'I spent 3 days on hold trying to cancel my NHS appointment'

An 84-year-old woman has said she spent more than 16 hours over three days on hold to the NHS while trying to cancel an appointment.

Margaret Lister said she had been waiting since April to see a specialist at Scarborough Hospital about an infection, but had to cancel her consultation due to a family bereavement.

Lister was repeatedly promised by an automated answering service that her call would be taken by a member of staff - but she was left listening to hold music during repeated attempts to get through.

York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (YSTHFT) said the cold weather contributed to a higher than usual number of calls and they were "making further enquiries to ensure this does not happen again".

Lister said she had felt compelled to cancel the appointment, rather than simply not turn up, because the NHS had sent her a reminder text which said that a missed slot would cost the health service £160.

It also warned her that she would be removed from the waiting list and referred back to her GP.

Lister, from Eastfield, added that she needed to contact the NHS by telephone because she does not have internet access, though an online cancellation service is available.

"I'm not online. My husband unfortunately died eight years ago. We were on the internet then but when he died I didn't feel I was capable of going on it myself so I got rid of it.

"There's an awful lot of elderly people who aren't on the internet and we have to depend on using the telephone," she added.

After the BBC contacted the hospital trust, Lister received a call from a member of staff who offered an apology.

She was told that she would be offered a new appointment as soon as possible and that the problem with the helpline would be investigated.

A trust spokesperson clarified that snow and ice in the Scarborough area had led to many people using the service to cancel appointments if they could not travel safely, and added: "We recognise that being left waiting for such a long period is not the level of service we would want for our patients.

"Given the exceptionally long wait time in this instance, which is highly unusual, we are making further enquiries to understand whether there may have been an issue with the telephone line and to ensure this does not happen again."

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