Twitter

We've been using Twitter for several years now. We originally started because we were getting lots of enquiries and requests from patients about reliable sources of medical information on the Internet. As well as linking to topical and popular medical subjects, we noticed that we could quickly issue updates about services and important information using a smartphone. This was much quicker and easier than trying to update web pages and proved invaluable when we had lots of snow a few years ago and had to quickly amend our clinics and services.

Unfortunately, we don't get any additional funding to provide this service (and, as a result, no extra personnel) so we can't spend time checking and responding to messages and comments about our tweets. Our Admin staff will usually post any tweets about our services, whereas our Doctors (usually Dr Geraint Preest) will post any medical related tweets. We also use software called "Hootesuite" which allows us to pre-schedule any tweets that may be of interest to you. Any tweets that are broadcast outside of normal working hours will usually have been pre-scheduled in this way, so just because a tweet goes out, it doesn't mean to say that a member of staff is actively tweeting at that time.

Finally, remember that you shouldn't try to contact us about any personal or urgent medical matters via Twitter. The account isn't manned regularly and it's not a secure way of sending personal information. It's much better to speak to us by phone about any urgent or confidential matters.

#Twitter #Hootesuite