Your doctor gets you in at the appointed time?!? I had a family doctor, but I stopped going to him because I couldn’t get through on the phone to make an appointment, when I did get through, the appointment was weeks in the future (how inconsiderate of me to be sick now), and when I came for the appointment, I always waited at least 20 or 30 minutes. I went back to the walk-ins, because I figured if I was going to wait anyway, I might as well not bother with an appointment.
I would ask who your doctor is, but I realize it’s probably pointless.
Hmm, apparently I have some pent-up ire about these issues.
Yep. I get same day visits as well (that is, phone in the AM with a concern, see Dr in the PM.) I’d give you her name but she hasn’t been accepting pts for over 5 years. I can call the office and see if any of her colleagues are accepting (there are 3 or 4 Drs in the clinic) - the clinic is across from the Foothills Hospital - let me know if you would like me to.
Oops - I wanted to add that I’ve heard many people complain about how crap medical care has become in Canada - that’s not my case at all - I was diagnosed with 5 seperate conditions at my last physical (lucky me) - with no exceptions, I was seen by the appropriate specialists and received appropriate care in a very timely fashion - I’ve been totally satisfied. Additionally, my father has recently had some very serious health issues - he too was seen promptly, and with the exeption of a couple of snarky LPNs has recieved excellent care.
I really think it’s like anything else - medicine is a service and sometimes you get really shitty service providers. If you’re like me, they’re excellent.
Other than having to book 4 months in advance for my yearly physical (and I wish I was exaggerating!) I have no complaints about my doctor.
She’s not always on time for appointments either, but I don’t think I’ve had to wait more than 30 minutes.
I’m going to give the doctor at this clinic a try. If she doesn’t work out, I would greatly appreciate your seeing if any colleagues are accepting new patients. Or I could call myself if you gave me the name of the clinic.
Here too (New England); it is the community care clinic within the hospital. I usually wait up to an hour, but I would never leave and risk missing getting called. Of course, there’s also plenty of available seating in the waiting room.
I just moved and was very sorry to leave my doctor in Marlboro MA. He and his receptionist were wonderful. I never waited more than 10 minutes when I arrived for an appointment, always got an appointment when I needed it (within a week for non-serious matters and within hours for serious ones), and he actually listened to everything I had to say and answered every question to my full satisfaction.
I was in MA for 20 years and it took me 18 of them to find a doctor as good as him. One of the few reasons I’m sorry I left the state.
So, I asked the doctor for a referral to a dietician. I have polycystic ovaries (known for causing weight problems in women), hypoglycemia, problems with my hips and knees which are exacerbated if not caused by being overweight for decades, I eat mostly healthy and exercise regularly without losing an ounce, and the response from the clinic? At 40 pounds overweight, I’M NOT FAT ENOUGH to see a dietician!* Goddammit, I am so close to losing my patience with these assholes. I feel like calling them back and asking them how much weight I need to gain so I’ll be fat enough to see a dietician to help me sort out my various dietary problems.
*I guess it was the dietician who refused me on these grounds, but there’s only one dietician in a city of almost a million people? Am I missing something here?
featherlou, is there any kind of appeal you can make on that dietician?
Nasty behavior is the rule in my area, there are very few doctors who are willing to work here and their staff lets you know how much they don’t need you. When they’re not engaged in gossip or leaving patient files open in plain view (confidentiality-- whazzat?), that is. I’ve waited four hours past my appointment time after trying to get through to the office for three days. Getting a re-fill approved never takes less than a week of begging. I truly resent that I’m essentially paying to be treated like crap and I’d have to travel ninety minutes for the closest doctor with an actual professional staff.
Well, I’ve talked to a dietician now who says she would have no problem seeing me; just get my clinic to call her and do the referral paperwork. So I call the clinic, and talk to, yes, you guessed it, SOMEONE CRABBY!
Listen up, you crabby bitches - I know you work in a very busy clinic. I know that patients can be difficult and abusive. I AM NOT ONE OF THEM. I have been unfailingly polite and patient with your hostile, antagonistic, unhelpful bullshit, and I DO NOT DESERVE THE ATTITUDE I KEEP GETTING. Yeah, I get that the common denominator in all this hostility has been me, but honest to God, I swear I have not been asking for it. No, wait, maybe I have been - maybe they’re so used to rude patients that they act rude to nice patients.
The Tooth, you are either one lucky or one suave son-of-a-gun.
We used to go to a doctor who was great but his staff was a bunch of major bitches. I was having serious asthma problems, and had had a cold for several days that turned rapidly into bronchitis about noon one day. I kid you not, I went from breathing normally at 11 am to coughing up massive quantities of green gunk and barely being able to breathe at noon.
So I called the office and was told, “You should have called first thing this morning for an appointment!” All my pleas of not being sick enough at that point fell on deaf ears. Meanwhile, I was clearly miserable, so my husband came home fromm work and took me in to the office. The nasty bitch on the reception desk would not even tell the doctor that an asthmatic with acute bronchitis was there, and completely ignored my husband pointing to to her, at about 95 decibels, that very fact.
So we went to the emergency room, where I was treated very kindly – and immediately. I then wrote a blistering letter to the head of the practice, with a CC to my doctor, and told him point-blank that I would never darken their door again and if they wondered why, they could ask the bitch on the reception desk.
To be fair, my doctor did call me the same day the letter came in to apologize profusely and assure me that, had he known I was there, he would have seen me promptly. But that, of course, was the issue: He didn’t know I was there because bitch wouldn’t tell him!
Mama Tiger, I’m just glad you got medical treatment, and got better! I’d have been sorely tempted to call an ambulance to come get me from the clinic, all the while pointing out that the receptionist wouldn’t tell the doctor that I needed medical attention. I’d wager the ambulance workers would have reamed her ass, and she’d not try that crap again anytime soon. (It’s a pleasant thought at least.) I’d also have been sorely tempted to try to turn the doctor’s office in, so he can explain why his staff is so poorly trained to deal with medical emergencies. I wouldn’t be surpised at all if someone had to be hospitalized and maybe died due to that creature’s indifference.
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It’s in the Foothills Professional building, but there are quite a few in there…