Send in the City – Sirona Care and Health Failing Children in Bristol

Sirona Care and Health Failures at Eastgate House:

Children in Bristol with Send are not just being failed in education by Bristol City Council. They are also being failed by those who provide health care in the city.

Families in the city who have a child with neurodiverse behaviours already know that accessing services is a long waiting game.

I challenge anyone to come up with a longer game master than Sirona Care and Health, the non-profit social enterprise organisation responsible for administrating community paediatrician appointments in East Bristol.

At the advice of my child’s then Y1 teacher, I asked our GP to make a referral to the community paediatrician in 2016. This was done and I sat back and waited for an outcome. As the months passed, I realised that too much time had gone by. Chasing this up with my GP, the receptionist asked if this was a new referral or the one from a year ago. It was the one from exactly a year ago.

According to Sirona, reports that should have come to both us as a family and the school she attended were just not made. The GP then made a re-referral a year after the first one and we were finally seen in May 2017.

The paediatrician ordered a series of assessments from services such as Occupational Therapy, Audiology and Speech and Language Therapy. She was supposed to see the paediatrician 2-3 months later in July 2017.

Sirona did not send us a follow-up appointment for two-three months later. As it was, time again passed before I realised we should have received one.

Sirona, in response to a complaint I made, bluffed their way through this saying that reports ‘were due to be discussed with you on 24 July 2018’. This totally neglects to explain why this appointment was a year late and only happened after I chased it up.

Sirona made it for July 2018 after I had made enquiries to its lateness and not July 2017 as requested by the Eastgate House paediatrician.

So far, it has taken one whole year from first referral to first appointment and one whole year between first appointment and first follow-up.

The July appointment was cancelled on 03/07/2018. I received a letter saying ‘unfortunately we have had to cancel your child’s appointment…We are very sorry for any inconvenience this may cause; please be assured we will prioritise the allocation of an alternative appointment and issue a further letter as soon as possible.’

So now the year late follow-up appointment was cancelled and there was not a whiff of information regarding how long she would now be waiting. If you’ve been a Send parent for as long as I have, these kind of letters just don’t work. I wanted an answer and it was around now I started the complaints process.

Sirona clearly pointed the finger of blame at the paediatricians for the July cancellation saying ‘we always try to ensure our consultants give us sufficient notice of intention to take annual leave to avoid having to cancel appointments; on this occasion this did not happen’.

From the catalogue of cock-ups, I’m not really buying this answer. And it’s not really professional to blame medical staff like this. In any case, what employer does not anticipate staff holidays at the start of the school summer holidays.

After discussing with the booking team about replacement appointments, I clearly expressed the days and times that we were available. A 3pm appointment wouldn’t work because of school run commitments to an older child with additional needs. So, we received a new appointment in the middle of the day at the end of September.

So, obviously, this appointment was cancelled and I received a further replacement appointment from Sirona for September 25 at 3pm.

This would be a farce if it at the centre of it were not a child who was desperately struggling.

Eventually, a suitable appointment was agreed upon, some 15 months late.

In response to my complaint, they wrote: ‘I am really sorry for the delay in your daughter’s appointments and understand how frustrating this has been for you and I am pleased this has been rectified.’

Rectified? Let’s look at rectified. Did we all fly two years back in time and make sure the process was followed correctly? No.

Did we wait a year for a follow up appointment for which no reasonable explanation has been offered? Yes.

Are Sirona blaming their cock-ups on healthcare staff? Yes.

Has my child’s difficulties magically disappeared in the last two years? No.

Or have they exacerbated beyond control whilst waiting a year? Yes.

Has this affected her everyday life to the point where she has been unable to cope? Yes.

Has the situation been rectified? No.

Rectified by finally managing to stick to an appointment does not rectify two years’ of incompetence from Sirona Health & Care.

They are quick to blame everyone else but themselves. The way they administer appointments at Eastgate House has been shocking and I feel that Chief Executive Janet Rowse has done the perfect Response to Complaints Course, but hasn’t actually told us why children are waiting years to be seen and years for follow up appointments.

‘Regrettably’ just doesn’t work when you are dealing with children who have complex healthcare needs and difficulties.

Regrettably doesn’t work when you are trying to help them overcome the barriers they face trying to access life.

It’s another shocking shambles children with disabilities in Bristol face from the services they need the most.

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