There are still no appointments available

My attempts to make a hospital appointment through the new centralised NHS booking service are becoming increasingly ludicrous. In my last entry I wrote about how I tried to do this online only to get locked out of the site when I couldn’t make my password work and afterwards, when I tried again, I was told there were no appointments available. Well, today I rang the booking number. I got a recorded message telling me that they were very busy and perhaps I would like to ring at a less busy time such as a weekend or an afternoon. I was ringing on Sunday afternoon! Then I was told I might like to try booking online.

Finally I did get to speak to someone who took my details and then told me there were no appointments available and I would have to wait for the hospital to contact me. In the old days you always had to wait for the hospital to contact you. This was supposed to be a new improved service. I wasted about 20 minutes online and another 10 today on the phone to get back to the old system! I suppose it does provide some new jobs for the people who answer the phone. No wonder the NHS can’t make ends meet when they waste money inventing services that don’t serve.