Pet peeves -Hospital appointment

[Brcelona9]

Anyone else have pet peeves? This is mine.

Do people read their letters from the hospital? I work on main reception and everyone comes up to me and says 'hi I have an appointment today' (yeah so does half the people here) I ask 'ok which service are you seeing'.... 'I don't know?' (How can you not know what you have an appointment for) so I ask 'ok isit for a blood test? contraception? Podiatry? Fertility? Ultrasound? Health visitor"..... 'oh I don't know I have a letter' they hand me the letter and its written in bold! It drives me insane!!

Anyone else have a pet peeve?

People who drive at 20mph during the morning commute. Cyclists who cycle in the middle of the road. Tractors who go past laybys without pulling in.

Surly receptionists at the dr/hospital when im stressed and confused about where i should be. My brain switches off ehen im stressed

Unhelpful receptionists!

Cyclists who cycle together in massive groups of about 10 people all in 2s/3s making it difficult to overtake them safely.

It's actually easier to overtake a group of cyclists cycling 2 abreast. You have to give even a single cyclist the same room when overtaking as you'd give a car so you need to wait until it's clear coming the other way so you can move over to the other side. You should never be trying to squeeze past. Going in 2s or even 3s makes the group shorter so it's quicker for you to pass.

Sadly many car drivers do try and squeeze past if you're a single cyclist. Riding two abreast increases the safety of cyclists by discouraging this. This will also be why single cyclists may cycle in the middle of the road. I will often cycle a few feet out from the edge, often because the road surface/potholes are a lot worse there as well so I may be in the middle of the carriageway on my side.

Guess my pet peeve is drivers who don't spend enough time looking. I've been hit twice this year so far. Once by a car pulling out a side road without looking. Once by a car flying round a bend on the wrong side of the road. Had two near misses where I've had to break sharply to miss being hit.

Motorists who crawl along in large queue each morning at 3mph, each car with a great big sofa in the back completely empty and taking up the entire width of the road. They never pull over to let cyclists pass... totally get there knickers in a twist if cyclists are on the road in front of them yet queue for 27 hours a year behind other drivers hauling empty sofas around in the back of their car - hypocrites 🧐

People in customer facing roles who never smile. I wonder how they got the job. Maybe they smiled at the interview?

I also find going to the hospital really stressful. Once, I gave them the phone number of my old house because I couldn't think straight.
I would imagine a lot of people attending hospital appointments are worried and their mind goes blank.

1. HR sending PDF forms to sign & return (I never have a PDF editor, and it turns out neither do they!).

I'm supposed to print it out, fill in & physically sign it, SCAN it back in, and send back the scanned version. What a stupid waste of time (&paper) when I could fill in & insert my signature electronically so much quicker if they just sent the original MSWord version.

Often you can convert the original PDF to doc to edit in MSW, but I was defeated by a large image other day, was how MSW converted most of the form fields from the pdf.

People who drive at 40 thru all speed limit areas (60 limit? Go 40. 30 limit? Go 40. Etc.)

Bitchy receptionist in healthcare settings. Too far up their own backsides to realise people get overwhelmed in hospitals and sometimes a friendly smile and bit of help can turn someone's day around.

slowco4ch agreed!

Getting to a hospital appointment and being told they are running late (fine it happens) but then sitting there for over an hour with no updates. It’s just assumed you have to be so desperately grateful for the NHS that you have to accept all delays without even being told what’s going on.
Eventually got a canula fitted and then sit another half an hour at which point picking up children from school becomes an issue which it never was with the original fucking appointment just give me the choice to stay or go.
Phew sorry I am grateful. It’s just the no info and the staff just kept disappearing behind a locked door so couldn’t ask. No emergency either just running slow.

Patients bringing in their own controlled drugs but then we have to order more to use while they are on the ward. And then they get given more to go home with. While the stuff the brought in is sitting in the cupboard unused. How can the NHS ever save money while pharmacy is so inefficient. And don't get me started about delayed discharge waiting for medication because the pharmacist hasn't been until 11.30

Toddlerplease don't you have a patient's own CD book to log the controlled drugs the patients' have brought in.

Where I work (where we have masses of CDs brought in) we have a patients own book and anyone who brings in their own, gets their own supply used up first before we go and use stock.

Giving out their own + TTOs to go home with is an Accountable Officer issue as you have given them an over supply which is a potential risk by giving them an excess supply of CDs, aside from the issue of waste. They should only get the correct amount to go home with - whether you do 7 days or 14 days or just returning what they came with - and anymore we would count as a drug error.

People who don’t bother to read their appointment letters until an hour before their appointment and then phone to say they haven’t followed the 6 hours prep they needed.
It wastes so many appointment slots and drives me crazy at a time when our service is so stretched.
It’s even better when they then complain for 10 minutes over the phone about having to wait another 4 weeks for another slot like it’s my fault they didn’t follow the instructions

My pet peeve is people that don't move up promptly in drive through queues. Leaving a big gap means someone else at the back can't order yet.

In fact anywhere where people don't move up when the queue moves.

People that drove whilst wearing a hat.

People that drive at 40 mph no matter what the road conditions are or what the speed limit is. Narrow road passing a school at kick out time? 40. Motorway? 40.

Cyclists who drive on the road next to a cycle path. Especially when the road is windy, fast, narrow etc.

People who can't park.

Cyclist cunts on the road. When I'm in charge I'm banning the whole lot of them.

And horses on the road, they can fuck off too.

Cyclists who cycle furiously on pavements and expect pedestrians to move over quickly. No, I didn’t hear you behind me because I have severe hearing loss and my hearing aids are just that aids.

I live in an area known as 'gods waiting room' .

The retired folk all seem to be out at 8am. Driving really slow, take ages trying to park a car far too big for them to comfortly cope with, want to chat with the supermarket cashier, queuing outside the post office. Ffs could they not wait until the rest of us have got the kids to school and to work ourselves? By 9.10am it wouldn't be a problem how long they took.

Every fucking morning as I walk into work I find patients lost on the corridor despite having a letter in their hand telling them where to go. They’re usually stressed and frightened as they’re coming for surgery! I always stop and ask if they’re ok and tell them to follow me.
Miserable receptionists drive me mad, we have one who does the bare minimum and seems to find patients an inconvenience, the rest are lovely thankfully.

DailyMailSucksWails,

There is a way round that. You can get pdf readers (I use Nitro Reader 3 - it's free) with which you can add text on top of the pdf document. I type the entries roughly where they need to be and have a scanned signature that I can 'stamp' where it needs to go. Job done.

I always stop and ask if they’re ok and tell them to follow me.

And that shows you as the sort of person who should be working in a hospital!

Spent a great deal of time in hospitals and out patient areas this past year.
Am really grateful for the wonderful care both DH and DM have had - emergencies where NHS saved their lives.
BUT my goodness the system and trying to get past the rules is a nightmare. You really have to be well to cope with it.
GP surgery receptionists whose default position is no, with an underlying assumption that anything that has gone wrong is your fault. Repeat prescription systems that are unfathomable .... no one seems to understand the time constraints and stress a carer is under. Please help and no, I cannot "pop back" in an hour or tomorrow😠😠

But, you know what really bugs me? (petty though it is) the bloody bossy signs and notices all over the place. REPORT TO RECEPTION TAKE TICKET FOR BLOOD
etc etc
Always in capitals, dog eared and never straight, different fonts, font sizes, numerous colours and often with misplaced apostrophes aggghhh they drive me to distraction. NHS staff love hand made notices.

I appreciate people/patients make the same mistakes, or ask the same question, or do not follow simple instructions on a regular and irritating basis, but please:

1. There is no need for signs of capitals in bold
2. Check the spelling, grammar and punctuation
3. Use one font and one colour (and consider those of us who are colour-blind, it is the NHS ffs)
4. Do not assume everyone can read, or read English adequately
5. Tidy and straighten occasionally

I received an appointment for 8.20 am for a scan. Arrived at the health centre to find that Reception doors were locked until 8.30!