appointments due to their staffing issues.

They also said that they're trying to get the problem sorted and patients seen quicker.

I wasn't expecting the message.

I replied to them and thanked them for letting me know about the delay.

Otteline

If you have the NHS app or patient access app you can views your appointments on there. I think it's a great system the NHS have to send us a reminder and keep us up to date re. waiting times. It's not always good news but at least if we are aware we can plan for the delays. There's no excuse nowadays for the patients who DNA (do not attend). That's such a huge drain on the NHS resources.

egister

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/991053#Comment_991053

The NHS could improve the invitation system - for example, if an appointment is scheduled for patients with high "DNA" risk during the day, then you can invite another patient WITHOUT a guarantee of an appointment. About the same as overbooking for air travel.

Otteline

Sounds okay in theory but I'm afraid the NHS do not have the resources for someone to police the waiting list for likely DNA's. It's more about people taking some responsibility for themselves. Each DNA costs the NHS £120. It's not surprising that the NHS is on it's last legs.