"When I arrived for my appointment, ..."

What I liked

When I arrived for my appointment, the waiting times were very short. I was x-rayed and had a consultation with the doctor all within two hours.

The Orthopaedic Lower Limb doctor was fantastic. They were extremely thorough, explained exactly what was being done and what they were checking for, as there were two medical students observing the consultation. The doctor was very open with me and explained the diagnosis to me while discussing the x-rays with me.

What could be improved

Well, it was a very long wait to get the appointment with the Orthopaedic doctor--about 5 months. Now, my referral to have orthosis made has apparently been lost by the Foothealth clinic and I've been told that the waiting list is very long. The kicker is that I've had to make a few days of phone calls to figure this out because the switchboard always sends you to the wrong department and you are never given the appropriate numbers to call any departments! (I must say, however, one particular member of staff has been most helpful, but much of this is out of their control.) Still, by the time I get an appointment for the orthosis, I will have been in varying degrees of pain and discomfort for about a year.

To sum up, the doctors are fantastic, but unless you're very vigilant in following up your case, you're not likely to receive the doctor's suggested treatment because the administration and organisation are so terribly poor.