Our efficient hospitals

I think there is something seriously wrong with the efficiency/organization of our hospitals.

Today, I went for some Pre-Admission stuff at Tan Tock Seng. The place opened at 8.30am... very punctual I thought. But once I was inside, the timing just went haywire. There were about three of us who were there when the door opened. I was number 3. The number you see above is my number which also reflects the time of my appt. I was pretty optimistic when I realized I was third in line. I mean, how far off timing could they go right? Well, fact is, by 8.45am, there was only one staff at the counter and the number of patients appearing in the waiting area had grown to about 10. By then, the lone nurse, who was still serving the first patient called for another nurse who was in the section behind to come help with the counselling. Why weren't there more staff there in the first place if the opening time was 8.30am?

Thankfully, when the second patient was called (around 8.50am), the nurse behind came forward to help and I got called as well. She went through the admission procedures. I've done this many times, so I kinda just nodded to almost everything she asked. I didn't waste time coz I pretty much wanted to just get the check over and done with. Even then, it took almost 20min before I was done. Now, according to what I've observed, they basically gave out counselling appointments in 10min slots. If my zippy session took almost 20mins, I wonder how much longer a normal patient with questions would take. Now, isn't that just setting yourself up to have huge delays? If they knew this timing wasn't realistic, either have longer slots or more staff.

So after my counselling, I had my pressure taken and it was unsurprisingly a little high. I'd been getting more and more fed up as I sat at the waiting area. Well, I then moved on to the next waiting area to wait for my turn to see the doctor. By the time my turn came, it was about 9.30am. Now, I know I should be thankful that I got to see the doctor so 'fast'. The last time I went for Pre-Admissions testing, it took almost an hour before I got to see the doctor. But my point was I was only third on the list. And it took me so long to see a doctor. When I left the doctor's room, the waiting area had filled up with about 6 to 8 patients. I didn't dare to think how long they would have to wait in line to see the doctor. Again, patients are already unwell. What is the point of making them sit and wait so long to see the doctor? Either have more doctors or schedule them wider apart or have a better system where the patient needn't sit there for 1 to 2 hours to wait for his turn.

In fact, the last time I went to see my specialist, I had a late appointment at 4.10pm. I waited almost 2 hours until 6pm to see him! I don't really blame him coz I know he wanted to give his patients proper attention. Why can't the hospital come up with a more efficient system to inform us if our appointments are delayed so that we can come a little later? Why make us sit and wait for 2 hours to see the doctor? Even some shops I know have started a phone sms service so customers need not sit there to wait their turn. Instead, they can walk around then received an sms when their turn is coming up.

Yeah, I am basically a bit sore about the whole thing. It's just frustrating to have to sit through such 'ordeals', especially when you are not well or when you are waiting nervously to see the doctor. I can understand that hospitals have to deal with shortage of staff, etc. But I still believe they can come up with a better system of managing patient flow. It's incredible when you have to queue for a total of 3 to 4 hours when your appointment + bill payment takes maybe only 20mins.