...to complain about my obstetritian's secretary?

[Hedgehead]

The secretary has made a series of multiple cock ups. Told me I have appointments at scan places and with specialists when actually I don't. When I've got there, no such appointments exist. She has taken days/weeks to return calls and emails and keeps losing my number so after any one call where she says she'll "call me right back," I have to call again in 5 hours and she'll tell me she's "lost" my number (despite the fact it should be on my records?)

When I have turned up for appointments - BIG appts - like the nuchal scan and with various specialists (as I have a rare disease I have other specialists involved with the pregnancy) - I am told I am not on the list. This has happened FIVE times.

Instead of admitting her mistakes she has lied to my face, giving me "fake" appointments so I stop hounding her, sending me on a wild goose chase to other buildings, getting to the reception desks and them saying "there's no record of you having an appt here." The worst one happened last week when I was supposed to see my ob at 11am on Wednesday. I got there and they said there was no record of my appointment. I called her, it rang out, so I left a message and I got a pathetic email back 2 hours later saying actually your appt is at 3.45pm in X building. I go out again and get to the new building at 3.45pm and guess what? No appointment.

I decided to just find another ob, but then got a really lovely email from him (the ob) saying he hoped everything was okay and he was sorry for the mix up - that he was quite pushed that day because he had a delivery in the morning which put everything back and it was all his fault. Fine... however I scrolled down and he had forgotten to delete the message the secretary had sent to him.

"This woman is loopy. Thought she had an appt with you when she didn't on Wed. How would you like me to respond?"

She is lying! To him and to me. Having a good bedside manner, he is not responding to me like a mad person and taking the blame himself. But her lies - maybe it's my hormones, but I am incensed. I even have the paper trail to prove that she is telling lies - of her telling me that I have appointments when I don't actually have them.

I am going to look even more loopy if I go to my appt with him this Wednesday (which he and I have agreed to without her involvement) with the "evidence."

He is a great obstetrician and is one of the only specialists in the disease I have in pregnancy/birth. She is his ONLY secretary and the person through whom I have to go to get to him, for the rest of my pregnancy. I don't want to make an enemy of her.

I am not thinking straight, hormones... - should I be annoyed? And how should I approach this with him?

I don't think she can complain about something that hasn't actually affected her. She could draw the obs attention to the fact that this is not acceptable in a general sense.

Fab, I disagree. The word is surely one that we shouldn't use in professional communications? I mean, what if she had said "this woman is a total spaz and thinks her appt was on Weds". It is a derogatory term and shouldn't be used by a secretary in work correspondence about patients. It shouldn't matter whether the op has the relevant medical condition.

.....and yes, I'm sure patients get called worse than that by the junior docs - and pupils by their teachers, and clients by their solicitors - but not in a work email!

Itsfab, so trailing to the hospital for appointments that weren't actually made hasn't affected the OP?! How is that exactly?

Pink I think Fab means the "being highly derogatory about patients with mental health issues." line of the mock up email (which is great btw!), it does read as though she means that the OP has MH issues as opposed to just drawing attention to the bollocks attitude that the secretary has regarding them.

I would be raising merry hell.

You are right, Pixie.

itsfab I wrote my mock up email in an annoyed flourish - on reading back it does look like I'm implying the Op has MH problems (sorry Op!). What I was trying to say is that it feels inappropriate for someone who works in healthcare to describe any patient as "loopy".

Ps I think my ds would object to how you wrote my username although he does occassionally find himself in pink sleep suits when I get very desperate washing wise and doesn't seem to mind!

That secretary sounds odious, but I'd put money on the fact that the obstetrician didn't mean to attach the whole email trail. If they're anything like my boss they won't be aware that you can delete this- I had to fill in for his secretary today and he started waving expansively at the screen saying, "is it possible that we can get rid of all of this stuff that makes us look bad before we forward this?". Admittedly, professionals like this are becoming less and less common, but it probably was a genuine mistake.

I would reply as per a PP's suggestion about and cc her in (along with any other relevant department that springs to mind) for optimum cringiness. Sorry you have to deal with this shite right now OP; good thing you have a paper trail

Oops . Sorry Mumoftwoyoungkids.

Definitely complain. This is dreadful treatment.

Definitely complain, she called an expectant mother with a condition which means your pregnancy high risk, "loopy".

The OB deserves to know what a completely unprofessional and inept secretary. If your frontman/woman is bad, then it makes him look bad.

YANBU! Complain.

i dont think you will get very far complaining to the consultant, well, not as far as you might in complaining to the actual PALS office.

If you don't get far with the consultant try contacting the Chief Executive's office.

I had a situation where a medical secretary's incompetence lead to a huge breach in my confidentiality. I asked the secretary who her superiors were. She would only tell me it was the consultant, he had no idea what to do and referred me to his secretary to sort it out .
I didn't know who else to call so I contacted the Chief Executive's office. I didn't get to speak to the man himself but his staff were excellent and said that situations like that were exactly what they were there for.

personally I wouldn't email hiom about your complaint. There's a pretty high chance that the secretary reads/has access to his generic email account. Perhaps speak to him about it at your appoitnment, but certainly raise a formal complaint