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Adherence to trivia

Posted By peterhw

"Adherence to trivia"

About: Inverclyde Royal Hospital

(as a relative),

My wife and I visited Inverclyde Hospital recently.

My wife ensured she had her appointment letter with her – providing the details of where to go who to see etc. The letter is addressed to my wife.

Upon presentation of said letter my wife was asked for her name and address & DOB and politely replied “the name & address is on the letter and my DOB is….”

For some reason un beknown to humanity the receptionist states “no you have to ‘tell’ (i.e. speak) your name and address”. The receptionist seemed able to read the other details of the letter. This is just the NHS wasting time and effort whilst trying to be annoying at the same time. The idea that this could be anything to do with ‘security’ would seem a little far-fetched.

Is it any wonder that ‘serious’ things go wrong when there appears to be such adherence to trivia.

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Responses

Response from Linda Russell, Business Manager, Emergency Care and Medical Services, NHSGGC 5 years ago
Linda Russell
Business Manager, Emergency Care and Medical Services,
NHSGGC

Submitted on 02/10/2018 at 11:31
Published on Care Opinion on 03/10/2018 at 10:26

Thank you for taking the time to highlight your concerns and I'm very sorry for the upset caused following your wife's recent clinic visit at Inverclyde Royal Hospital.

Whilst I understand your frustrations, it might be helpful if I explain that it is normal practice within Greater Glasgow and Clyde to confirm with the patient that the information we have is correct and that any changes are made before treatment begins.

I hope you find this information useful but please do not hesitate to contact me on 0141 314 6891 should you wish to discuss further.

Linda

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by peterhw (a relative)

With all due respect I feel that your response bears little reference to the actual circumstances.

It wasn't so much 'upset' that I felt as opposed to shear frustration at the trivia and I confirm your response all but compounds the annoyance and adherence to trivia by missing the entire point of my comment.

My wife's name and address was on the letter (as stated previously) - if it was incorrect then it is unlikely she would have received the letter. In my opinion, this is a rather silly question to be asking 99% or more of the time.

If your organisation is determined to stick by it's procedures then perhaps additional training to reflect the nature and manner of the response - I.e. asking politely are the details on the letter correct would be a considerable improvement. In practice I do not feel that it should be necessary to ‘train’ someone (a receptionist) to be pleasant.

Whilst the entire subject is a little trivial it appears to demonstrate an unnecessarily aggressive / unpleasant / attitude to a patient who is merely being polite, factual and correctly conveying the details of the request – I.e. an appointment.

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