11:19am Tuesday 9th February 2010
By Alex Hayes
A CAR crash victim has criticised the telephone system at a community hospital after being made to wait months for an appointment for his whiplash.
Vinoo Sachania, 54, of George Crescent, Finchley, was injured in the crash last June, and left with pain in his neck and back but had to wait three months to get a physiotherapy appointment by NHS Barnet.
He was forced to ring Finchley Memorial Hospital, in Granville Road, to cancel his appointment when he got flu and was told a letter would be sent with details of another appointment.
But no letter arrived and when the Royal Mail collections driver rang to complain, he was told he would have to get another referral from his GP because he had missed his appointment.
He said: “The system is a joke. I was forced to call for an hour before I was able to get through to the hospital in the first place, and then I found out they didn't cancel my appointment.
“It seems they don't take people seriously. I'm struggling to work properly because my neck is still sore and it hurts to drive for long periods of time.
“The system is not working properly for their patients.”
A statement from NHS Barnet said they were unable to comment on individual cases because of patient confidentiality, but said they were “very sorry to hear that a patient has experienced problems”.
It added: “The adverse weather conditions experienced last month resulted in some local health services (non-urgent care) being postponed in the interest of public safety. Physiotherapy was one of these services.
“As the department cleared the backlog of patients whose original appointments were postponed, the telephone lines during this time were busier than normal and some patients may have experienced difficulty getting a prompt response.
“These issues have been resolved and the service is now functioning as normal. Barnet Community Services apologises for any inconvenience this may have caused to patients.”
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