Back to grey. Keeping to appointment times. A bit of a rant about appointments. Christmas Whit Friday?

 We’ve had two bright and crisp days but today we are back to grey and damp. I think the weathermen are promising us rain as well. So it goes!

This morning I got up more or less with the sun, which was clearly as reluctant to leave its bed as I was mine. But I wanted to do a bit of shopping before going to the doctor’s surgery for a routine blood test.

So I set off for an early bus, remembering only at the last minute that we are now in December and the dispensation for old biddies like me to use our bus pass before the 9.30 am watershed was for November only! I watched another would-be bus-pass-user getting very confused when her pass was declined. How quickly we adjust to new normalities! 

It’s very hard, well nigh impossible, human nature being what it is, to slot interviews of one kind or another into a specific time frame. When I was a  teacher we always tried to keep parents’ evening appointments to five minutes per student. With a bit of preparation and foresight you could keep most appointments to those five minutes - a carefully prepared statement on a student’s progress (or lack of), aptitude and attitude, personality and expectations made things move a lot faster. However, there were always some parents who wouldn’t accept that prepared statement and wanted to go into greater detail or simply wanted to talk about what a lovely person their offspring was and sometimes wanted to thank you cor the wonderful work you were doing! And your timing went to pieces!

Doctors have a similar problem with patients who want extra details, extra reassurance, or maybe just a bit of a chat. And so when my GP falls behind in her appointments I can understand and sympathise. Harder to understand is why routine appointments for blood tests or vaccination should fall behind. These are administered by a practice nurse and should have no place for a long diagnosis of the situation, or a short one, or indeed any diagnosis at all. So why did I have to wait for a good ten minutes beyond my appointment time this morning? Once in the nurse’s room, even taking into account that it’s December and it’s cold and it was necessary to remove layers of clothing to allow access to my vein, taking a blood sample took a maximum of three minutes.

I have ranted before now about the difficulty of making doctors’ appointments. Here’s a link to Adrian Chiles ranting on the same subject.

I find myself in perfect agreement with this sentiment:

 “I don’t care about the shabbiness of hospitals, confusion over appointment times and places, even the poor communication skills of some doctors. I just want to know there’s a number to call, which will get me someone relevant to talk to.”

Quite so!

I see that the pub next door and the pub in the centre of the village are offering what they are calling “Christmas Whit Friday”. On Friday December 12th twelve brass bands will perform in the carpark of the pub next door. I think the village centre pub has booked Friday 19th. Whit Friday is Band Contest Day in the Saddleworth villages, celebrating Pentecost with Whit Walks from local churches in the morning and a gathering of brass bands in the afternoon and evening. So Christmas Whit Friday is a bit of a nonsense name in terms of religious significance but it’s a name that will make perfect sense to everyone here.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!