Sunday 29 April 2007

Only in a public hospital....

Another visit was required to a public hospital last week to see a specialist. Only in a government run agency could you find people that are so arrogant and dismissive of the time of others.

My expectation is that if you make an appointment to see someone at say 1pm, then you turn up a bit before that time and you see them at 1pm. A delay of 5 or 10 minutes is acceptable by that time of the day due to slippages etc, but you should still see them more or less on time.

Our wait was nearly 2 hours, at which point, we split, as the car was parked in a 2 hour time limit spot. At that point, the wait was still at least half an hour.

After asking a few questions, it turns out that the routine booking method is to double book every appointment, and to also take people that just rock up unannounced.

The result is predictable if every double bookee turns up, as well as a few rock-ins off the street. Huge waits.

The amazing thing is that to the people in that office, that was business as usual. They wouldn't have it any other way. Incredible. You just have to live with it. There is no alternative process imagineable.

Our taxes at work. Wonderful.

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