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Poor customer service

Posted By controllerpg85

"Poor customer service"

About: Hedland Health Campus / Outpatients

(as the patient),

I called the Hedland Health Campus switchboard and asked to be connected to the OutPatients department. I was transferred and the phone did not answer and I was redirected back to the Switchboard. This process was repeated many many times throughout the day with no luck. I was then advised that as there was only 2 staff handling the multiple enquiries that this was common. 

I felt frustrated and angry as I knew the department was open but I could not get a response. Based on my experience, it is extremely clear to me that the OutPatients reception is undermanned and I believe more resources need to be put in place to correct the downfall. Please consider this. It is generally not a happy time when people are battling health problems and to be connected to a department is, I feel, not an unreasonable thing. Come on HHC, I believe you can do much better.

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Responses

Response from Louise Steedman, Operations Manager, East Pilbara, WA Country Health Service (WACHS) Pilbara 2 years ago
We are preparing to make a change
Louise Steedman
Operations Manager, East Pilbara,
WA Country Health Service (WACHS) Pilbara

Manages the operations of health services located in East Pilbara

Submitted on 26/07/2021 at 11:54 AM
Published on Care Opinion at 1:00 PM

Dear controllerpg85,

Thank you for your feedback regarding your recent experience contacting the Hedland Health Campus Outpatient Department. I am sorry that your calls have not been answered and I understand how frustrating this would be for you, especially when you have health concerns. We are currently reviewing all the processes in the outpatient department to ensure that we are meeting the needs of the Pilbara community. Staffing resources and methods for receiving referrals, bookings, communicating and confirming appointments are part of this review. In fact, alternative methods of communicating are being explored to reduce the number of telephone contacts required to be made by consumers.

Outpatients do receive a large volume of telephone calls as well as face to face enquiries, and we advocate for dealing with face to face enquiries as a priority. This can lead to increased wait times for calls to be answered. I apologise that these delays occurred for you. We recognise the shortcomings of the current telephone system and as an interim step, we are in the final stages of implementing a cascading call waiting system with automated messages for both the main switchboard of the hospital and the Outpatient Department. This will provide our consumers with information regarding their status of progression in the call waiting queue, and enable them to decide whether to remain on hold or call back.

Thank you for taking the time to provide this feedback and I would encourage you to contact me to discuss how I can help further with your original enquiry. My details are below.

Kind regards

Louise Steedman

Operations Manager, East Pilbara

WA Country Health Service (WACHS) Pilbara

Louise.Steedman@health.wa.gov.au or telephone 9174 1038

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