Negligences and Ignorances (eBook)

Monday Morning

In her well-appointed new office the Practice Manager began her day by taking a phone call.

“Thank you for advising us that your husband passed at home over the weekend” said the Practice Manager. “Have a lovely day. Bye bye.”

She ended the call and inspected her nails. She thought they would last until Friday afternoon. It was important to look like a leader and to dress for success, as her colleagues in Sydney constantly reminded her. She patted her hair, and adjusted the neckline of her work blouse. Frills were so much more feminine than the standard collared shirt and she was sure other staff appreciated her choice of their uniform.

She checked the time on her computer. Yes, it was definitely time for a break. She left her office, and as she passed the reception desk in the crowded waiting-room, she informed the staff there that she was “just popping out for something.” She really did not enjoy instant coffee, nor did she relish the interruptions in the staff room which always occurred when she tried to take some “self-care” time. It was so much better to visit her favourite café where the barista knew her preference and where she always found a table in the sun.

As she sipped her skinny caramel latte with icecream she reflected with satisfaction on her new role. Being offered this position by a friend of her father’s, fortuitously on the board of the corporation which now owned the practice, had come at just the right time, when she was moving away from endless casual and short-term contracts and wanting to build up her resume so she could earn a better salary and start the renovations she and her husband had planned when they first bought their house.

She strolled back to the general practice, noticing as she walked through the waiting-room that a patient was crying quietly in a corner and that there was only one receptionist, Khali, at the desk instead of the usual three.

“Could you….?” began this young woman who was still new to the busy weekday shifts and looked flustered and uncomfortable as she took phone calls, booked appointments, attended to billing, answered queries and tried to monitor the waiting-room as well. The Practice Manager just smiled regretfully and shook her head. Her days on the front desk were over for which she was grateful.

She went back into her office and began to read her emails. There were so many these days – a measure of her importance as she often reminded herself. One was headed “Roster” and that reminded her she needed to check that there were sufficient receptionists on duty tomorrow. She went back into the waiting area and as she crossed the floor to the reception desk she saw that the woman who had been crying in a corner had stood up and was leaving by the main door. “Still bill her” she said to the receptionist. “They have to learn not to waste our busy doctors’ time.”

“I think she’s….” began Khali.

“Roster please” said the Practice Manager. She ran her eye over it but before she had checked the staffing properly she heard her office phone ringing. She returned to her own desk but the phone stopped ringing just as she got there. “Can’t have been important then” she told herself.

She returned to her emails. She scanned the titles.

Pizza special today

Roster

Proposed meeting

Site visit

Discrepancy

Date for renovations confirmed

New allocation for mental health

Special offer

Supply of PPE

Problem with cold chain of vaccines

My application for position #394 Receptionist

Alert – ensure this patient stays for appointment

Farewell drinks for registrar

“Now where was I up to?” she wondered. “So many interruptions. You’d think they’d know to leave me alone so I can get through it all. Not the doctors of course. Have to be there for them any time. That’s what they want in Sydney. No doctors, no practice, no money. Most of the doctors are really nice though. There’s only the one who can be a bit…well, difficult. She must see I’m doing my best. Never done this sort of job before. It’s a lot to get your head around too. Keep Sydney happy, keep the doctors happy, keep the receptionists working instead of gossiping and checking Facebook all the time. Ok, emails. Oh the phone again. Better answer. ‘Good morning, Sanity Health, Practice Manager speaking. Sorry, didn’t catch your name…you wanted to ask about what? Your referral? I’ll put you through to Reception, then. I don’t know anything about referrals. You were told you’d be contacted about an appointment by the end of last week? Not my problem, sorry. Call Reception directly. Bye bye.’ Really, some patients are very silly. They get mixed up and they forget their times and then they expect me to fix it all for them. Now I’ve wasted ten minutes on her and there are even more emails coming in.”

She read on.

New registrar’s start date

Goat in car park

Lawn mowing contract

Subscription expires tomorrow – renew now

Endocrinology service closing at the end of the month

Norovirus

Offer from Stellar Pharmaceutical Group

Practice Nurse’s Study Day

Patient complaint

URGENT – please reply

Hi from Dad!

She began to work out which to deal with first.

“Let’s see. The new registrar will need orientation. Better book that in for the first day, get all the staff to meet him. Patient complaint – probably that same old whinger again. Ignore it. Back up the list a bit. Actually I don’t know what half these things mean. Cold chain? Why can’t the nurse use proper English? There can’t be a goat in the car park. Who sent that? Typo? Or somebody’s idea of a joke? Oops, think I deleted a couple. Can I retrieve them? No, probably not worth reading anyway. When are the Sydney managers visiting next? Did I put that in my calendar? Better check, yes here it is. Oh, next Monday. Of course. That will be a whole day out of the office. They seem to like me. They know they have to have a manager on site so they must be grateful that I took on the job when Dad’s friend offered it to me. Hey, there’s an email from Dad now. I’ll answer that and let him know how I’m going.”

Hi yourself Dad! You’d be so proud of me if you could see me in my office today. It’s a great job and I’m doing really well. I know your friend thought not having experience in management or a background in health might make things difficult but I can honestly say “not a problem”. Everybody’s lovely to me. Just one cranky old doctor, and the nurses can be a bit stroppy at times, especially the one who does the patient counselling and mental health stuff. But she’ll have to come round when she finally sees what I have to do here every day. See you soon, lots of love, your little girl.

There was a knock at the office door. The Practice Manager sighed. “Yes?” she called out. The door opened and the nurse responsible for counselling and mental health work came in. The Practice Manager frowned. She did not actually believe in “mental health” and considered privately that people who wanted counselling or any kind of emotional or mental health support were probably not trying hard enough. However the practice had always employed a mental health professional so she had to do her best, especially as the Sydney managers were keen to keep the service going in the light of the increased funding it now attracted.

“I’m not getting my referrals sent on to me” began the nurse. “If they don’t come through quickly I can’t contact the person and make the first assessment. People can think they have been forgotten and get more desperate. I really don’t want that.”

“You will have to contact the referral hub” said the Practice Manager. “Referrals come to me from there.”

The nurse sighed. “Actually referrals go to the hub from here and come back as allocations to whichever professional is going to take on the patient” she explained patiently.

“I do know the difference” snapped the Practice Manager. “If I receive a referral I pass it on to you. Always.”

“No” sighed the nurse. “That’s not what happens. You send the referral to the hub and the hub sends the allocation back if the person is to go on my list.”

“That’s what I just said” replied the Practice Manager....