Admin! That word never used to make me scream but at the moment it is being moved into the same bracket as ‘health and safety’ a certain telecommunications company and cold callers. Why? Simply because it is becoming frustrating and annoying.
I’ve always considered myself competent when it comes to admin. There is a lot of it in my job and I will admit that with the progression of technology some of that pressure has eased. The processes have become easier. Please do not think I am talking about AI because I am not. Software packages that have reduced my data entry are amazing. Yet for other parts of life the opposite seems to be true.
Recently after a GP appointment my husband was given a referral letter. Having gone through this process several times we waited for an appointment. Nothing. It now seems we have to take the referral and do the work to get the appointment. At what point was someone going to tell us this. More admin for me. Check out the possible consultants because his usual consultant has vanished. Check with the private insurance company that the one we pick is on their list. Make our choice, get it authorised, book the appointment.
Another clinic said he needed bloods and an X-ray. OK log on book the blood test, my job as husband can’t use a computer. Where has the paperwork for the X-ray been sent? Thankfully it only took a couple of calls to track that down and confirm it can been done during the same visit to the hospital for the bloods.
The paperwork I have in relation to my husband is behaving like that Gremlin who was fed after midnight. My current folder will now need to be split as it is busting at the seams. In that simple task is an admin dilemma. How do you decide which sections to group together? I know from experience which ever way I do it, the question I get asked will have the answer in the other file. We won’t mention it is information that should be held in his medical records. That is another gripe altogether.
For the appointment for the referral I think it best if I step up my admin and put together a specific folder as from experience usually a new consultant means a whole load of pain starting from scratch. Better I go armed with all the information as I know full well that lovely screen on his desk, linked to that big ole computer will not tell him anything relevant. I’m not sure it tells him anything correct.
It’s hard work, another ball that we shouldn’t really need to be juggling. I’m trying to figure out if these are problems due to people not doing their jobs properly, people not caring or the systems being upgraded ineffectively. Failsafe procedures not being put in place or perhaps this is just a way to reduce the figures.
Yes I sound cynical but I don’t understand why admin is being pushed onto the patient. How far will this go? Will we eventually be responsible for generating our own discharge papers? That might be beneficial as in my husbands case there never seems to be anyone to sign them.
I do fear for the people who are dire with paperwork. Perhaps we need to hire a PA when we get sick. I know that if the boot was on the other foot I would be doomed: husband is not an admin demon. His theory is shred it, we won’t need it. My suggestion is brush up on your office admin skills, you never know when you will need them. Just don’t ask me, I’m drowning under paperwork. Ex