"Another long, unnecessary wait."

I was called into the macular degeneration injection clinic recently for “2 pm”. Arriving at 1.45 I asked where we were on the list. I was told that I was number 2. When I was shown to the waiting area the first patient was already. Oh joy! However a doctor from an adjoining clinic whose conversation with her client was clear for all hear, brought the patient out to the waiting area and put his notes inside the clinic. Lo and behold he was the next one to go in. I eventually got my injection at 2.40. Unacceptable and avoidable wait. Why are we treated with such little consideration by the system. Incidentally the new department has a design that is no better than the old department. Scattered and isolated waiting areas around the goldfish bowl arrangement of consulting cubicles where one can see and hear the details of other patients being discussed. What about patient privacy? We were told before the commissioning of the new department that it had been “designed by doctors to achieve a smooth flow”. Now we know it was designed by the same doctors who designed the old department. Let designers do their job and doctors stick to medicine. As usual the staff were delightful, it is the design and system that are dysfunctional.