A lovely lady, approaching eighty years old wanted to see her doctor to talk about some immediate health troubles that were concerning her. But she hated calling, and hated going in to the clinic, so she kept postponing it."Whenever I phone them, it's so frustrating. It says push this button, then push that one, then I talk to someone but they won't let me see him for for three weeks. It hurts today! If I go to the clinic and wait, I don't know who I'll get and I have to tell them the whole story. At the desk, they won't even tell me if my doctor is working that day! Sometimes I wait and he ends up being the one that I get. It's OK to see another doctor, but I really just want to see my doctor. Why can't they even tell me whether he's working or not?"
If you're sick today, you want to see your doctor today. We get so concerned about "optimizing our time" and "filling the schedule" that we end up giving really bad service to our patients. We need some slack in our day, so we can handle the unpredictable demand. And it turns out that the unpredictable demand is actually quite predictable.
If you're struggling to provide quick service to your patients, clients or customers, check out the work of Dr. Mark Murray with Advanced Access in health care, and of John Seddon's approach to Lean Service with the Vanguard Method. Turns out, you can see your doctor.
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