Dorsetmike
Member
Had an appointment for laser eye treatment this morning at Bournemouth hospital
8 AM phoned to book hospital car, after waiting in a queue of 4 for 25 minutes, I was told I could not book same as they need 24 hours notice (they also needed details from the appointment form, NHS number, GP details etc), I could phone the Eye unit and get them to do the booking, but that would have taken too long so I would have been too late for the appointment, so I booked a Taxi £18; arrived in time for the appointment at 10.15 had drops put in my eye about 10.45, finally got my treatment (which took 10 minutes!) at 11.30 which appears to have been successful, I then had to go to the pharmacy for some eye drops half hour wait, and was told to book hospital car through main reception after pharmacy, I was given a freephone at reception, but could not book as I no longer had my paperwork which had been handed in to eye unit reception, so all the way back to the eye unit, for them to book it, it took the receptionist nearly half hour to get a reply (long queue? 2 in queue) eventually due to the fact that the car service had incorrect information on their screen they wouldn't take a booking (just as well I didn't take that route earlier to get there) So she got authorisation to get a docket to pay for a taxi. That taxi came from the other side of town so that was a further half hour, I finally left the hospital at 13.30 arriving home just before 1400, to find I'd missed the postie, so have to go collect a camera tomorrow!
So all told about 6 hours spent to get a 10 minute procedure done. Suggest for "service" read pantomime. I heard similar comments from both taxi drivers. Poole Hospital doesn't seem to have problems with their car service, but they don't have an eye unit!
8 AM phoned to book hospital car, after waiting in a queue of 4 for 25 minutes, I was told I could not book same as they need 24 hours notice (they also needed details from the appointment form, NHS number, GP details etc), I could phone the Eye unit and get them to do the booking, but that would have taken too long so I would have been too late for the appointment, so I booked a Taxi £18; arrived in time for the appointment at 10.15 had drops put in my eye about 10.45, finally got my treatment (which took 10 minutes!) at 11.30 which appears to have been successful, I then had to go to the pharmacy for some eye drops half hour wait, and was told to book hospital car through main reception after pharmacy, I was given a freephone at reception, but could not book as I no longer had my paperwork which had been handed in to eye unit reception, so all the way back to the eye unit, for them to book it, it took the receptionist nearly half hour to get a reply (long queue? 2 in queue) eventually due to the fact that the car service had incorrect information on their screen they wouldn't take a booking (just as well I didn't take that route earlier to get there) So she got authorisation to get a docket to pay for a taxi. That taxi came from the other side of town so that was a further half hour, I finally left the hospital at 13.30 arriving home just before 1400, to find I'd missed the postie, so have to go collect a camera tomorrow!
So all told about 6 hours spent to get a 10 minute procedure done. Suggest for "service" read pantomime. I heard similar comments from both taxi drivers. Poole Hospital doesn't seem to have problems with their car service, but they don't have an eye unit!
I think both the Canadians and Scandinavians have both our countries beaten in this regard with their respective health care delivery systems.