"Thumb injury"

I injured my thumb quite badly and physio referred me to the Sydney Hand Clinic. When I rang to make an appointment, I was told to send through my referral, and based on this information I would get an appointment. I was told this could take up to a year which made me very concerned. It turned out only to be only a few weeks which was great, but the receptionist was really, really vague and unhelpful.

When I attended my first appointment I had to wait 2 hours to be seen by a doctor. After a 5 minute appointment I then waited again for 20 mins to see a therapist.

I was happy with the care, but the organisation is so, so bad. For example, when I needed to reschedule a review appointment, I rang the number as directed by the text message I received and got the Sydney Hand Hospital voice message. I left 7 messages with no reply. I even resorted to calling related numbers I found on the internet for the Sydney Hand Hospital and still no reply. After 1 month of trying I had to free up time to go to the hospital to make another appointment in person. They were totally unreachable by phone. When I asked questions of the receptionists about my troubles trying to re-book, they shrugged their shoulders and didn't care.

Then again recently I had a morning appointment. An hour and a half after my appointment time,they came out and told me I still have at least half hour to wait.

I know my injury isn't life threatening but I really feel for others that have to endure this inefficient debacle on a more regular basis. The health professionals are great but the management of the corporate support to patients is very, very poor.