Elective Orthopaedic Centre
Dorking Road, Dorking Road, Epsom, Surrey, KT18 7EGContact details and opening times
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Review titled Broken service
Rated 1 star out of 5
by Mike Osborn - Posted on 03 November 2023
I took my 94 year old Dad into A&E at Epsom Hospital with chronic hip pain on 20th Oct 2023. After a four hour wait he was seen by a doctor who recommended an X-ray. He said the results were inconclusive but he wasn’t an orthopedic doctor and sent a referral to the orthopedic hub and told us to wait for a letter and gave Dad a prescription for seven days only of pain killers and anti inflammatory pain killing meds. In the meantime he said to make an appointment to see his GP at Derby Medical Centre. After three one hour long attempts to get through (having been ‘Number One’ in the queue for the last twenty minutes of those calls before it got cut off, obviously a surgery policy), we tried to register via the website for a call from the surgery and received a text message telling us to use the website even though my Dad is over 65 and has no access to the internet due to his bad eyesight. We managed to get an appointment for two weeks time to see his GP. During the interim my Dad, still in pain, had run out of the prescription painkillers. I went back to A&E to see if the referral had been made and also to see if I could get a repeat prescription for some more medication. I was told to call 01372 735800, the Orthopedic Hub for Epsom to chase it up and told that Dad would need to come down personally to A&E and wait in line to see a doctor to get a prescription. (Understandably they can’t give medication by proxy without prior notice but bad that a 94 year patient should have to seek help ( jump through hoops) himself via his children to get the service he has paid for his whole life). He was still at home unable to move properly and in pain so not an option to sit in A&E for another 4 hours. After several (8) attempts where you are offered three unsuitable options, told to hold on to speak to reception then get cut off, I gave up and decided to get the strongest pain killers allowable over the counter for Dad and wait until today (two weeks after his trip to A&E) to see his GP. I took him there this morning and he was seen by a Physio who said that a referral had been made according to Dad’s records, it was marked urgent too, but it had not been followed up by this clinic and gave me the same 01372735800 number to chase it up myself. As he wasn’t a doctor, he couldn’t give Dad another prescription bad said he would get a GP to send one to our elected pharmacy. I have just tried 10 times to get through to your clinic on that number but cut off every time after holding on. This is worse than useless and you are not fit for purpose. If I had a sick dog it would get better care. My Father has had excellent service when he has had his hip operations at Epsom Hospital but this aftercare is shockingly bad. I can only assume that there is political defunding of the NHS to make it easier to bring in privatisation in the future. This system is broken and it’s people like my Dad who are paying the price.
Visited October 2023
Elective Orthopaedic Centre has not yet replied.
Information supplied by Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust