| She became distressed and anxious when trying to find her way to Wallacetown Health Centre with a patient requiring attention.
The complainer was full of praise for the service on offer once she eventually found her way to Wallacetown, but remains concerned about the difficulties reaching it.
She drove round and round, becoming confused in the morass of one-way streets that surround the health centre. Irritatingly for her, she came across a number of signposts to other health centres in close proximity to Wallacetown.
“The out-of-hours service is excellent when you get there,” said the woman. “They were really good, but finding it was a nightmare.
“I am not an elderly person and I am familiar with Dundee and thought I knew that area fairly well, but I had never had cause to visit Wallacetown before.
“There were no signs pointing out where to go as you approached the area and I got caught up in the one-way system and ended up driving round and round, trying to find it.
“There seemed to be signs to every other health centre in that area, but not Wallacetown and, at the weekend or during the night, Wallacetown is the one you want.”
Wallacetown is the primary care emergency centre where patients are sent if they require attention when family doctor surgeries are closed.
NHS Tayside is responsible for providing the service, but it is the national nurse-led telephone advice service NHS 24 that is the gateway to services on the ground.
Patients phone NHS 24 when their own GP surgery is closed and it is NHS 24 who decide whether simply to offer advice over the telephone, send a patient to hospital or ask them to attend a primary care emergency centre such as Wallacetown.
Dr Joyce Meikle is NHS Tayside’s part-time medical director for the health authority’s out-of-hours services. She said she had not previously been made aware of problems finding Wallacetown.
Dr Meikle said she would look in to the possibility of erecting clear signage to direct people to the health centre. She added, “What I would advise people to do, if they are not familiar with Wallacetown, is that they mention it when they are on the phone to NHS 24 and they will arrange for somebody to give directions.” |
