New and improved

Our local doctors group moved into a new surgery a few months ago. It’s all quite modern, but a bit sterile in the overall look. In addition, they recently added themselves to a service that allows patients to make appointments online. In theory this is a good thing since it frees us the surgery staff to do other things instead of constantly answering the telephone. It also allows me to see what’s available and choose rather than depend on the staff to tell me. My first experiences using it were a bit mixed. We’ve been going to this surgery for probably sixteen years so our family is well-known there. We’ve seen the practice grow from a fairly small office with one regular doctor to a bigger one with six or seven doctors and now to a rather large practice with about ten to fifteen.  We haven’t always seen the same doctors but have settled in with regular doctors in the past few years. I’ve been seeing Dr. S for at least five or six years now. I’ve been mostly happy with her and she knows me well. I needed to see a doctor recently and decided to try out the new system. Dr S didn’t have any appointments showing as available. I scheduled with Dr T, who I saw on my last visit when I hurt my shoulder. A few days later I went back and discovered there were a few appointments now available with Dr. S. But when I went to try and schedule with her, I got a message trying to tell me she wasn’t my doctor and she wasn’t taking on new patients. A bit frustrating but as it was the weekend, I went back and rescheduled with Dr T as it wasn’t essential I see my usual doctor for this visit.

I went to my appointment and Dr T was fine for the main issue I needed to see someone about. I also discussed another issue and ran into some difficulty because this new doctor doesn’t know me or my history. Much of the time was spent with her referring back to previous notes on my record and clarifying issues. In the end I didn’t feel she quite understood the situation that well and will need to revisit the subject when I next see my usual doctor.

I did ask about the online system when I went to settle my account at the end. Seems the system was set up in a way that it’s necessary to manually add the doctor to the patient. At least this is the case for the more established doctors who already have quite a number of patients on their books. I’ve now been set up with Dr S listed as my regular doctor so it should work properly in the future. I’m relieved this worked out as I would much rather do online appointments than have to call each time.