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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think it's not too much to ask a secretary to send a fax?

50 replies

sevenkeystomysoul · 27/01/2011 17:00

Four hours waiting for DD's blood test today because some lazy-arsed secretary at a famous London childrens' hospital couldn't be bothered to fax through some blood forms to our local pediatric ward. I asked her to do it three days ago, we turn up, no forms. I call her. She says she'll 'get someone' to do it (no apology for not doing it previously). We wait. No forms. I call again. She says she gave it to a registrar to do and they haven't done it. I say 'sorry love, I thought it was a registrar's job to look after sick children and your job to send faxes' (oh, ok, I thought that, I didn't actually say it). We wait. No forms. I call her. She's gone to lunch. We wait, with DD asking every few minutes if it's going to hurt. Three and a half hours later I call her and say 'look, do you mind faxing the forms yourself because whoever you've been asking to do it clearly isn't going to' (I really do say it this time). Three days, four hours and one very stressed little girl later, the forms are faxed. AIBU to want to complain to DD's consultant about this?

OP posts:
agedknees · 28/01/2011 19:31

Are you sure the blood form had been completed for the sec to fax it to the local hospital?

Maybe the consultant/reg had not written it and the sec had to wait for someone to write the blood form before she faxed it to the local hospital?

agedknees · 28/01/2011 19:34

Just read your op again. The fact she says she would get a registrar to 'do it' confirms to me that the blood form was not written.

It is not the secs fault, more likely the consultants or registrars who have not written the blood form for her to fax.

catinthehat2 · 28/01/2011 19:58

did you get 'eased out' Audi?
or was it mutual?

Grin
sevenkeystomysoul · 30/01/2011 00:08

Audi, you're quite right of course, working as a secretary to a consultant at a huge children's hospital in London is exactly the same a working as a technician in a vetinary practice. And being a mother who is pissed off that her three-year-old child had an anxious four-hour wait for a blood test because a secretary couldn't be bothered to fax through some blood forms after being asked (politely) several times and over three days is exactly the same as being a 'bitchy', neurotic pet owner. And thank you for helpfully signposting your use of sarcasm. 'I?m SURE your complaints will be noted and you will never experience delays again( sarcasm)' I'm SURE that nobody would have picked up on that otherwise, or maybe you are simply judging others by your own stupidity?

To other posters who don't seem to be able to get their heads around my OP. DD is under the care of a consultant at said children's hospital. Consultant ordered a blood test locally to save us another long journey just for a blood test. The local hospital can't just take blood without authorisation, or knowing what it is to be tested for, or how much blood was needed. Because the blood forms hadn't been handed to me at DD's last appointment with the consultant, I arranged (or attempted to arrange) for them to be faxed from DD's consultant to the local hospital prior to our blood test appointment. The forms were ready as the secretary had located them on her system when I called three days prior to DD's blood test. What's so hard to understand?

Thanks again for all the sensible responses.

OP posts:
Silver1 · 30/01/2011 00:36

YANBU-I would say something to her consultant-either so that s/he can support her if generally her back up plan of getting Junior Drs Confused to do it is failing or because she needs to be reminded that generally Secretaries handle the administration side of things (which when done properly is I am sure no small thing) and Drs/Registrars handle the sick people and human anatomy stuff.

I had a consultant fax through to my GP a prescription request for me after some tests came back.
I phoned every day for 5 days to see if it was ready and it wasn't. I was told the consultant hadn't faxed it over yet every day. On day 5 I rang Consultant's secretary who was lovely-and did inform me my practice manager's secretary had a bit of a reputation for losing faxes if it meant a trip downstairs. Phoned the surgery back, said that the fax had gone through 5 days before-receptionist said "I thought it might have, will have a word upstairs" and an hour later my prescription was ready.

We had a vets practice where they operated much as PP described, you could hear the secretaries talking about insurance claims behind the wall of the consultation room, the vet had the decency to blush, and we had the sense to find a new vet.

KayM · 30/01/2011 00:53

Why did the ward not have their own blood forms? I work in the NHS, and all hospitals have their own forms.

KayM · 30/01/2011 00:56

sevenkeystomysoul - just read another post you made "To other posters who don't seem to be able to get their heads around my OP" Is that how you spoke to the sec? Thats a bit rude I think.

tholeon · 30/01/2011 08:58

mention it. It may be a more complex story than the sec being useless, but it sounds like a good one would have done more or at least explained things to you better. I used to work as a PA and I used to think my job was about oiling the wheels and generally assisting in communication so that things got done. And in my experience it is often the admin that lets the NHS down and makes stressful things that more stressful. And yep they must be one of the last organisations around to still use faxes.

People who are worried about their children are going to be anxious and stressed at times and staff at all levels need to make sure that they never forget that and are understanding about it.

KaraStarbuckThrace · 30/01/2011 09:05

KayM - no she wasn't rude. She wasn't impatient with people who clearly hadn't read the OP properly.

Sevenkey - I agree I think you should call your consultant and tell her about. The secretary had 3 days to send the bloody fax, it is not exactly rocket science!! And if the ward had lost the forms, the scretary would have said that she had already sent them!

KaraStarbuckThrace · 30/01/2011 09:07

She was impatient with people

Why do I have problems with negatives, I am always putting them in when I don't need them and then forgetting to put them in when I do!!!

LadyBiscuit · 30/01/2011 09:11

KayM - sevenkeys has already answered your question in her last post. And I don't blame her for being shirty - it's highly incompetent.

Sevenkeys - I hope you get an apology

gapbear · 30/01/2011 09:20

KayM - think how the OP feels, having been through a pretty stressful time, then an idiot like Audi posts her pearls of wisdom...

tholeon · 30/01/2011 09:22

thinking about it she probably needed to get someone to sign the form and the delay was likely to have been in tracking them down to do it. Form was probably filled in, after which she probably left a message for the registrar to sign it, & then it waited in a pending pile somewhere...while the registrar did in both their minds more urgent things.

Still, she could have explained things to you better. And there might be system changes that could be made to reduce waits like this - so definitely feedback.

audi4prez · 30/01/2011 11:54

well according to gapbear I'm and idiot for gasp daring to have an opinion, and stupid according to the OP. Amusing, in a catty sorta way....

OP I didn't mean to say that a vet clinic would be the same as a children's hospital...I'm pretty sure I clearly said that I thought the hospital would be worse. Parents would be far more stressed than pet owners...ergo most complaints of this nature would not only be taken with a heaping teaspoon of salt, but that any secretary/office staff in this situation will document and be ready to defend against emotion driven complaints. So go ahead and make a complaint...I just don't think it will do any good...hence my sarcasm.
In your situation I'd rather spend my energy on my sick daughter, than waste it on a complaint about what basically amounts to an inconvenience.

While I admit I was blunt I was just trying to state that that most likely the OP was not as polite as she claims

You start off by call her 'lazy arsed', malign her for daring to take a lunch when there is work to be done( when isn't there?), and imply her job is simple. All without any context of what is going on/more pressing in the office. No wonder she didn't jump when you said jump if this is your attitude....and I know you didn't 'say'Wink those things but again I doubt very much you were anywhere near polite on the phone.

Honestly OP you can't even take mild criticism on the internet( not just from me but from other posters who don't jump on the 'lazy b&*^ boat) without launching into insults, and you expect me to believe that you were sunshine and light to the secretary?Hmm

tholeon · 30/01/2011 12:01

audi I'm not keen on the idea that staff would take complaints less seriously because they are dealing with a matter as serious as children's health...that wouldn't be my attitude!

And I'd understand and deal with rudeness, if it happened (no comment on the OP's case -I wasn't there..) because I would understand how stressed parents would be. If there were delays, I would try to explain why.

Have been on both sides of this sort of issue.

audi4prez · 30/01/2011 12:04

catinthehat speaking of cattyGrin

nope not mutual in any way. My boss was quite upset when I left for a research tech position at a university. Almost 15 years later, I am still in contact with my old bosses( gotta love FB) and they have said if ever I wanted to move back to Canada and work in that field again they would hire me in a heartbeat. Course that won't happen as I like my life as is, but still nice to know...

cumfy · 30/01/2011 12:52

Silver1, hurrah, at last, someone who thinks the local ward may have lost the forms 3 days prior.

The local hospital can't just take blood without authorisation, or knowing what it is to be tested for

Yes, local ward can't do anything without GOSH say-so. Hmm
So you had an appointment for what precisely ?

I must confess, that audi's observation about "tone bleeding through" start to seem credible on basis of OP's last post.
All the posts seem to "get" the context of the OP IMO.

cumfy · 30/01/2011 13:04

But just to clarify:

You did:

  1. Have an appointment and time for bloods ?
  2. Actually wait, physically at the ward with a child for 4 hours after that time ?

I still think that was completely wrong and is worthy of complaint.
But do bear in mind it may ultimately be the local ward who are at fault for losing forms and making you wait 4 hrs, not consult.sec.

kittybuttoon · 30/01/2011 13:16

OP, the secretary failed to be a)polite b) efficient whilst you were experiencing a four-hour delay (due to her lack of care).

If it were me, I would ring her up and calmly explain the above, and ask her what she is going to do to rectify the situation so that other patients don't have the same thing to put up with in future.

You and she may be able to have a reasonable conversation about it, and get some things solved.

If she doesn't come up with anything, then tell her you'll take the matter up with the consultant instead. And ask her who her line manager is (because in the NHS, it may not be the consultant himself) and copy the manager in.

sevenkeystomysoul · 30/01/2011 22:15

Audi 'Parents would be far more stressed than pet owners...ergo most complaints of this nature would not only be taken with a heaping teaspoon of salt, but that any secretary/office staff in this situation will document and be ready to defend against emotion driven complaints.' That attitude is disgusting, just as well you were only let loose on pet owners and not parents of sick children. Have you ever had a seriously ill child? Because to suggest that their anxiety should be taken with a pinch of salt is both highly offensive and ignorant.

Cumfy, no, the local ward did not lose the forms, they were never sent through. No, the local ward cannot do anything without GOSH's say so when the test has been ordered by GOSH in the first place and when my daughter is under the care of GOSH. Yes, we did have an appointment and time for the blood test. Yes, we did actually wait for four hours in the ward after that time for the forms to be faxed through. The appointment was for a blood test to ascertain whether her new medication was effectively reducing the protein leakage from her kidneys, following complete renal failure 18 months ago which has left her with barely functioning kidneys. Hope that clears things up for you.

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 30/01/2011 22:16

People are still using faxes?

Why not scan the results onto the hard drive and then email as an attachment?

sevenkeystomysoul · 30/01/2011 22:19

I don't know Expat, I don't run the NHS. I imagine because consultants need to physically sign things off?

OP posts:
Monkeytoo · 30/01/2011 22:23

Audi - I'm confused, should OP not be upset and stressed that her unwell child has to wait anxiously over four hours. And you're saying that she shouldn't sound annoyed or upset or emotional on the phone after this four hour (after three days!) wait?

It's a shame you're not back at your old job I'm sure the customers thought you were wonderful.

expatinscotland · 30/01/2011 22:28

The document can be scanned in even with his signature on it.

Very easily. She must be very lazy.

Faxing means getting up.

I'd rather scan it in and email.

PigValentine · 30/01/2011 23:23

I don't mean to sound harsh (but)
Clearly you don't think you are being unreasonable, and understandably so (I am evil when one of the DS's are even mildly poorly, let alone suffering serious medical problems)
However, the whole tone of your post "it's the secretaries job to send faxes, not the busy important Dr's...going on a lunch break" thing is inevitably going to make some people take a devil's advocate kind of position. I think you should complain, not about the individual secreatry per se (because then someone like Audi working in the department might see it as an "emotional" response) but about the whole system / delay. If they look into it, they will ask her anyway AND to be fair, she did ask someone to do it and they didn't - you don't know how their system works, and it might be normal for registrars to send the authorisation faxes

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