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"Misuse of Emergency contact number."

About: Star Health - Prahran

(as a service user),

I missed a call from the Dental Surgery at Star Health Parhan.

Before I could call back I received a frantic phone call from the person I had listed as my Emergency Contact asking me if I was alright because they had received an SMS asking if I planned to attend a dental appointment the following day.

I think it is extremely unprofessional to use an Emergency Contact in such a manner.

I now feel trust has been completely broken and I'm extremely upset.

More about:

Responses

Response from Amanda Wilson, Quality Manager, Org Support and Development, Star Health

Dear Tracebuster,

I am concerned to hear that you feel there has been a breach of trust. We take the privacy of our patients very seriously.

Each day, we run a report from our dental system in order to send SMS reminders to our clients for the next day. This is to ensure we give people enough time to let us know if circumstances have changed and they can no longer attend. We can then offer the appointment to someone else.

Without knowing the exact details of what has occurred, I can only assume the number for your Emergency Contact has been pulled out as part of this report and this is why they received an SMS. It seems this has coincided with us calling you.

I would be keen to talk with you and be clear about exactly what happened in this case and to ensure that your information is correctly listed in our system. I can be contacted on 8644 3347.

Kind regards,

Amanda Wilson

Service Experience and Quality Manager, Star Health

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