Medical mail fails to reach Oban home (again)
A sick Oban pensioner who missed an urgent appointment at Oban hospital due to late post nearly missed her rescheduled appointment when a second letter did not reach her home – 12 days after it was posted across town.
Two weeks ago we reported how Oban resident Lynda Low, who feared she may have cancer, missed seeing medics at Oban’s Lorn and Islands Hospital because her appointment letter did not arrive at her Longsdale home, over a week after it was sent from the hospital.
She only received the letter, too late for her emergency appointment, when she visited the Royal Mail’s sorting office on Albany Street, Oban, to complain.
Lynda, 69, is diabetic and when her toenail turned black staff at the Lorn and Islands Hospital in Oban set up an urgent appointment to see her. ‘There is a chance this could be cancer,’ she told The Oban Times.
The Royal Mail’s website says it delivers second class post in two to three working days, including Saturdays.
Eggventure Oban returned at the weekend, much to the delight of families who took part in the special Easter weekend chocolate hunt.
Organised by Adventure Oban, Ben Sunderland told us: ‘We had a great turnout throughout the day, with lots
Yet this second class letter had taken eight working days to get as far as the Royal Mail’s sorting office in Oban - a mile from Oban hospital - but failed to be delivered to Lynda’s Longsdale home.
On the day of Lynda’s missed appointment, Friday April 1, Oban hospital rescheduled a second for Tuesday April 12, and posted another letter to her Oban home giving the date and time of this appointment.
On Saturday April 2, Lynda left for a planned holiday with her family in Blackpool. When she returned a week later on Saturday April 9, again there was no post at her house.
On Tuesday April 12, her daughter went to collect a parcel from the sorting office, and, while she was there, asked to pick up her mother’s post as well. She was handed the hospital’s second letter for her mother’s rescheduled appointment, due to take place that day.
Luckily the appointment was of families finding the hidden locations that ranged from Inverawe, Ganavan Shorewalk, McCaig’s Tower, Dunollie Woods, Pulpit Hill, Beinn Lora and Glencruitten Woods.
‘Special mention to Helen and Stewart at Oban Chocolate Company, who once again scheduled later in the afternoon, so she did not miss it.
‘It was not out for delivery,’ Lynda said. ‘It was sitting in the sorting office. If my daughter had not picked it up, I would have missed my appointment for a second time.’
The letter was franked on Friday April 1 – the day of her missed first appointment.
It means that, within two weeks, two letters for an urgent appointment at Oban hospital failed to be delivered to the same address – but this time it took even longer – 10 working days for the second class letter to reach Lynda’s hands, and only then because it was collected from the Royal Mail’s sorting office in Oban.
‘The only two times that I have got mail was when I went to collect it,’ Lynda said. ‘How many people are missing appointments?’
NHS Highland said each missed appointment costs on average £176.
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: ‘The vast majority of mail is delivered safely and on time. We aim to deliver to all addresses we have mail for, six days a week.
‘In the local area, we are experiencing some delays to service due to high levels of provided beautiful ‘first prize’ eggs for the first people that found each location.’ The egg hunt was organised in part as a thank you to people for taking part in Adventure Oban’s One Million Miles and all its other activities throughout the year. sickness absence, Covid-related self-isolation and resourcing issues.
‘We completely understand the disappointment expressed by our customer about not receiving two appointment letters the hospital reported having sent, and we apologise to any customers who may have experienced delays to their mail. We have been working hard to get our levels of service back to normal as soon as possible.
‘Anyone who has concerns over the delivery of their mail should contact the Royal Mail customer service team on 03457 740 740 or via the Royal Mail website www.royalmail. com.’
The Royal Mail said a number of new postmen/women are set to start working in the local area, which is expected to bring about considerable improvement.
‘If my daughter had not picked it up, I would have missed my appointment...’