Tag Archives: inefficiency

Another Trip to hospital

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Photo by Anna Shvets on Pexels.com

I eventually dragged myself o hospital this morning. Resentfully. Almost sullen. £20 for taxis, a chunk out of the middle of my day. A brush with inefficiency. A second brush with inefficiency. Home.

Inefficiency one – I was told, on reporting to he main reception, I was booked in and that I should sit in the waiting area. After an hour and not a lot of action I went to the secondary reception desk and asked what was happening. They started shuffling through a plastic box of blood test requests. Mine weren’t in there as I still had them in my pocket. I seems that the main reception should have told me to hand my forms in when I got to the waiting area.

It’s a good thing I asked, otherwise I might still be there.

Eventually, someone came along to do the testing. A blind cobbler with a darning needle would have inspired more confidence.

I know that my veins are hard to hit, and are getting worse, the more they are used. But I also know who is and who is not a competent phlebotomist. And who has an acceptable bedside manner. Telling me that her lack of success is my fault because I am hard to test is a fail in my eyes.

It’s something I was born with, not something I have chosen. I had hydrated this morning, exercised and worn a short-sleeved shirt. There’s not much more I can do apart from cutting off a finger tip and having a tap fitted.

I sat through it without wincing or complaining. I made lighthearted conversation to encourage her. In return, she complained and took three attempts to get the blood. It wasn’t helped by the fact the doctor wanted five tubes.

Last time I gave that much blood they gave me a biscuit and a cup of tea.

Once I have recovered my composure I will write a post about how to start writing poetry.

Tomorrow I have another medical appointment, which I am hoping will be the last for some time.

Photo by Anna Shvets on Pexels.com

What Links my Covid Vaccine with a Tree?

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Two days since my last post? I’m getting lazy.

Today I have had my Covid vaccination. The young lady in the pharmacy was disappointed to hear we have already had our flu jabs, as she could have given them both. In return I was disappointed that our GP Surgery hadn’t been able to give us Covid at the same time as the flu. On the tram on Wednesday a woman was telling her friend that he GP had  given her both at the same time. It strikes me that a bit of joined up thinking could have streamline the whole process.

Trees at Clumber park

Look at it in terms of time and traffic. It took us 25 minutes to get there, ten minutes to be done and, probably 15 minutes on the way back because there was less congestion. That’s six miles, 50 minutes and who knows how much carbon dioxide. Multiply that by four hundred (a conservative number of people vaccinated  based on the number there while we were) and halve it as not everyone would have travelled as far or used a car for their Covid jab. I need the car because I can’t walk far and I need that particular pharmacy as it has reliable parking nearby.

That works out at 1,200 car miles used, 166 hours wasted and 240,000 grams (24 kg) of carbon dioxide.

I just had an email to thank me for sponsoring a tree planting  in the Ribble valley.  When my tree is fully grown it will absorb about 25 kg of carbon dioxide a year. I promise you it’s a coincidence that the amount produced in my calculation is so close to what a tree will absorb, but it’s a sobering thought that a little inefficiency means a whole tree is needed.

Backlit Sumac Tree in the MENCAP garden

Same Again – Confessions of a Procrastinator

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Fresh from claiming that today was going to be different, I spent most of it in front of TV and ordered a McDonald’s delivery. I am hanging my head in shame as I type.

Well, not quite. Twenty four hours ago I was hanging my head as I typed. Now I am just typing, having slept in my chair, woken up and decided to go to bed.

This afternoon I had a text from the people who run the “app” that checks ID on the phone. I use quotes round the word app (if it deserves to be called a word) to show my disdain for the modern world.

In days past we “discovered” far off lands (much to the surprise of the people who were already there) using a compass and a sextant. We learnt how to fly and to dive to the bottom of the sea using spanners and a lack of fear. We even got to the moon with less computing power than the average teen uses in their mobile phone. But apparently we can’t catch a bus, order takeaway food or prove our identity without an app. And that, if you really want to know what I think, is what’s wrong with the world.

To sort out the ID problem I used email to ask the solicitor what was wrong with the ID details I have provided, and why they had allowed the people to contact me again after I instructed them to stop it.

While I was on email I noticed another email from the solicitors. This one tells me that I have ben spotted on a list of bankruptcies and they would lik to check it isn’t me. They are really trying hard to find fault, which, of course, they will do if they are being paid to do it. I don’t understand why they need to check this, as the money has already been paid. It clearly isn’t me. The man in question has two forenames and a double-barrelled, and lives several hundred miles away. But because we are both called Simon (a name that was in the top ten from 1955-75) and Wilson (the 7th or 9th most popular name in the country depending on who you believe) the solicitor obviously saw something else he could charge for.

It’s not too onerous to solve the problem, I just need to write a note and sign it – ‘The above entry does not relate to me, signed………..’

Well, if it’s that simple, how can you really call it  a security check? A more cynical man might be tempted to suggest it was just a way to inflate the bill.

If someone asks me at work  to find information on Thomas George Smith of Nottingham, they aren’t going to be impressed by my carefully researched life of Thomas Alfred Warren-Smith of Carlisle. And that is the extent of the match – a common first name and a common last name, three others that don’t match and two addresses 200 miles apart.

I am struggling not to be sarcastic.

Day 68

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I was going to break out of the tyranny of the post numbering system, because I was having trouble with it now I have to add three months together, but then I panicked, because I started to worry about missing a day if I didn’t have a numerical sequence. It’s amazing what you can worry about if you have a fretful nature.

Anyway, it’s 10.55am and I have just returned from the blood test. I was happy to be back at the surgery, because it is a more restful way of having the test.Or, it was until today. One of the less sympathetic nurses perforated me three times, apologised and sent me on my way with instructions to go and get it done at the hospital because she couldn’t get any blood.

I’m going to give it a day or two because I don’t need any more holes for now, there will be no parking and there will now be a queue.

On the way back I was nearly involved in an accident when I pulled over to let someone past, and a driver behind me pulled out to overtake, nearly hitting the oncoming vehicle. Clearly they were only watching me rather than the whole road ahead.

Then I went down a road and found it blocked by construction workers, even though it had signs up indicating it was clear. It only took a minor detour, but why, when all you have to do is put up signs and dig holes, can’t you do it right?

If I got 50% of my job wrong, I’d not be in a job for long. But if I had a hard hat and a big digger everyone would just shrug and drive round.

 

Day 5

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This might be a slightly misleading title, because it’s not quite 9am. I have, however, got up early, moaned about having to get up early, got stuck in traffic going for my blood test, moaned about traffic and inconveniently placed roadworks, struggled to park, moaned about parking, and, finally, had a blood test.

The tester took three attempts but didn’t panic. Yes, strange as it seems, seeing as they are not the one being stabbed in the arm, they often get agitated if they miss first time. I know this because, as I have said before, they often do miss with my tricky veins.

I don’t mind a phlebotomist taking three attempts because it’s a difficult job. I do mind the other stuff because with a bit of planning  much of it could be avoided.

All I want is a blood test at the GP surgery. I’ve been having them there for months, but because of the number of nurses needed to give vaccinations there are none for blood testing now. The result of this is that I have to get up  at 6.30, add to the congestion, try to beat the staff to a space in the car park where staff, according to the big notice, are not supposed to park and then write a blog post to moan about it.

Is this what my “day off” is meant to be like? I haven’t had my breakfast yet and I already feel like I’ve put in a good day’s work.

“Work” was my 250th word, so I will leave it there as it’s my self-imposed minimum. If I carried on I would just start moaning again, as I’ve just been engaged in conversation with the pharmacy regarding a prescription that has disappeared. I didn’t want it, but they told me they had it for me. Julia went in to pick it up this morning and they now deny all knowledge of it. My original thought, that this was the most inefficient pharmacy in the world (you may have heard me mention this several times) has now been replaced by a theory that there are really two pharmacies working in parallel universes, which would explain why their right hand (in Universe 1) doesn’t know what the left hand (in Universe 2) is doing.

Header photo is my standard heron photo, looking hunched, dejected and/or grumpy. It seemed apt.

Groceries

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We were due to have a food delivery today. However, TESCO sent me a text saying that due to “technical reasons” they were going to have to alter the time slot, and would message me to let me know the new time slot.

I can see how this happens, so wasn’t too bothered, at least it wasn’t a short notice cancellation, like we have had twice before. So I waited . . and waited . . .

There was no message, but when I looked at my account to finalise the order I noted the new time slot. Not only was it mid-morning, a time I consider inconvenient, but it was tomorrow, instead of today. This was annoying. It’s not that I don’t have enough food in, it’s that they made a major alteration and weren’t even efficient enough to tell me.

The delivery charge was £7 and they were still going to charge me that even though they weren’t going to deliver at the right time, or the right day. ASDA are able to deliver, their delivery charge is £5 cheaper and the groceries are £3 cheaper. I know this because I just ordered off them and cancelled the TESCO order.

ASDA also has better availability – TESCO seems to have run out of some items very common items. To add insult to injury, they have run out of some of the items they are advertising on TV. I could go on about the deficiencies in TESCO management, and compare the efficiency of the two shops, but I won’t. It’s Christmas and I have better things to think about, such as the choice of soup for lunch.

Still trying…

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I managed to get most of the haibun down, then I made lunch. I ate lunch, watched some quizzes on TV, went to pick the car up, shopped for ice cream, returned home and ate ice cream whilst watching quizzes on TV.

I also tried filling out an online form for an accountant. It didn’t work, because despite their high hourly charges and proliferation of staff, they hadn’t sent me the all-important activation code. Nor, it seems, had they sent me the email explaining what to do.

Fortunately I was up to the task of cutting and pasting a code number into a box and filling in  badly designed online form without the necessity of an email explanation. However, the whole palaver did take 24 hours when a simple email request and reply would have taken ten minutes.

If you think I have unleashed the occasional outburst of spleen against government and the NHS, wait to see what happens when I start on accountants. I may be constrained by the laws of defamation, or I may actually bring those laws into the discussion so that I can give an opinion on lawyers.

Time to go, as it’s nearly midnight, so I will let you off listening to a rant.

Couldn’t find pictures of vampires or leeches on the free photo site so I thought I’d reuse the creepy fog photo.

 

Medecine, mistakes and a misapprehension

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On the grounds of good taste I’m not going to go into detail about what happened at hospital this afternoon.

The facilities are good, the staff were cheerful and I was only away from home for 45 minutes (we can see the hospital from our house so travel doesn’t take long). Despite this I’m not very happy with the experience.

It’s hard to feel satisfaction when you go in for tests and come out without having the tests done.

The NHS did not cover itself in glory today.

However, my day was better than the man who was waiting with me. He  was under the misapprehension that they were going to put the camera down his throat.

 

Today’s photographs are just a few selected from thousands…

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Enjoying winter sun at the Ecocentre
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Quercus Community with cake and mince tarts
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