Quote_Queen_67
6 years agoMember
Phone Contact with Eastern Health Breast and Cancer Centre
Just wondering if anyone else has had difficulty contacting the Eastern Health Breast and Cancer Centre by phone? Maybe it's just me but every time I call I get transferred to an answer machine, either for appointments OR to speak to a Breast Care Nurse and am told someone will call back. And they usually do, however, I cannot always get to their call, maybe I miss it due to driving or some other reason, so it flicks to a voicemail that asks me to ring the same number again - the number that transfers me to the answer machine! Forgive me for sounding frustrated but I am usually needing to speak to a person when I call - I don't want to leave a message to be called back. It's usually taken me all my energy to sit down with my diary or my question, I may even be distressed and needing some reassurance about something from the Breast Care Nurse and so an answer machine just does not cut it! I am not complaining about the staff on the desk, or any of the staff that operate out of this clinic - to be honest, I have never met more caring and helpful hospital staff - it's about the system. I really want to give my feedback but I want it to go to the correct person and I am thinking this would be an administrator? Who organises how the phones are answered? It can't be a case of understaffing - there are usually three or four receptionists on the desk! I also found out that even the Day Oncology nurses cannot phone an internal number to this clinic and have to resort to walking round there to speak to someone. This I find unacceptable. It is a beautiful clinic and the staff are lovely but the system of dealing with patients on the phone falls down dreadfully. Before I give my feedback, I would like to know if there are any other breast cancer patients who have faced a similar experience.