A trip to the hospital (Perspective of a patient)

Last Saturday on 26th of January 2008 at the morning, my dad and I brought my grandpa to SGH ENT centre for his appointment. My grandpa had been complaining for the past week for ear pain. So, my uncle had brought him down to A & E for an investigation followed by an appointment made by the SGH staff to ENT centre.

We arrived there 45 minutes earlier than the stipulated time which is at 0945. So, we registered and put the referral letter into a tray provided. After waiting for about 0.5 hrs, we knew from the counter staff that his appointment was actually scheduled on the day before instead. So, she wanted us to come back on monday instead for the appointment because they only saw private appointments on Saturdays. However, the appointment was given by the A & E staff with the stated date and time. Later, we knew that the A & E staff had written the date wrongly. Luckily, the doctor in duty had kindly agreed to see my grandpa to get medications and also to know what the diagnosis of his ear pain. However, the screw up had caused us to waste one to two hours of our time.It was likely that his ear pain was caused by the two ulcers in his vocal cords that radiated to his ears. In addition, using their special equipments, the doctor had shown to my dad and I that his ears contained a lot of wax and some strands of hair which might also be causes of the pain. An eardrop and some pills had been prescribed by the doctor. Fortunately, it was nothing serious but to play safe, my grandpa was to come back in a month time for a follow up appointment.

This trip tot he hospital had enabled me to see the perspecive of the patient. Usually, in the medical centre, I will make the appointment to the NSman, writing the appointment date, time and the venue. So, any discrepancy to any of the above following will cause great inconvenience to the serviceman and indirectly to myself.
This trip to the hospital had made my grandpa happier as it was the first time that I accompanied him to the hospital.