Just before the weekend, I had occasion to visit the kindly family GP (fear not, twas nowt serious). It's been a while since I last went to the doctor's surgery. So long in fact, that it's now no longer actually known as a doctor's surgery, it's been upgraded to a
Medical Centre. A whole heap of expensive
work has been done refurbishing and improving
the place, inside and out, since my last
visit, including the installation of an
intranet connecting the doctors and nurses
with each other and putting the reception
desk in instant contact with all the staff in
the practice. It's all very impressive. While
I was there I had to have separate tests with
staff located in different parts of the
building and there were no hurriedly scribbled
notes to be handed over, garbled phone calls
made or shouted instructions barked along
corridors. A quick internal email or two from
my doctor to the relevant colleagues was all
that was required to make the necessary
arrangements. My whole visit was hi-tec and
seamless, at least until the very end, when a
survivor from the 20th century put in an
unexpected appearance.
Returning to my own doctor at the conclusion
of my visit, she suggested that I needed one
more little test, one that couldn't be done
there at the Medical Centre, but would
require a trip to the out-patients department
of the nearest hospital, 20 miles away. Not a
problem I thought, expecting her to swing
back to her keyboard and tap in an email
request for an appointment, but no. She told
me that I'd be informed of my appointment
later in the day, as she'd first have to...., wait
for it....,
fax my details over to the
hospital.
Fax! I guess it goes to show that,
for all the millions spent upgrading and
improving the infrastructure, technology and
communications, if a tried and trusted system
still works and ain't broke, why fix it?
Here's a tune by the Red Guitars, from a time
when fax machines were the very cutting edge
of 'Good Technology'.
.jpg)
8 comments:
Fax?! I didn't know they still made them - and where on earth do they get the paper?! Our surgery has changed a lot in recent years too and has one of those touch-screen registration things so you don't even have to speak to a receptionist. They're probably 'old news' by now but I was amazed!
PS - so sorry, I had also meant to add to that comment that I hope you're ok, and good luck with test results!
Come to think of it, our Medical Centre has had a touch screen registration thing for quite a while too. I wonder what the receptionists actually do nowadays? Send faxes I guess.
Thanks for your good wishes C.
I hope it's not serious my man.
I've had my fill of doctor's offices and examination rooms this year after the big man broke his arm.
We still have a fax machine where I work but, that's because the people I work for a irredeemably cheap...and it came with the printer 100 years ago. Ha
Good luck fella.
I do actually know why they still use the fax TS: a while ago my niece-in-law(?) who is a GP had to personally step in to a Medd related medical matter. Before she spoke to the GP concerned she first sent him a fax, not an email, and then followed it up with a phone call. A doctor HAS to respond to a piece of paper that physically lands on his desk. He can't just blag, like you can with can email, that it never arrived or ended up in spam.
Suffice to say the Medd family member is 100% fighting fit and we owe it, in part, to the humble fax machine.
Thanks for your good wishes Erik and thank you John for clearing that one up, a mystery solved.
Very funny...yesterday I had to rush off to a hospital in Neshoba county (to sell some food...not find treatment). There was a couple hundred bucks in it for me but, the whole thing depended on my finding a fax machine at the hospital (to get the necessary paperwork back in time).
HA!
In the end the woman who set the appointment with me wasn't even working that day. WTF?
One thing about living in Spain which may surprise you is that they are completely automated and everything is online....you can check most things yourself re-appointment etc. Every department is all linked together...all very impressive
Post a Comment