All week I had been dreading the arrival of Friday the 22nd, not for me but for the poor man who had to attend hospital, lets call him Peter.
Peter is a 70 something year old man who had recently received a kidney transplant, he is not a little poorly, this may be to due to a medication he is taking or a swelling in the brain that resulted from Swine Flu.
On Friday, Peter was picked up in an ambulance to go to hospital, as he can’t walk and needs assistance with everything. I accompanied Peter to the hospital in my own car, Peter was supposed to be taken to the external extractions building for a blood test, but the ambulance didn't know this. I called the ambulance and said I was waiting at the General Lab as the bed he is in will not fit in the external extractions doorway, a fact the doctor who asked for bloods to be taken there should have considered given his situation.
I moved from place to place waiting for his arrival, which was 45 minutes late. There were four possible places his blood could have been taken. When I finally found Peter in the general lab and proceeded to get his blood taken. The ambulance porters were very nice and took his to where he needed to go, although shortly after they started getting in a dispute with the lab supervisor as she said they were to wait and then transfer him to the other side of the hospital, they refused and said they had more work to do.
So there we were, in the corridor waiting for his blood to be taken. After this I was told to go to the front desk and ask for a porter, the obviously said it wasn’t done to them and sent me elsewhere, again the same thing happened with the next 3 or 4 people I spoke to. Eventually I returned to the lab and asked the nice lady at administration, he words were something like, ‘I knew I would be the one that had to do all the work’….Well sorry for getting you to do your job!
About 20 minutes later a porter arrived to take Peter to his consultation room, the lady asked me some questions regarding the ambulance drivers and why they hadn’t waited, I explained and she walked away.
Another 15 minutes passed and she walked passed me and said someone will be here soon..OK I said. Finally a lovely elderly man come and took Peter to his appointment, apologising for not getting there sooner and very helpful.
Peter was laying on a bed in the corridor, very uncomfortable waiting for his daughter, when she arrived I filled her in and was about to leave, but I thought I would try and find Peter a pillow to rest his head as he had now been laying on a metal bed for about two and a half hours.
I asked the assistance nurse for a pillow or even a sheet to use for under his head, she looked at me as if I had three heads and seven eyes, I asked again as she didn’t answer and she said, ‘obviously not, not here’ and sent me on my way.
It’s disappointing how in a building where professionals try to save lives, help people get better and try to improve someones lifestyle, they can not even assume some responsibility and help. They say that the cuts due to the recession are bad for the Spanish health system, I am nos disputing this, but maybe they should take a look at the way they work, or not in this case.
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