No. Not that kind. Not my favourite either…
As if life is not confusing enough. A couple of weeks ago I was given an appointment for treatment at the surgery centre in Clifton Park which notifies the time just a day or two out, so I was somewhat surprised to get a text ten days ago confirming that appointment for this Wednesday at 1015 in Queensbury. I decided it was a glitch and ignored it. The treatment is done under x-ray guidance, so it has to be at the surgery centre and last Friday, I got a call from them with the check-in time, 0815.
On Monday, I also got one of those automated reminder calls which once again mentioned Queensbury, so this time I decided to give them a call, just to be sure there were no mix-ups. Oh, no, no, no, I was told. The treatment would definitely be in Queensbury and they had no idea why the surgery centre should have thought otherwise.
So I got in touch with someone at the Clifton Park centre who was equally insistent that it was where I needed to go, but the lady said she would sort it out and get back to me, which she did and of course, she was right.
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Whether it is Artificial Intelligence or some human-programed glitch, I don’t know, but 24 hours later I got another reminder – to be in Queensbury at 1015. “Call us if you have questions.” So I did, but got a recording and decided not to bother. This is not in fact the first time I’ve been given conflicting information. When I dared to mention it once, I was crossly told to take it up with the business office.
Why would it be the client’s job to sort out their inefficiencies?
At the time, I was having to go through a physicians assistant in order to get treatment, but the woman’s attitude had become so rude and dismissive, I cancelled further appointments which made me sad because I really like the doctor who is kind and very helpful.
After thinking about it for a few days, I decided to write to him, not asking him to intercede, but to explain why I felt it necessary to leave his practice. One day a few weeks later the doctor called me and arranged for me to see him directly, in that other office in Queensbury. It turns out basically to be a staffing issue, which is no wonder, given the state of the medical care industry. Not a field I would even consider as a career choice if I was starting out.
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Since my first hospital stay in 1971, I have had a number of such experiences in which I was witness to the degeneration of care and efficiency which I attribute to staff shortages, a direct result of greedy shareholder demands. Health should not be big business.
How nurses are expected to function in that environment, I don’t know. I would be demented at the end of my first shift. If I felt sorry for myself, I was equally sorry for them.
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The way things are going, my health insurance premiums may soon be unaffordable, so then I shan’t have any such problems. The money saved could then go toward increased energy costs, or the ever escalating price of food. There’s always a bright side, right?
It’s all very well to make light of it. I am old and my little dependents are all uninsured anyway, so for me, it wouldn’t be the catastrophe it will be for millions of others.
An email dropped in on Tuesday night suggesting I log in to my account with one of those insurance providers to review the changes to the aforesaid premium. Did I want to look at it before bedtime? Sighing, I thought alright, here we go, only to find myself in a loop.
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Reconfirm my user id, change password, obtain code.
Change browser…the loop goes on…
In the end I got some of the information without the need to sign in. My primary care physician is not listed, but I am not going to worry about this since two doctors that are, in fact retired some time go, so the information is inaccurate.
Perhaps I’ll go for a walk in the above field. Yes, it does slope quite steeply.
Yet another sad indictment of the failures of the American health care system. Small wonder we are terrified that opposition parties want to introduce an identical insurance-based system here in Britain.
Best wishes, Pete.
I wholly sympathise with your medical problems, Carolyn, and hope that you need less as you seem to cope well with walking, which is the worst problem in older age. I do my best to avoid seeing doctors, as some of the problems you describe are already here.
Joanna
Oi! So sorry to hear you had such terrible treatment. Yes, since the Pandemic we have lost many providers and people seem to be shying away from entering the field – for good reason. We have excellent care for now but no promises going forward. Beautiful photos of the field!
Although we still have the NHS, we are already seeing some of the problems that you have been experiencing for some time. It is very difficult now to get a face to face appointment with a doctor, and everyone has to phone their surgery at 8am, to join a queue to add their name to a triage list. You may then be phoned by a doctor, nurse, or other grade of practitioner who will advise you further.
So much is wrong with the “health” “care” system.
After working in a hospital for 11 years, I knew I could never be a nurse. The nurses who had been caring for patients for many years complained that nursing care had changed so much and that there was no longer time (or energy) to build a trusting relationship with their patients. I think medical care has not only become almost unaffordable, but it is also no longer ‘patient-friendly’ – it’s a shame. Stunning photos though!