My medical records in NZ are currently with a chain of medical centers known as Radius Medical.

They have a facility to book online for non-urgent appointments. Yesterday, I thought I'd give it a go.

This morning I got the response:

Dear Mathew,

Thank you for using the online appointment booker, unfortunately we are unable to book this appointment for you as it is considered a same day appointment. If you need to see the GP urgently, I suggest you contact the centre directly and arrange an appointment.

Regards,

Malinda

radius medical solutions

DDI: +64 6 --- ----

From: Mathew Carley [mailto:**********@mathew-carley.com]
Sent: Tuesday, 1 March 2011 8:02 p.m.
To: Malinda ***
Subject: A new appointment request

Please book an appointment for:

Mathew Carley
Birth date: **********
Phone: ***********
Email: *******@mathew-carley.com
Cell phone:
My Medical centre: **********
My GP: **********
Appointment date: 02.03.2011
Alternative dates:
Time: Afternoon
Appointment purpose: ********

Obviously, this ticked me off a bit.

You see, in 2004-2005, I worked in a company which used to develop and support Practice Management Software, so I kind of understand what things were like at that time and how practices manage their appointments, patient records and indeed the hardware and networks (which was my forte).

It's now 7 years later, and unless things have changed drastically, I happen to know that a company with this many practices would have a central server somewhere to which all practices connect either via RDP/Terminal Server OR at least one company I know of is (or has) developed/is developing a web-based version of the software.

As a result, despite this woman being somewhere in Manawatu (towards Wellington), and my being in Hamilton, she should have access to each practice's database and calendars.

So I responded.

Hi Malinda,

No offense intended to you personally, but what a stupid and ridiculous response this is.

Instead of saying "no" outright, you should be offering me an alternative day/time. This is customer service 101. You have my reason for visit as "sleep disorder" - so you may decide how urgent that is. I haven't slept in 5 days... does that sound urgent to you?

Please book me in for some time in an afternoon in a day in the near future.

I'm going to suggest to Radius Management that their online booking tool is, while a good idea, poorly implemented.

Mathew

Perhaps I was a bit harsh, but for fuck's sake, look up a time and book a fucking appointment. I'll take time out of my schedule to attend a doctor's appointment - it's a valid excuse for taking time off of work.

Do I have to collapse and be found by a relative for you to bother doing your job? At the very least, it's not THAT hard to publish an available/not available calendar online. I used to use such a booking system at Mehiläinen in Finland and it worked fine. This was back in 2006-2008!

So what the fuck? Come on Radius... unless you want me to switch back to my old doctor...