Westminster PCT jacking me around (I think)...

[Cliff]

Last summer I received a letter from Westminster PCT asking me to verify my address.  I ignored it.  I received a second request in October/November and responded.  I didn't think anything of it until I saw my doctor last December and the receptionist said that I needed to bring proof of my address.  I did.  In January, I went back to my GP and again she said that I needed to bring proof of my address or else the PCT would drop me.  I did and I wrote an email to Westminister's PALS asking why I was constantly being asked to verify my address, considering I provided proof of my address and legal immigration status when I initially registered with the NHS.  I never received a response.

This morning I call my GP to schedule an appointment and they ask me again to bring proof of my address.  Now, I'm ticked-off and told them that I've done this twice already, (on top of responding directly to the PCT), and didn't see a need in me constantly bringing my passport/visa stamp plus a bill everytime I want to see a doctor.  The receptionist said that the PCT has issued a PC9 (or something), which means that I will be dropped soon.

I called PALS and sent an email.  Again, no response.

What do I do?  Can they really just drop you like that?  And what's the point of PALS if they don't ever respond to patients?

[newt]

Jacking you around... - matt

[penguin]

this, not on, get arsey with 'em

lynda hamlyn (pct chief executive)
15 Marylebone Road
NW1 5JD
Tel: 020 7150 8000 (switchboard)

kate

[Cliff]

Thanks for the CEO's name Kate.  And thanks to Google, I secured her email address (and her PA's).  Plus the name/email addresses of the Complaints and Corporate Affairs Manager and a few other individuals at Marylebone Road.  I fired off an email, en mass, last night and received a response this morning that they are looking into a) why I am receiving this request and b) why PALS has not responded.

[Cliff]

Problem solved!  The "PF69" is now off my record and an apology was issued for the administrative oversight that resulted in it being there in the first place (my surgery and that unproductive, snooty receptionist were partially at fault).

 

[Andy Velez]

Glad to read that mess got worked out, Cliff.

It's a perfect and infuriating example of how these bureaucracies screw people around whom they are supposed to be serving.

I'm sure you're keeping the letters on file since even when they say something is "fixed" the problem can turn up again. And here you were just minding your own business and going along....

All that energy spent on a problem that ought never to have happened in the first place.

Sheeeesh...

[Robert]

and it's a perfect example how we can all help each other out here.  I know when cliff was living here in the states he contributed an awful lot to helping people find resources/solutions for their problems.  Tit for tat.

robert

[penguin]

glad you got it sorted...

kate