Bad treatment of 81-year-old man

My grandfather is 81 years of age, he has been severely diabetic for the past few years and has to receive a check-up on a regular and timely basis to insure that his health remains stable. Apart from this he does his own home test daily, an exercise he takes very seriously. A few weeks ago he had gone to the Health Centre for his regular check-up.

He left home earlier than usual because he had misplaced his appointment card and was hoping that he might still be accommodated, as his check-up was overdue and he was very concerned.

On arriving at the Health Centre, he went up to the receptionist at her desk and tried to explain the situation about his health and the misplacing of his appointment card.

Without any eye contact and acting as if he was interrupting her from her very busy schedule, she continued whatever she was doing before his arrival then replied saying "you will just have to make a new appointment."

He tried pleading with her saying "Miss my check-up is al-ready a few days overdue, is there now way you can accommodate me."

Again acting very unconcerned, with a creased forehead and curled lips, she said, "Sir, I already told you that you have to make a new appointment and we have a lot of people to deal with this morning."

He had no choice but to make a new appointment and wait another two weeks for him to have a check-up. Before leaving he said "Ma’am I hope you have a very nice day." She looked at him as if he didn’t know the meaning of the words.

Now he wasn’t disappointed that he had to make a new ap-pointment but he was treated as though he was less than human. I believe she could have handled the situation in a more professional manner.

All she simply had to do was to take some time out from her busy schedule to explain the situation to him, without the negative attitude and maybe even throw in a smile.

I believe that if you are in the health sector, you are there for a purpose and that purpose is to give help to those who are in need of it. If you can give no assistance to that person, at least you can have an approachable attitude. I suggest that at the level of the interview process, trained interviewers be put in place to seek out suitable personality types for the job and or some sort of personality training be administered to these people.

The present level of customer service in the health sector is unacceptable and something has to be done promptly.

A BROWNE

Chaguanas