Appointments

[Mick F]

Good morning!
5am and sitting here with a cuppa.

I didn't "waste an appointment".
It was a conveyor belt of 10min appointments and there was a backlog.
By my dropping out, the men behind me moved one place up.

The letter was quite clear on the fact that i would be there only 20mins. It was in bold print.

[Psamathe]

...
I didn't "waste an appointment".
....

They were scheduled to do a given number of booked appointments e.g.50 in a day. You took one of those but walked-out so that day they only managed e.g. 49 and you will be taking another appointment on another day. To me that is a lost appointment and others waiting for ultrasound will have to wait longer.

Ian

[Mick F]

I don't agree, and you weren't there.

Received an email reply this morning:

Thank you for your email.
May we sincerely apologise for the unfortunate delay during your recent clinic appointment.
Please be assured we will re book you an appointment at Callington Health Centre when we are next screening at this site.
At present the clinic is possibly taking place on 2nd August 2017. I will pencil you in and send out confirmation of the appointment details nearer the time.

[reohn2]

TBH Mick,that's more administration generated because a retired patient has a short fuse
Plus your 20minute wait has now extended to three months

[John-D]

Judging from the time spent complaining about it, a few more minutes waiting might have saved you time.

I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my SM-G930F using hovercraft full of eels.

[Mistik-ka]

Mick, I don't think your time was wasted. If everyone meekly accepts bad service, then bad service becomes, by definition, acceptable. If complaints pile up high enough, even thoughtless bureaucrats begin to contemplate making changes —who knows, perhaps even improvements — lest the pile fall on their heads.

Well done.

[blackbike]

Although not really NHS related (sorry dentistry business is totally private IMHO) . . . . .

I know that there were no complaints whatsoever about NHS dentistry in my area between 2004 and 2010 because New Labour managed to eradicate it totally from the district during those years while it claimed it was improving the NHS.

GPs are private contractors to the NHS just like dentists.

All my experiences of NHS treatment with GPs has been entirely satisfactory, while my dealings with NHS employees in hospitals certainly haven't been. Although the medical treatment has been satisfactory the administration around it has been quite poor and the attitude of some staff was dismissive, ignorant and arrogant.

During my visits to hospitals both as a patient and as a chaperone for an elderly relative I have seen some appalling customer service and people getting very irate at the confusion, so I'm not surprised that the hospitals need to have notices reminding people that abuse or assault of staff is not tolerated.

The NHS seems not to bother with customer service and efficiency, perhaps because it knows most of its customers cannot go elsewhere. Monopolies are bad things for consumers, good things for their employees.

[axel_knutt]

To ensure that somebody e.g. held-up in traffic for 5 mins does not cause those expensive limited resources to be wasted it seems sensible to schedule so patients have to sometimes wait a bit, ensure that patients are always ready and waiting for the services.

I understand that they want patients there ready when the Dr calls them, but they're going about it the wrong way. I got a look at the patient register as I checked in at reception once, and they had two patients allocated for each 10 minute appointment slot, so the list gets later and later for every patient seen. If they allocated the correct average appointment duration for each patient and then timed each appointment for ~15 mins early everyone is still there ready but the list doesn't get later and later as the day wears on. I had an appointment for 9:15 and got in to see the doctor at 11:45.

[Mick F]

TBH Mick,that's more administration generated because a retired patient has a short fuse
Plus your 20minute wait has now extended to three months

Yes, but until I received the info about AAA, I'd never heard of it.
To be absolutely honest, I couldn't care one way or another if I have the scan or not.

Mick, I don't think your time was wasted. If everyone meekly accepts bad service, then bad service becomes, by definition, acceptable. If complaints pile up high enough, even thoughtless bureaucrats begin to contemplate making changes —who knows, perhaps even improvements — lest the pile fall on their heads.
Well done.

Thanks.
I think your post has summed it up.

I'll be replying to the email later, and I'll be saying that I'm happy to take any appointment or venue. Liskeard or Plymouth would be as good as each other. No doubt they don't do Gunnislake, or I could walk.

By the info on the email, it would seem that in the sleepy town of Callington, the scanner is only there every now and again. No doubt at Liskeard Hospital or Derriford Hospital, it's a permanent feature, so an appointment there would be easier for them and simpler for me. I'm happy to travel, so don't really need a local venue, but I'm aware that some 64/65 year olds aren't as versatile or as happy to travel as I am.

[reohn2]

TBH Mick,that's more administration generated because a retired patient has a short fuse
Plus your 20minute wait has now extended to three months

Yes, but until I received the info about AAA, I'd never heard of it.
To be absolutely honest, I couldn't care one way or another if I have the scan or no....

Then why turn up at all?

[Mick F]

Good question.

[Mistik-ka]

It is a good question, and searching for a rational answer has just robbed me of an hour which could have been spent weeding the vegetable garden in the blazing prairie sun. (What a shame. I'll have to go out after supper in the cool of the evening and brave the mosquitoes instead )

Most of the data I found is a decade old and while I can't vouch for its validity, it seems to have been used for decisions by health authorities and medical associations in formulating policies on ultrasound screening for abdominal aortic aneurysms. I'm not an expect in epidemiology or mathematics, so I urge you to take my vague numbers with a large grain of salt … though not so large as to exacerbate high blood pressure.

If there were no AAA screening for men aged 65 in the U.K. there would probably be 2,000 to 3,000 more deaths from ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms than there would be if all men aged 65 were screened.

Bear in mind that many people live out their lives with undetected AAAs, and many AAAs are found during examinations for unrelated problems. The risk is much higher from men than women, and significantly higher for smokers, ex-smokers, and anyone with a family history of AAA.

You could look upon it as an insurance policy, the premium of which has already beed paid via the NHS, who have concluded it is worth their time to do the screening. (A study by the Canadian Vascular Surgeons broke it down into cost per life saved, which points out the complexity of establishing health policies.) Is it worth your time? That depends on whether you're one of the 2,000 to 3,000 … but to find that out you'll have to have the ultrasound.

[dodger]

Mick's point about the scheduled AAA scanning is fair in that it normally doesn't involve a doctor, is easy to define timewise and doen't have the built-in problems associated with GPs seeing patients, so there was no need for a delay. He should have been advised of any delay and it costs nothing to apologise.
It somehow smacks of lack of valuing other people's time. Very much like waiting in for BT, when they can't even get there in the week promised, let alone the day. And as for getting to you within a reasonable time frame on the day, forget it!
When it comes to GP appointments, they have my sympathy in trying to squeeze so many people with so many ailments into a limited time frame. I rarely visit the GP, so I can't speak from much experience, but I'm happy to wait a reasonable time if the GP is stretched. Of course, it depends on personal circumstances and one's demeanour what is "reasonable".

[rjb]

I had this screening carried out at my gp's surgery last year by a nurse who came specifically to administer the test. There were several gentlemen booked in but we all had a 10 min slot and were all seen pretty much at the correct time. BTW it was a bit like a pregnancy scan I expect they are used to the "oh its twins" comments. Seem to recall they picked up a problem with Bruce Forsyth which explained his abscence from strictly - not that i watch it of course. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-34855260

[pliptrot]

Ah don't you just love these first world problems? But don't worry, everyone, the only health provision offered will soon be pay-as-you-use, and I am sure -for the right premium- you can be seen on time. Now, I am being impertinent and political, which is never far from discussions on the NHS, I suppose, but if you compare the NHS with European provision you will see that they spend more and get more. We have, of course, decided that better health care, better social provision and better treatment in general is just too much red tape and intrusion, and so we can march now unimpeded into an American system. Which is a total disaster for all but the richest. So if you really want to be seen on time, start saving up.