A little rant

When we moved to Spain 12 years ago we were well under the retirement age (and still are) to qualify for health care so we took out our own private medical insurance. We settled for the top level which gave more coverage.

This included a yearly Gyni Well woman check if you so wished.

Yes, the dreaded that we all hate, but know we must do to look after ourselves.

So having made the appointment and received the various authorisations, we bundled along to the hospital I have been to many times in Benidorm.

We left plenty of time ready to stand in line to book in knowing from previous experience this can take some time.

Leaving Chris to park the car, which in itself is quite a feat due to the small car park and tiny bays they allocate, I went in and found they had changed all their systems.

Now there is a ticket machine, you choose your language and department and wait for the ticket, except my department wasn´t on the screen, so I pushed ´Help´instead.

Hmmm, nothing happened, so I inquired at the desk only for a very short tempered girl to push back her chair telling me I had done it all wrong. Like this, she informed me, tapping at the machine, now take this to the girl upstairs.

Still no Chris, so I sat for a moment waiting for him, only for her to bark her question of why hadn´t I gone upstairs? on my reply she just shrugged.

This was going well!!, Ok, he will find me, so off I trotted to find the other desk.

I waited patiently, as us Brits do, for her to finish then moved forward, only to find another woman glaring at me and waving her papers in front of my face.

Rather confused, I apologise, did I push in?

The receptionist asks if I have a ticket, yes, then points at a chair and barks wait.

It was only after a kind man informed me the screen would tell me when it was my turn to approach the desk that I realised my mistake.

In my experience Spanish people do not ´wait´but barge in with questions etc even if its not their turn, especially in shops, so I was already on the back foot.

My turn, paperwork printed on to the department.

It was obviously a block appointment so first come first served.

Telling myself to breathe and give it 10 minutes and all would be over, after 30 minutes I was called.

Someone I hadn´t seen before, so I politely asked, in Spanish, if we could speak English please.

With relief he said yes, then in perfect English, what is the problem?, 

Erm, no problem just WWC, he huffed, asked a couple of questions then said go and remove clothing.

Ahh, we have a real friendly one here, Not!

During a not so gentle procedure he stated a couple of things with one word then examination complete get dressed.

Nice!

He asked the nurse, who was coughing and spluttering what other procedures were required.

Everything, she replied, ´What¨? Oh bone density and mammogram ok

I explained I did not want a mammogram but an ultrasound. Then added that my GP had confirmed it was a better option for me

What I didn´t expect was his explosion of "Rubbish", "who is your GP" "never heard of him"

At this stage I felt like asking him how would he like his ´bits´put between two cold metal plates and have the living daylights squashed out of them, but I was very restrained and swallowed my retort.

This was all going so well!?

Next he slides a prescription towards me, and this is for??

Cream! ok, and how is this applied, pessary, Ok, morning or night? night, and the reason I need this? hormones or lack of them, 

In for a penny as they say,  I asked a question about tropical moments (hot flushes to him)

His reply? Í don´t know¨

I do wonder how many years he had in training and considering his age (about 55) how many had he been practicing and whether I could suggest a course of how to treat patients.

In a split second of having discarded that idea

I was dismissed, by being told to see him again next month and to report to the X-ray department.

Having smiled sweetly, well I think I did (hope it wasn´t a grimance) I left.

Maybe my face told a thousand tales because all I could answer to Chris´s polite, Are you OK? was a terse, No. I was fuming

It couldn´t get any worse... ha ha

On arrival at radiology we found a free receptionist, we waited, eventually she barked have you a ticket, looking around we found a machine near her hatch, duly took one, with the machine telling us to go to the waiting room and well wait...

On hearing Chris asking what did we do now she pipes up, you give it to me.......

For goodness sake!!!!!!!!

To add insult to injury we are informed appointments cannot be made as they did not give me the correct paperwork upstairs and that she would have to contact them and ring me at home.

In my opinion when you are apprehensive anyway, haven´t a clue how their procedures work, wouldn´t it be easier to be user friendly, no barking, no making you feel stupid, oh and maybe a tiny smile now and again to put you at your ease. Most of them speak 4 languages so they cannot hide behind not understanding.

And to think I pay a lot of money each year for this........

Well thank you for listening to my little rant

all done now till the next time

and breathe

take care

xcx