Trying to get through to our doctors' surgery at Ashfield Medical Centre is at times more than frustrating and annoying, as I've mentioned on various posts on here. Carol needed a fresh prescription for Co-codimol as she's experiencing real pain at night and none of the pain relief she is on is helping. There's a triage system in place which means you have to ring up, generally around 8.30 a.m.- onwards, which means you don't always get through immediately and have to go through a menu, choose which selection you need and then wait for some considerable time before getting through, probably having to wait in a queue.
It didn't take too long to get through, even though I had to endure the endless rigmarole of the menu. Once I'd got through I had to hand the phone to Carol. She was greeted by a most officious receptionist who said she'd come through to the wrong line and that they would only let those who were house-bound or over a 'certain age' to be allowed to have a prescription done the same day. I can't see what the problem is about this. She doesn't have Co-codomol on repeat and she could have had a ring-back from one of the doctors in the surgery to find out why the prescription was so important. She was then told that she would need to visit the surgery and bring a letter explaining why she needed the prescription. She she wrote and signed a letter to that effect and I drove towards Beanhill, where the Ashfield Medical Centre is situated. On arriving at the Standing Way roundabout that you have to circle in order to get to Saxon Street and then into Wastel, where Ashfield Medical Centre is, I found it closed to all traffic. So I had to make a right turn on the roundabout and journey along Standing Way and then round past the stadium, only to find that Saxon Street was closed off the opposite end to Standing Way. Which meant I had to find an alternative place to park and then walk to Beanhill and the surgery. I eventually decided the only place I could think of was Netherfield and to park in a space near the shops and then walk along the Redway towards Beanhill. This I did, and it was a considerable distance, crossing under several roads on the way. I managed to hand over the letter that Carol had written, but was given no guarantee that the prescription would be ready later in the day. I walked back to the car and did a bit of shopping in the Co-op in Netherfield and then drove home, a little bit annoyed by the way the situation had been created by the over officious receptionist at the surgery. All adding to the stress of the situation, not helped by the fact we had to ring in the first place and secondly, by the road-closure into the road near Beanhill and lastly, by the obstructive nature of the receptionist at the surgery.
I'm still not sure why the road was closed in the first place. Was it to re-surface the road, or to have the road dug up for some reason such as putting in pipes for gas or something? No warning given as I drove towards the roundabout on Standing Way, or example. It just made life very annoying.
I think this bureaucracy is partly the reason why the N.H.S. is in crisis. It seems over-burdened by administration. I know they need a certain amount of paperwork to operate, but to put managers and administrators in the way is just a waste of resources and money. Endless targets and statistics doesn't lead to efficiency. Just find a better way to do something would surely make more sense. How much money do they waste on business consultants and similar people? I'd love to know. Putting someone such as a receptionist in the way so as to prevent a patient getting medication is a disgrace. It should be a doctor who decides what should happen as they have the training and experience. Give someone a position of so-called authority and it can sometimes go to their head.
It didn't take too long to get through, even though I had to endure the endless rigmarole of the menu. Once I'd got through I had to hand the phone to Carol. She was greeted by a most officious receptionist who said she'd come through to the wrong line and that they would only let those who were house-bound or over a 'certain age' to be allowed to have a prescription done the same day. I can't see what the problem is about this. She doesn't have Co-codomol on repeat and she could have had a ring-back from one of the doctors in the surgery to find out why the prescription was so important. She was then told that she would need to visit the surgery and bring a letter explaining why she needed the prescription. She she wrote and signed a letter to that effect and I drove towards Beanhill, where the Ashfield Medical Centre is situated. On arriving at the Standing Way roundabout that you have to circle in order to get to Saxon Street and then into Wastel, where Ashfield Medical Centre is, I found it closed to all traffic. So I had to make a right turn on the roundabout and journey along Standing Way and then round past the stadium, only to find that Saxon Street was closed off the opposite end to Standing Way. Which meant I had to find an alternative place to park and then walk to Beanhill and the surgery. I eventually decided the only place I could think of was Netherfield and to park in a space near the shops and then walk along the Redway towards Beanhill. This I did, and it was a considerable distance, crossing under several roads on the way. I managed to hand over the letter that Carol had written, but was given no guarantee that the prescription would be ready later in the day. I walked back to the car and did a bit of shopping in the Co-op in Netherfield and then drove home, a little bit annoyed by the way the situation had been created by the over officious receptionist at the surgery. All adding to the stress of the situation, not helped by the fact we had to ring in the first place and secondly, by the road-closure into the road near Beanhill and lastly, by the obstructive nature of the receptionist at the surgery.
I'm still not sure why the road was closed in the first place. Was it to re-surface the road, or to have the road dug up for some reason such as putting in pipes for gas or something? No warning given as I drove towards the roundabout on Standing Way, or example. It just made life very annoying.
I think this bureaucracy is partly the reason why the N.H.S. is in crisis. It seems over-burdened by administration. I know they need a certain amount of paperwork to operate, but to put managers and administrators in the way is just a waste of resources and money. Endless targets and statistics doesn't lead to efficiency. Just find a better way to do something would surely make more sense. How much money do they waste on business consultants and similar people? I'd love to know. Putting someone such as a receptionist in the way so as to prevent a patient getting medication is a disgrace. It should be a doctor who decides what should happen as they have the training and experience. Give someone a position of so-called authority and it can sometimes go to their head.
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