Observations from a walk-in clinc......

Now the clinic technically didn't open until 9am. but when I rang on Saturday the guy told me to be there for 8:30am.  So when we got there, there were already four people in front of dh.

The receptionist was a man, who I actually thought was maybe the doctor, but no it turned out he was just the receptionist; he was a bit of a funny bunny but very efficient.  The doctor showed up around 9:15am and started the see patients shortly after.  So in the 45 minutes or so I was sat there I people watched.

Number 1 patient was a woman who had, had to have a filling done at the dentist; then her life went downhill fast after that.  Despite being to see numerous specialists she was still in a lot of pain?  Doctor spent very little time with her.

Number 2 patient was in sheer agony with her back and you could see she was in pain just by the way she was sitting and the expression on her face.  Mind you patient number 1 had pulled out her back also a couple of weeks ago.  The doctor was in with her quite a long time.

Number 3 patient.......she was quite the character, a movie star in the making I think, as she kept her sunglasses on all the time.  It might have helped if she took them off when handing in her health card as she gave the guy her sons health card, so he thought she had brought in her son to be looked at, so when she finally figured out she had handed in the wrong card, the guy had done all the paperwork only to have to do it all again {SIGH} 

So then Miss Movie Star plops herself down next to me and starts texting like a crazy woman, still with her sunglasses on; and then the "PINGING" started when she got answers back.  Now it wasn't a quiet "PING" it was a very, very loud "PING."  So I made the comment that I didn't know they could make such a loud noise.  Her reply was, her ears were blocked so she turned the volume up.

Then she got a phone call, so at this point we all discovered she was on deaths door with the worst fever and cold ever.  However she must have looked at me at some point and decided to carry on with the call out in the hallway.  Still she came back and again the phone rang and again we got a blow by blow account of how sick she was.  I was ready to ram that phone in a place where the sun don't shine!!!

When it was her turn to see the doctor he was in and out in a minute with her.....obviously she wasn't on deaths door, and if she had stayed at home and taken some cold medication she would be fine.

Patient number 4 was a dear lady with a sinus infection, you could tell that a mile off.  Again the doctor was in and out with her in minutes.  I was dying to tell her just to take Sinutab it would have been easier than sitting in that bloody clinic with a pile of sick folk..........oh and me!!

Patient number 5 was dh, again the doctor was in and out in minutes as we all knew he had Pink Eye.  However we needed to get medication as the poor man could hardly see, as his eyes are all red and puffed up.  The doctor did mention it was a shame it wasn't Halloween as at least he wouldn't have had to put any makeup on!!

Patient number 6 was another woman who was sniffing, so I guess another one with a cold.  Saw her out in the corridor a bit later on talking to another woman and she wasn't happy.  Doctor probably told her to go home take a couple of Tylenol and drink plenty of fluids...........

Patient number 7 & 8 was a mother with a little baby who was probably around 3 months old.  The mother was absolutely full of cold and so was the little fella.  Plus he had a rotten cough.  He was having such a time breathing and when she tried to breast feed him, you could really hear him gasping for air as he was trying to suck.

The other patients after that were not as interesting and by this point all I could think of was I hope I don't get sick.  So that is how me and dh spent a couple of hours on Sunday morning.  Could be worse I guess, but hope I don't have to go to a walk in clinic again any time soon!!