Miller Frondigoun records that he was required to re-refer himself for cataract surgery as he was unable to accept the offered admission date and the preferred date he had indicated at the preliminary interview was then outside the target period (Letters, January 19).
Similar problems apply to outpatient appointments which, I am advised, operate on implied acceptance under the Scottish Government Health Department Guidance (New Ways) which advises that at least one week should be allowed to respond to the initial invite to contact the hospital.
I understand information technology systems automatically reset the patient's waiting time clock if no contact is made within that period.
The result is that where there is failure to respond there are cases where no further appointment is offered and re-referral is required.
Given the vagaries of the postal system and the possibility of other short-term contingences, operating an appointment system on a minimum seven-day response time seems unrealistic and allowing a minimum 14-day period would be fairer.
R Russell Smith,
96 Milton Road, Kilbirnie.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article