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"Phone communication"

About: St George Hospital / Outpatients Department

(as the patient),

Recently I rang St George Hospital Outpatient Dept in the afternoon and spoke to a staff member re the letter of appointment made for me by the department for Diabetes. I tried to explain to the staff member that I am already under the private care of my own endocrinologist and did not need hospital intervention for diabetes.

I am an outpatient for Haematology which is different, for a blood clot and comes under the role of Outpatients too but I am not seeking treatment from the hospital for diabetes. This staff member became quite impertinent and said they were going to hang up on me and they did.

When I brought this undignified treatment to the hospital's complaint department, the staff member wanted to apologise on the other staff member's behalf. I found that inadequate because I feel they were merely covering up for that staff member. I believe the apology should come from the staff member that hung up on me, or a letter of apology from the hospital's administration.

That is my complaint and wish to bring it to your attention.

Thank you and I feel very disappointed in St George Hospital.

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Responses

Response from Paul Darcy, General Manager, St George Hospital 3 years ago
Paul Darcy
General Manager,
St George Hospital

General Manager of St George Hospital

Submitted on 4/08/2020 at 8:17 AM
Published on Care Opinion at 9:27 AM


Dear St George Outpatient,

Thank you for taking the time to write of your recent experience at St George Hospital. I would like to apologise for the experience you have described as this is not in keeping with the service we strive to provide.

It is an expectation that staff abide by our code of conduct as well as the values of the hospital and I was disappointed to read that this was not your experience.

Please accept my explanation that it is quite normal for a senior member of staff to provide an apology on behalf of staff at times. This is not done as a cover-up; rather we utilise feedback as an opportunity for learning. I can assure you that your feedback will be passed on to the manager of the Outpatients Department to discuss further with the staff members.

I would ask you to contact our Patient Experience Manager again if you wish to discuss this further.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Darcy

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