Carers UK Forum

I just thought I'd post my letter of complaint about our appalling treatment yesterday.

For the attention of the Practice Manager.

Dear Mrs ************************,

I feel the practice seriously let us down yesterday 2nd August.
I phoned at approximately 9:00 am and spoke to Linda about Jill's urine sample results. She said they hadn't been looked at yet and would get a doctor to take a look.
I waited all day for a phone call as I knew there must be something wrong, otherwise the receptionist will say 'No further action is required'.

At 6:00 pm I rang again. I spoke to Jill your receptionist, who seemed surprised to find that it still hadn't been seen by a GP.
She said 'I'll see if I can get one to look at it'.
I rang again at 6:30pm to find the surgery closed for the weekend!
To say I was furious would be an understatement!

Jill was by now in so much back pain that I rang Devon Doctors out of hours, not expecting that they could read the result, but a Dr Lawrence from Exeter chased it up through Torbay hospitals laboratory.
He later rang me back to say 'Yes Jill does have another UTI'.

He faxed a 'script' for Macrodandtin 100mg to Boots Kingsteignton for me to pick up before midnight.

Had it not been for his diligence to duty, my wife would have been suffering unecessarally all weekend. This is totally unacceptable!

I'm sad to have to write this letter as your practice is usually of the highest standard.
Jill your receptionist told me that you had had an exceptionally busy day, with a doctors meeting in the afternoon.
Surely checking lab results comes first?

I trust that you will be looking into this matter with some urgency. We dont want this to happen to someone else.

I respectfully await your reply.

Yours sincerely

Peter *************** (Mr)

I hope you get a good result from this letter Pete. Well written.

Ouch thats not good. Its frustrating when its less important things but to wait for important results its a bit of a disgrace.

Good letter Pete. It's only when people complain that service providers know that they have failed. You've done this very well.

Very nice letter Pete, Polite but to the point.
Hope you get a decent explanation
x

Thats a very good letter pete - hope it wakes them up a bit.

I think that's fine Pete and I hope you get a swift response.

Well written Pete - hope it gets something moving for Jill and ultimately for you

Duncaring

An excellent letter, Pete. You are quite right to complain about appalling treatment.

Doctor rang me at 8:30am to apologize as it was her fault.
My letter hadn't even been opened. She realised her mistake when she saw the out of hours GP's having been contacted twice over the weekend.
She looked at Jill's urine result at 6:45pm on Friday and decided that no further action was required as older people often do have bugs in their urine.
She isn't our usual doctor though we are registered with her, therefore wasn't ofee with the latest set of problems.
She kept apologizing saying that she had made a 'wrong call' and that Jill should be on the 100mg Nitrofurantoin.
I said have you seen my letter of complaint to Mrs ********, practice manager, to which she replied 'No, have you complained then, I am so sorry'.
I told her I thought it was the reception staff who hadn't passed on the result, to which she replied 'Oh no, it was my fault entirely'.
I graciously accepted her apology and then rang Mrs ******** to ask her not to proceed with my letter of complaint as Doctor had apologized to me.

Lets hope lessons have been learnt?