Tweet
So about 6 weeks ago I faxed a referral to the public hospital eye clinic, of which I am existing patient, just hadn't been in a while and was told a fresh referral would be required.
I have confirmed the referral was received and is waiting to be triaged.
Despite having a member of the admin staff chasing things up quite proactively, my referral is still waiting to be triaged. From the responses I get from this staff member, I get the impression that it is not normal to wait this long. After all, the whole purpose of triage is to determine the urgency and 6 weeks makes a mockery of the process. I also confirmed that the clinic was only shut for a few days at xmas so this isn't the reason. The wait also seems particularly unreasonable for an existing patient. I do understand that my referral would be considered non-urgent and I understand there being a waiting period for my appointment, but I think waiting so long just to be triaged is totally unreasonable. This is especially considering that the hospital does often refuse a referral so it seems very unfair to wait so long and then be turned down completely (which I am really worried about whilst I'm waiting).
I feel that the registrars/doctors may be deliberately ignoring my referral, as apart from the one senior doctor there (who runs the clinic I was attending), attitudes towards dry eye patients are typical. Am I being paranoid?
Thought about making a complaint, but I've complained before to this hospital with no effect and don't want to be labelled as a whinger and disliked even more than I probably already am.
Has anyone else experienced what appears to be deliberate discrimination?
I have confirmed the referral was received and is waiting to be triaged.
Despite having a member of the admin staff chasing things up quite proactively, my referral is still waiting to be triaged. From the responses I get from this staff member, I get the impression that it is not normal to wait this long. After all, the whole purpose of triage is to determine the urgency and 6 weeks makes a mockery of the process. I also confirmed that the clinic was only shut for a few days at xmas so this isn't the reason. The wait also seems particularly unreasonable for an existing patient. I do understand that my referral would be considered non-urgent and I understand there being a waiting period for my appointment, but I think waiting so long just to be triaged is totally unreasonable. This is especially considering that the hospital does often refuse a referral so it seems very unfair to wait so long and then be turned down completely (which I am really worried about whilst I'm waiting).
I feel that the registrars/doctors may be deliberately ignoring my referral, as apart from the one senior doctor there (who runs the clinic I was attending), attitudes towards dry eye patients are typical. Am I being paranoid?
Thought about making a complaint, but I've complained before to this hospital with no effect and don't want to be labelled as a whinger and disliked even more than I probably already am.
Has anyone else experienced what appears to be deliberate discrimination?
Comment