Other Medical Matters

Although the tumour in my colon is trying to hog the limelight we have found time to deal with other medical matters.

Gerry’s Clinic Appointment

First up my wife had an appointment at St Mary’s Community Health Campus in Portsmouth. The appointment was made back in December and was scheduled for 13:00 20th February. We arrived twenty minutes early. As per our last visit there was no one in reception.

So nobody to register the fact that we have arrived or to inform the clinician.

While sitting twiddling our thumbs I was reading the various notices one of which caught my eye. It was directed at deaf patients, advising them to go to reception who would advise the clinician of their presence as they may not hear their name being called. Brilliant, if there had been a receptionist.

This lack of receptionist became an issue for us as we still had not been called by 13:20. So I can’t speak to anyone and having wandered around to see if our clinician was present I decided to phone the hospital.

Amazingly, someone answered the phone almost immediately. I explained our situation. Her first comment was that all appointments had been cancelled. Of course I challenged this, asking when and how patients had been informed.

In the meantime she is sifting through my wifes notes from her last appointment. Informing me that there was nothing about a follow-up appointment, no record on the system, no indication that a notification had been sent out.

We were able to tell her that the clinician had, at the last appointment, written the appointment details on the original invitation letter.

We were promised that an incident was being raised and that we would be contacted to discuss it further

The net of this was that we had had a wasted journey, 14 mile round trip, as well as having to pay for parking.

Fibroscan

Later this same day I had a totally different experience. At short notice I was invited to attend the Hepatology Department for a Fibroscan. I have these every six months or so since I was diagnosed with NAFLD (Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease).

If you have never had one of these it is probably simplest of scans. It is a form of ultrasound and the sensation for the patient is that it feels like someone has flicked you on your side.

So, just before 16:00, I presented myself at the department reception. Yes it was manned!! Hardly had my bum hit the seat in the waiting area than I was called through to the treatment room. A few minutes later, after being scanned, I was on my way out of the hospital.

Gerry’s Clinic Appointment – Follow Up

The following day we received a call from the clinic supervisor. She was very apologetic and put our experience down to human error. Nothing like stating the obvious but they were doing something, and quickly.

So we have a new appointment set for next week.

We also discussed the lack of receptionist. Obviously the receptionist is entitled to a lunch break but there should be some form of cover. Especially when there are active clinics underway. If no receptionist then there should be some better signage giving useful information like telephone numbers to be called.

If I didn’t have a smart phone with access to the internet I would have been stuffed.