Frustration has well and truely set in – Manchester

Rant Alert

Apologies for this rant but I need to vent big time.

I am a fairly chilled individual – don’t get easily triggered, understand human error and am patient however the Manchester administration is testing my patience massively.

My journey thus far:

22/03/2017 – initial consultation which went great. All questions answered by Alison and i left feeling positive. The next day the price was agreed and I paid my deposit. We agreed for my pre-op consultation to be on the 14th April and full payment to be made 3 weeks pre-op on the 31st of May which i booked in. Went ahead and booked both the 14th off and the 31st May + 2 weeks.

24/03/2017 – Document to sign recieved with date for pre-op on the 19th April and full payment to be made 05/04. I message my PC s.tating the dates are wrong, and i get the first out of office message back.

25/03/2017 – I recieve a reply to my message stating “sorry the deposit hasnt come off the price” along with reassurance that the final payment date would be changed to what was agreed. I reply back stating the price was correct but the pre-op date was incorrect.

27/03/2017 – I recieve a reply stating the 14th April as intially agreed is fully booked but I can have my preop on the 7th April or 2nd May. I call work to get a holiday in on the 7th April and the date is agreed. I am then replied to stating that has to be at a later date. I cancel my holiday on the 7th and move it to the 2nd may which is agreed to.

29/03/2017 – message recieved saying the may consult isnt live yet but i will get document through to confirm the 2nd May the following week.

04/04/2017 – message recieved stating my full payment is due (ffs). I reply back stating that we had agreed the payment date to be 3 weeks prior op so unsure why i was being chased payment. Also mentioned that i still hadnt recieved my pre-op confirmation. Out of office reply recieved

04/04/2017 – called the Manchester office and had a rant. The agreed payment date had not been added to the system. I asked to be sent the confirmation document.

11/04/2017 – txt sent to query where my confirmation ddocument is as still not recieved. Out of office reply recieved.

13/04/2017 – confirmation document recieved. All in order and I have myself a sigh of relief.

19/04/2017 – email recieved to state i had cancelled my pre-op date. Followed up with a txt to state a new date is required due to all nurses now in theater that day (ffs). I call up and is given the earliest next date – 8th May. Confirmation recieved.

02/05/2017 – txt recieved stating “good luck with your surgeon today, i will contact wednesday to see how it went”. I reply stating 2nd May was cancelled by themselves and my date is on the 8th. Out of office reply recieved. An hour later i recieve an email and txt stating i have missed my appointment (sigh). I call the number listed however cannot get through to Manchester and am offered a callback. No callback recieved nor do i get a call from my PC as written in my good luck txt.

03/05/2017 – I call again. Still unable to get through and am offered a callback. No callback recieved.

I am left feeling like I have been chucked in some sort of No Reply Required folder and that no one gives a shiz. I also can only assume my appointment is still Monday next week.

I feel frustrated just reading this 🙁
Im also quite a chilled out person and understand human error but its quite obvious that from recent posts on the forum that Mya have some serious staffing issues in some of their clinics, there seems to be nurses coming and going all the time and my opinion PCs workloads are too heavy, i think their popularity is increasing but staff numbers arne’t it’s seems on the surface to be a basic supply and demand problem, i dont think for one moment the staff are sitting around chatting not getting things done nor do i think that the chaos is down to a lack of organisation i just think they need more staff, i must say since i have replied to your post i feel it’s only right that i state that i have had none of these issues (but incredibly sorry you & others have!!) Im with the Newcastle clinic and all my appointments been at the time they were planned, all my visits confirmed by email and follow up texts, i had a change of PC from my original initial consultation but that was simply because the 2nd and 3rd time i went to see her i opted to see somebody else rather than wait the extra 15-20 mins that they were slightly running behind schedule
(Im not impatient but have a special needs child at home so running behind schedule is difficult for me).
The 2nd PC i was given was just as nice and proffesional as the first so i had no issues with the change both lovely girls, most of my calls have been answered but if not they are allways returned very shortly after, payment dates and agreements were adhered to both ends and the 4 times ive had to call my nurse twice i was put straight through and twice called back within half an hour, my PC rang me and emailed me with my admission time 2 days earlier than expected , she called me 3 days prior to surgery to wish me well and post op i have been contacted twice just to see how im getting on and how my recovery is going so i can’t praise the Newcastle team enough.
If i had of had the experience you have just had then i would have huge concerns about my post surgery care if i ran into problems, this is an expensive privately performed operation for wich there are many providers so i don’t think your experience so far should be more on par with currrent NHS experience, as said i have nothing but praise for my clinic but if MYA on the whole wan’t to be seen as one of the top providers in this field they need to up their game,
Good luck to you and i really do hope you can get it sorted out without any continuation of unwanted stress, the operation has risks but the booking process shouldn’t! xxx

Nailed it on the head.

I manage a team myself and fully understand the pressure staff is under when business levels exceeds staffing levels and thats why i have been so chill about the lack of communcation and change of dates. However, when i am constantly being chased for missed payments or appointments which should have changed then that leads to lack of faith in the care put into my journey. I am as you said, now seriously concerned with post op care and have no idea whether or not my post op consultation is still on Monday and what to expect. Literally left in lingo. I feel like with the amount of money going into this and the fact that i am undergoing life changing procedure, the customer service should at a minimum outdo that i would get from my phone or electricity companies – it does not.

I have somehow managed to get a txt from Alison this morning to state I will recieve a manager call which will be a nice change of settings. Hoping it will all work out in the end.

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