"Inefficient"

Arrived at Orthopedic Outpatients for an 11am appointment only to see that it was running an hour late.

12 noon came and went and it changed to 1.5 hours.

Saw the consultant who took about 2 minutes to say an xray was needed so had to go the other department to get this done.

That took another 30 minutes+ of waiting even though we were the only ones there, and about 2 minutes to do the xray.

Then had to wait about another 30 minutes + to see the consultant again for analysis / conclusion that took about 3 minutes.

So over 2 1/2 hours waiting for about 7 minutes of 'doctor time'.

Stroud hospital said last week that an xray was needed so why weren't we sent straight there and therefore would have got the results first time we saw the consultant ('only' 1 1/2 hours after the appointment time) rather than adding the extra hour?

And why do we get so many letters about changed appointment times?

These probably cost about £1 per letter so must cost a small fortune across the NHS.

Secure 'webmail' is faster and almost free but the NHS processes seem stuck in the last century.

If a private business was run this inefficiently it would go out of business so I'm not surprised the NHS is running out of money.

I feel sorry for the people who work there and patients that have to use it on a regular basis - management really need to get their act together.