"Experience at Outpatients in Queen Margaret"

On arrival into Outpatient Department, the receptionists were quite, friendly and I was dealt with very quickly,

I was taken on time for my appointment by a Consultant by the name of Dr Saj(unsure if this is correct spelling so apologies). I have to say she was very professional, warm and friendly, she asked all the right questions, answered all my questions and referred me for an X-ray. Again I did not wait long, the young girl in X-ray was polite too.

I was the asked to go back to Outpatient reception which I did. Before I left X-ray I was advised I did not need stay for anything further as I was being referred back for a CT scan.

I headed back to Outpatient desk and handed my X-ray slips in, was advised to take a seat as would be called back through. It was exceptionally busy so I didn't really want to ask the receptionist why I had to stay. I presumed I was to peak to the consultant again for another reason.

I had been sitting down when a young nurse then shouted my name out and it was then my experience went very downhill. The nurse pronounced my name wrongly and when I stood up I saw my name was written correctly on her slip. I told her my correct name and she ignored me, talked over me and told me I didn't need to be there any more. When I mentioned the point about my name the nurse looked at me blankly, dismissed me and said yeah, ok, right then, in a very sarcastic manner. The waiting room was so so busy, and by this time my face was really quite red with embarrassment, my husband had left in disgust. When I made my way to the door I turned round and saw the nurse smirk at a colleague.

I made my way to the main reception desk and was directed to the phone to speak to the complaints officer, who was apologetic and sympathetic which I did appreciate. I did not expect to be asked how did I want to pursue this? The options given were to contact the department or me doing this in writing, surely this could be taken out of my hands? I would have appreciated reassurance that this would have been dealt with personally or within the team, not expect suggestions from me.

This is the second bad experience I have had from the same department and it all centres round something really basic, MY NAME, surely this is a basic customer service skill we all have, not something we have to be trained in?

In this case the nurse simply not read the name card correctly, and it felt like how dare I correct them, but for the nurse not to apologise and acknowledge the terrible, rude mistake was nothing short of shocking.

It was such a shame as it had really been a very pleasant experience up until this point.

I am due to go back to this same department for further treatment and I will hope they can eventually get it right. Should this silly, embarrassing error happen again I will have no option but to take my complaint as high as I possibly can.

I would also like to comment on the Customer Service Suggestion Box located in this department which was hidden away at the side of the reception desk. I use the word hidden as it is not in full view of the patients/customers, there was a small pen on top of the box but no paper. I also looked about the reception area and nowhere did I see a sign for Patient Opinion, what it offers, etc,

I found this quite odd, every business private or government funded needs feedback, good and not so good and this needs to be promoted, my last 2 experiences have told me that.

Not everyone is out to be negative about the NHS but from my last experiences changes need to be taken on board and services need to be improved on.

I will await your response regarding this complaint.