What does my future lies?

MIDNIGHT!/ Thursday, May 08, 2008

I'm going to complain! HMMPH.

I went to Changi General Hospital for my follow-up consultation today and waited 1h 15mins just to see the doctor for 7mins. What a good way to spend a Thursday morning. And a good method to spend $22 too. It was bright and sunny when I reached the hospital, raining after I consulted the doctor and sunny again after I collected my medicine at the pharmacy. Great.

I don't think I'm being unreasonable to comment that I waited for a fairly long time. Being a restructured government hospital, I do expect some waiting time. But 1h 15mins! Perhaps 30mins would be more acceptable.

Seriously, why do we even have to wait in the first place? Okay, maybe the doctor had to see some other patient prior to my appointment and that particular patient took a long time. Definitely, some waiting time, like 30mins, would be reasonable. Any waiting time longer than that, when I already have an appointment, would be a complete waste of time.

If I had to wait so long just to see the specialist doctor, what's the use of having an appointment? Appointments are meant to be met. That's why I made an appointment for the follow-up! (And I didn't even made the appointment. The nurses just gave me a date.) Surely if I'm punctual, in fact early, for the appointment, I shouldn't have to wait for such a long time. It doesn't make sense.

Take National Dental Centre for example. We have to make appointments for our visits and I always get to see my dentist on time. Even if I need to wait, the waiting time is never longer than 15mins. And I don't mind waiting for 15mins.

I don't know about the other restructured government hospitals, but I cannot comprehend why the waiting time has to be this long. If this had been an one off incident, I wouldn't be feeling as irritated as I am now. It's my third follow up visit, and I had to wait this long each visit. I especially took note of the waiting time and the consultation time just to make my point today. Next to that, it takes an indefinitely long time just to move from A&E to the ward, when one gets admitted after going to A&E as well. But the issue here currently shall not be about the long admission time. Otherwise, it'll be never ending.

So many explained that we should expect such a long waiting time since we're paying subsidised rate. If we want to cut down on the waiting time, we should visit a private hospital. But the issue here isn't about paying subsidised rate. It's discrimination if that's the situation. Service quality, in terms of waiting time, should be comparable whether or not the cost is subsidised.

All that said, I can't just complain and not offer any solutions. So here goes :

1. The hospital should impose a cap on the number of patients they can handle at any particular time, taking bottlenecks into consideration. The pros : Shorter waiting time, happier patients, greater efficiency for the staff (I'm not sure how but that definitely can be achieved in some way). The con : Patients may have to wait very long for their next visit.

2. Put up some sign to show how long the waiting time will take. (Think how polyclinics does that.) This solution won't solve the root of the problem, but at least it will appease patients. They know approximately how long they'll need to wait and can run errands if the waiting time is really long.

3. Have more doctors at the specialist clinics. The pro : The hospital fully utilises all the rooms available for consultation, shorter waiting time. The con : There's only a limited number of doctors in Singapore, so it may not be feasible to increase the number of doctors.

Past. Present. Future
5/08/2008 11:28:00 PM <3

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