DELIVERIES TO A HOSPITAL
> HOSPITAL ADDRESS DEFINITION
We would include all NHS and private hospitals along
with certain nursing homes and retirement homes and
convalescent homes.
All of these premises involved
in the care of various people of all ages in the community.
DELIVERIES TO A HOSPITAL
> CORRECT DELIVERY INFORMATION
A successful and efficient delivery depends upon having
correct and full delivery information. We request
fullest information on our order form, this is check
against our address checking system before orders
are dispatched.
This information follows through
to the delivery driver at the point of delivery. If
incorrect details have been supplied which cannot
be checked or verified then the delivery can become
more difficult or in extreme cases incorrect.
DELIVERIES TO A HOSPITAL
> RECIPIENT NAME IN HOSPITAL
Please ensure that you fill in a full name for the
recipient on the order form. We particularly require
the name that the recipient will be registered under
at the delivery address.
Where the recipient is a woman
we would request that we are given the ladies actual
name not her husbands name unless he is also a patient.
We will be pleased to have initials
for the recipient rather than just a surname but would
prefer the first or christian name in full if possible.
DELIVERIES TO A HOSPITAL
> PATIENT, STAFF OR VISITOR?
We tend to send gifts to hospital and automatically
think they are going to a patient. Nowadays we very
often send flowers for various reasons to members
of staff and even visitors. This could be a relative,
like the mother of a child who is ill in the hospital.
Please clarify in the address box if the recipient
is not a patient.
When flowers or gifts are sent
to member of staff in a hospital it is useful to indicate
a title for that member of staff.
We very often send gifts, such
as flowers or fruit baskets by way of thanks to all
the staff in a particular ward, usually after the
patient has left the hospital. Please make your order
clear by addressing your gift something like "To
all the staff" on the next line , "Ward
B", next line "The Hospital"
If a gift is intended for a
short term patient please be aware of the restrictions
of timed deliveries and the normal expectations and
guarantees of our service.
DELIVERIES TO A HOSPITAL
> LOCATION IN HOSPITAL
Every order sent into a hospital should be addressed
to indicate the location where delivery is required
in the hospital. This could be a ward name or number,
a department, an office, nurses accomodation, a service
department, a specialised unit and many other locations.
Please indicate, where appropriate,
any named building or location within the hospital
premises.
Some hospitals have become so
large, like towns in their own right, they are very
spread out and having the name of the road or an entrance
can be useful.
Patients in private hospitals
like BUPA or Nuffield hospitals may have room numbers
rather than ward numbers. Deliveries to these hospitals
are usually more precise, being accepted by the main
reception desk.
DELIVERIES TO A HOSPITAL
> THIRD PARTY DELIVERY
We need to state that when one of our gifts is ordered
for delivery to a hospital address it may not be personally
delivered to the requested recipient by our delivery
agents. We are restricted by the fact that many deliveries
which are made to hospitals are made to a central
delivery point such as the reception, the porters
lodge or the post room. We refer to this as the "central
delivery point"
This may be specific to the
department within the hospital where the recipient
is working and to where the delivery has been addressed
or it may be a collective point relative to the whole
hospital. In extreme, for postal deliveries and some
personal deliveries, it can be an alternative physical
location for a specific hospital where all mail or
deliveries are re directed. This policy would be followed
by us but stated by the hospital.
It is impossible for us to be
responsible for the actions of other people working
within the hospital where the delivery is being made.
We make it part of our terms & conditions for
the service we provide that we consider our part in
the delivery process has been completed once your
gift has been delivered to and received by a member
of the staff at the central delivery point.
We regret that we are normally
unable to influence or control the movement or rate
of movement of our gifts within the hospital, especially
to determine or guarantee how quickly they will be
received by the recipient. This is especially important
where any timed delivery, such as our London Express
Delivery Service, has been purchased.
Although we will try to help
locate a gift which not have been received by the
recipient within a hospital, we consider the limit
of our guarantee and involvement finishes on proof
of delivery to the central delivery point not the
recipient. We regret that we will not entertain any
complaints concerning the product and its delivery
after the delivery has been made to the central delivery
point.
DELIVERIES TO A HOSPITAL
> CONDITION OF GIFT DELIVERED
Your gift will be produced, packaged and delivered
by the method of distribution chosen for each gift.
We will ensure that your gift is delivered to the
central delivery point at the delivery address.
We would expect that as gifts
are received they are reasonably checked by the person
receiving them for any obvious physical damage. Any
damage would be reported on the delivery document
when the gift was signed for at the central delivery
point. The recipient would be informed and hopefully
we would be informed allowing us to assess the situation,
make a claim against our delivery people and try to
rectify the position for the recipient.
Whilst we will always entertain
any complaint for damaged goods which have been received
and signed for as damaged from the Royal Mail, courier
or our florist, we consider it fair comment that we
cannot be held responsible for any damage which occurs
between the gift being received at the central delivery
point and finally arriving with the recipient.
We are not prepared to accept
responsibility for damage, deterioration or poor condition
of any gift but especially more perishable gifts such
as fresh flowers and fruit where they have been mishandled,
incorrectly delivered within the hospital, forgotten,
mislaid or generally abused rendering them as not
best quality when they finally reach the recipient.
DELIVERIES TO A HOSPITAL
> RECIPIENT MOVED OR GONE HOME
We are constantly aware of the fact that patients
are moved within a hospital, discharged at short notice
and not always admitted when they intended.
Your gift will be organised
for delivery on the day you have requested providing
this fits in with our normal delivery schedule for
that product. We will always confirm the delivery
date and try to draw to your attention any changes
we have made to the delivery date.
We are constantly aware of the
fact that patients do move wards in a hospital and
can go home early. Once your gift has been dispatched,
especially for courier and Royal Mail deliveries we
will be unable to change the delivery target. If the
delivery is through our florist we may be able to
help a little more providing the delivery has not
left the florist shop.
Many hospitals are unwilling
to become involved in moving gifts from one location
to another even within the hospital. We will have
to ask you to liase with the hospital to try to arrange
for the gift to catch up with the recipient. We will
however try to assist where possible.
Where the recipient has gone
home we will not be able to change the Royal Mail
delivery unless notice is received well before the
delivery day. If the gift is being delivered by courier
the delivery will still go ahead to the intended location
unless we have notice by the mid afternoon on the
day of dispatch. Where the delivery is by florist
driver we may be able to redirect your gift given
enough notice and provided the delivery hasn't left
the florist shop.
We regret that if we are notified
at too late a stage in the delivery process that the
recipient has gone home, your gift will still be delivered,
you will need to check with the hospital that they
have the gift and where it is and arrange for a member
of the recipients family to collect your gift from
the hospital.
DELIVERIES TO A HOSPITAL
> REDIRECTION OF ORDERS
The redirection of orders varies from being almost
impossible with Royal Mail deliveries, to more expensive
and time consuming with courier deliveries. In some
cases we will not physically be able to organise changing
the delivery location. We can sometimes organise a
redelivery through our florist delivery service but
extra costs will apply.
We regret that if we have followed
your instructions and delivered your gift to the correct
location we cannot accept the responsibility or any
financial implication of further delivering the gift.
Once your gift has been accepted at the hospital,
we will not be responsible for its safety, condition
or well being if the recipient has gone home.
If delivery of your gift is
refused at the hospital because the recipient has
moved or gone home it could be returned to our dispatch
department. As we had followed your instructions for
this delivery and completed our part of the contract
we would expect to arrange a further delivery of the
same gift to the original recipient at a new address.
We would expect, as part of our terms & conditions
for this situation, to charge a further cost, to you
our customer, for this service. This cost would reflect
the cost of organising the re delivery and be at the
discretion of our duty manager at the time.
DELIVERIES TO A HOSPITAL
> ASSISTANCE WITH PROBLEMS
We wish to point out that we value every order placed
through our service. We will always be as helpful
as possible whenever a problem occurs with any order.
The more notice we have the better.
Unfortunately when gifts are
being delivered to a hospital we are dealing with
members of staff at the hospital who are already working
under stress and not really employed to help sort
out our problems.
With the pressures of normal
hospital life trying to make changes to a delivery
or requesting assistance over a delivery can be very
difficult.
We must stress the importance
of correct information and the knowledge that the
recipient wiil be at the delivery location.
DELIVERIES TO A HOSPITAL
> HOSPITAL NAME AND ADDRESS
We will require the full and correct name of the hospital
to be entered in the address details. This must be
qualified by the correct address for the hospital.
The correct address is even more important where one
hospital may have branches or departments in more
than one geographical location.
Please remember that some hospitals
are so enormous covering many acres and amounting
to the size of a small town in their own right.
DELIVERIES TO A HOSPITAL
> POSTAL CODE
We will value having the hospital postal code supplied
with the delivery address.
DELIVERIES TO A HOSPITAL
> TELEPHONE NUMBERS
Hospital telephone numbers are very useful to assist
with the delivery process. We would prefer a telephone
number for the hospital or the ward rather than for
the recipient.
Where an order is being delivered
to a resident in a retirement or nursing home it is
often more practical and tactful for us to have the
telephone number for the premises to be able to speak
to a member of staff there rather than a direct line
to the recipient.
DELIVERIES TO A HOSPITAL
> SPECIAL UNITS IN HOSPITALS
We very often find that deliveries of flowers are
not acceptable for recipients who remain in Intensive
Care Units or Cardiac Care Units. Other gifts from
our range may be more acceptable.
This problem may be overcome
if the specific hospital care unit has a visitors
room attached to the ward unit where the flowers could
be kept. It is even better if there is another family
member there to receive your gift.
Normal deliveries can of course
continue as soon as the recipient has improved and
moved on to a normal ward.
DELIVERIES TO A HOSPITAL
> NO FLOWERS AT CERTAIN HOSPITALS
There are one of two hospitals in the country who
will not allow fresh flowers into the wards for medical
or purely administrative reasons. Some hospitals are
selective on the type of product allowed.
We have no specific information
on this situation which will not affect other gifts
from our range but would ask all customers to be aware
of this point.
DELIVERIES TO A HOSPITAL
> INTERNATIONAL HOSPITALS
Please note that all the above information refers
to our UK delivery products and services. Similar
information for international orders would need to
be extensive but specific for each of the many countries
we cover. Please use the details on this page as a
loose guide to general thinking for international
orders.
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