That accessing a medical appointment shouldn't involve so many barriers and that there should be more recognition of the need for privacy?

[HarrysRedPants]

It's AIBU, I'm expecting a flaming, and I'm not posting for anything other than a rant but here goes.

I need to make an appointment to go to the GUM clinic. I won't go into details but have had some ongoing issues but due to the amount of stress I've been under and having felt unable to face my fear of going (I've been several times in the past but I'm anxious this time) I have put it off. I really, really struggle with medical stuff, particularly anything intimate. It takes a lot for me to even build up to making the call.

I found the courage to phone the clinic this morning. The last time I phoned around a year ago I was able to speak to a receptionist when I called, give a few details and then get booked in to see a female doctor. This time, it's answerphone only, leave a message, they will phone back, then a telephone consultation with a dr will be arranged in the first instance. So I left the voicemail, hoping they would phone back whilst I have privacy and an empty house. I have been browsing on my phone all morning and no call has come through- has gone straight to voicemail. I checked my settings and no reason why the call shouldn't have come through. So I've had to call back, leave another voicemail and am waiting again for a call that will hopefully come through this time.

Except I now no longer have an empty house, I live in a relatively new build with paper-thin walls and have no privacy. I don't want to have a conversation about intimate, personal medical problems when my family might hear. I totally get why they need to ask for a few details but when it was possible to speak to someone initially before, and not have to leave a message, it made it much easier for people who struggle for privacy or are working etc to choose a better time to phone. At the least, why can't there be an option to give details over email? There is absolutely nothing that allows this. Plus there is now the faff of having to have left two voicemails , I still haven't spoken to anyone and no idea when I will actually be able to have a physical appointment.

I just don't think it should be this difficult or that there should be so little regard in this day and age for the fact that it can be really difficult to pick up the phone in the first place and this feels like extra barriers. And so little regard for privacy. I've been thinking maybe I won't bother as a result.

I know there are people really struggling with far worse experiences within the NHS at the moment and that it seems trivial in comparison. I just don't understand why the appointments system for this bit has to be soo much worse than just under a year ago.

Rant over.

They called you. You missed the call. Not their fault and they cant help your living situation.

You'll just have to answer this time and have the conversation as best you can. You probably swiped the call away whilst playing on your phone without even noticing it coming in. Dont do that again.

I agree with you that they should make the booking system more accessible, for example using triage forms like the GP does to get some basic info.

Using the phone is a huge barrier for some people, especially people with anxiety and autism so where possible some kind of text/ email system should be in place.

Sorry but I think YABU, all services are stretched and although it’s stressful, it’s not their fault that your walls are too thin to have a private conversation

They did call you. It went straight to voicemail. Maybe you had low signal. That was not the clinic's fault. I'm guessing they want to have a telephone appointment with you initially to book you in with the best person for your needs, be it a female, or someone who specialises in your condition.
You said you might just not bother. Okay. But then it's you that suffers, isn't it?

I don't think you should have to leave a voicemail with your issues not knowing who'll pick it up but I don't think you can blame them for not calling back when they did but you missed the call.

The call backs never work. I am inevitably in a meeting or driving or otherwise unable to answer the phone.

its impossible to sit by the phone for 8 hours or even multiple days doing nothing but waiting.

The staff at the hospital who are trained to deal with it will pickup the voicemail?

So there should be no recognition for the fact that when it's something intimate, it could be difficult for an awful lot of people, either lack of privacy, or at work, to have to rely on a call back system?

I remember phoning them in the past at a time that was convenient and when I could speak privately- sometimes they would be unable to get to the phone the first or even second time- that was fine- i was always happy to call them back later on, rather than have to worry about actually being able to speak with no one else listening if waiting for a call back.

YANBU. I dread having to call the doctor for anything, because it's such a palaver and if you want an appointment you HAVE to call at 8.30am on the dot and then wait in a queuing system for approx 30-40 mins. Who on earth does that suit? Not anyone doing the school run, not anyone who works 9-5, maybe it suits the retired and the unemployed with no small DC, but it's a horribly inflexible system. And then you only get to talk to the receptionist, who puts you on a list to be called back by the doctor, whose call you invariably miss because you're working, driving, somewhere with no signal, etc and so the whole palaver begins again. It's awful and completely user-unfriendly and if you are hard of hearing/deaf/autistic/have other barriers to phone communication I don't know what happens.

I remember phoning them in the past at a time that was convenient and when I could speak privately

I'm guessing that was ten years ago? Before ten years of guts to services being blamed on 'immigrants taking our jobs'.

I'm sorry OP, this isn't how it should be.

What I am trying to say as well, that I do understand why they will want to ask some information of what the problem is before they book the appointment. But surely giving the option to do this over email or over the phone when I have privacy is the right way to do it and is less of a barrier for people?

Because obviously if it were the case of just being able to book the appointment without having to give details, privacy wouldn't be a problem, would it?

The staff at the hospital who are trained to deal with it will pickup the voicemail?

And if somebody else does?
My GP surgery wont leave a voicemail when they're calling my registered number about my medical issue 'just in case' but OP is expected to leave a voicemail with her own extremely private issues?

Tbf, this was a year ago! I remember phoning the GUM clinic and if the receptionist was able to answer at that point (and I obviously chose a time when I could speak in private to call), I could give details and then get booked in for an appointment there and then. No waiting for a call back when the call back may come when I have no privacy. Which makes it really, really difficult for a lot of people.

On the plus side if its for STI testing, post covid some areas now offer postal testing services. Might be worth having a look online OP

When you get the call stand as close to an outside wall as you can and play some music, speech or white noise (as loud as possible but so that you can still hear the caller) near the inside wall. That should make it impossible to hear what you are saying in another room.

YANBU, OP.

My old GP had a similar system, in that you couldn't make an appointment at all until someone had called you back to triage you. And they usually called while I was on the bus on the way to work. I had the choice of sharing my health details with fellow passengers or making myself late for work just to make an appointment. I had to change surgery as it was taking days just to make an appointment, and at the time I had to see the GP regularly for an ongoing gynae issue that I really, really didn't want to talk about on the bus.

What an incredibly rude, nasty thing to say. Just sheer spite.

Medical privacy when it comes to phone calls is a known issue with the NHS, ditto accessibility.

I work in disability activism and know a number of people who are d/Deaf who can't access NHS services since so many medical providers just refuse to use anything other than phone. There are many articles online about how refusal to let people book other than via phone discriminates against d/Deaf people.

It's also a major issue for women living in abusive relationships, for whom receiving a call from a GUM clinic could seriously endanger them.

OP, ignore the bullies. Some people are just very spiteful and only come on here because they enjoy hurting others.

I agree. Nothing about your post merited a response like that. Why can't people just be decent to each other?

Have you never worked in a medical setting, people don't just go around picking up other peoples voicemails, it will be someone's job, it won't be the cleaner at the end of the day or the man come to PAT test the new photocopier! There is likely to be a code needed to access the voicemails too.

@Madamecastafiore I don't care who picks up the voicemail. I care about who could pick up the voicemail.

Nobody else picks up my voicemails either, but I'm still not allowed to receive my blood test results unless I answer the phone.

YABU

its not their fault the call went straight to voicemail or that your situation means you lack privacy

i would hope that if they call and you tell them you can’t talk due to lack of privacy they would allow you to rearrange the callback.

No one else 'could' pick up the voicemail. The OP rung the GUM clinic, the staff member responsible for picking up the voicemails will do so and then she will ring OP back and expect to have a brief conversation as to why she needs the appointment. At which time the OP can either say she really isn't in the right setting to be able to give any more information and could they ring back or could they make an appointment regardless. I do think too that people need to understand that clinicians and admin staff do not have endless time to reschedule calls to people when their neighbours are out.

@DaniRabbity and @Doubleraspberry I expected those kind of comments, they make me laugh tbh. What is the point of being so obtuse?

There are GDPR issues involved if they give your details to someone else or mistakenly ring the wrong number, if you pick up the phone they can check you are who you are and they are giving the correct results to the correct person. Sorry is this not total common sense. If the OP rings the clinic it is on her to make sure she is ringing the right number and hopefully the recorded message asking her to leave her details will negate a mistake as most messages say you have reached so and so clinic at so and so trust.

I do think too that people need to understand that clinicians and admin staff do not have endless time to reschedule calls to people when their neighbours are out.

@Madamecastafiore I did point out that previously, I totally understood that they could not always get to the phone on time, and that I was happy to phone back again later, rather than rely on callbacks which are really difficult from a privacy point of you.

And conversely, I do wish admin staff understood that not everyone is trying to have a dig at them or expect them to be able to answer every call immediately etc. and that the NHS would think about a system that benefitted staff and patients alike.