Postage not paid on letter from hospital

Jean Ashworth

Jean Ashworth is concerned patients could potentially miss appointments after she had to pay a missed postage fee on a letter regarding an appointment at North Manchester General Hospital.

Former Rochdale councillor, Mrs Ashworth received a Royal Mail missed letter card on Saturday 4 March and when she went to collect it, was shocked to discover that Pennine Acute Trust hadn’t paid the full postage amount.

She paid the £2 fee for the letter, which was regarding an important appointment for her husband, Allan.

She said: “How many more have been hit by this and missed appointments? This one is for a home assessment for Allan’s oxygen. We would have been at home as Allan is too poorly now and can't go out, but we wouldn't have known if I hadn't paid the £2 for such an important letter.

“When I rang up, I was told someone else also had to pay for a lack of postage.”

A spokesperson for The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said: “We would like to apologise to this patient for any inconvenience caused. We have informed the Trust’s postal services provider Whistl and they are investigating.

“We send out approximately one million pieces of mail each year by Whistl.

“Unfortunately, on rare occasions appointment letters can get stuck together and miss-franked as they are processed by the sorting machinery, however we believe this is an isolated incident as we are not aware of any other patients being affected.”

The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust has offered to refund Mrs Ashworth the full amount.