VISITNG A HOSPITAL FOR A COVID TEST OR ANY OTHER TEST - WHAT TO DO

Tracking Potential Patients

 The proposed system for tracking patients is really good. I can see why it can help people avoid being late whilst being in the wrong part of the hospital.

Simply Signs

Hospitals could also simplify signs at the entrance. The average person, plus a speaker of a foreign languages, has no idea where to go for their 'blood test' because when you reach hospital you are faced with technical signs such as 'pathology department' and 'haematology. In each department you have to queue for ten minutes just to ask the way.

Register Deaths In All Departments

They could also monitor dead bodies. Then cancel outpatients appointments for dead people.

I know about this because of my experience after the death of my beloved uncle who you can see in the hospital bed in this photo.

My Dead Uncle's Appointments

I can tell you what happened to me. After my uncle died, I picked up a letter berating my beloved uncle for failing to attend an eye check-up. He had just died.

I should have written back asking for a home visit as he was in the mortuary.

When I phoned the hospital, the only line not giving recorded messages was the pregnancy department. I declined to tell them my date of birth and expected delivery date.

By the time I had explained my uncle was dead, three times, I was sobbing.

At this point, fortunately a helpful and sympathetic staff member managed to divert me around an internal switchboard.

When I finally reached the right department, I was, by now, recovered, polite, and succinct.

The lady who answered was most apologetic. She said, 'I'm so sorry, my dear. This keeps happening. We can't do anything about it. Nobody tells us.'

She cancelled the appointment. but she needed a notification of death. Well, death certificates were costing me ten pounds each. Every organization I spoke to wanted three, for the appointments department, for accounts, etc. I told her to check with the hospital as I did not yet have the paperwork. I had not even identified the body.

You can imagine my surprise when I received another follow-up computer generated message asking me to re-book the cancelled appointment.

To See Dead Bodies - This Way >

When we went to see my uncle's dead body, we could not find the mortuary. It was at the far end of the hospital and not signposted.

Tracking patients is really good. Hospitals could also simplify signs. The average person, plus a speaker of a foreign languages, has no idea where to go for their 'blood test' because when you reach hospital you are faced with technical signs such as 'pathology department' and 'haematology.

As you zig zig around the hospital maze, in each hospital department you have to queue for ten minutes just to ask the way.

They could also monitor dead bodies and cancel outpatients appointments for dead people. I picked up a letter berating my beloved uncle for failing to attend an eye check-up. He had just died. I should have written back asking for a home visit as he was in the mortuary. When I phoned the hospital, the only line not giving recorded messages was the pregnancy department. I declined to tell them my date of birth and expected delivery date.

By the time I had explained my uncle was dead, three times, I was sobbing. At this point, fortunately a helpful and sympathetic staff member managed to divert me around an internal switchboard.

When I finally reached the right department, I was, by now, recovered, polite, and succinct. The lady who answered was most apologetic. She said, 'I'm so sorry, my dear. This keeps happening. We can't do anything about it. Nobody tells us.' it is on the left as you drive into the hospital, but on the right if you are driving out of the car park exit, having driven to the entrance to ask the way.

We drove back to the entrance. Still no sign. Why no sign at the start? The hospital found that patients entering the hospital were discouraged by signs pointing to the mortuary. Visitors were alarmed. People about to decide whether to agree to an operation were alarmed. Staff were depressed. So, no clear signs.

We made two failed attempts to find the place. We got there on the third attempt.

Now, before each trip to a hospital, I check all around in advance. We even did a dummy run, driving their the night before. Which way do you drive in? Which way do you drive out?

When my husband asked me to drive him to the hospital for the test, I checked the hospital map in advance.

My checklist

1 Which hospital?

2 Which Department?

3 Which Entrance? Are taxis allowed to drop you off and pick you up? (Is the porter allowed to carry your bags to the car park outside the hotel main entrance?)

4 What is the patient's official name (usually the same as passport, or as registered with doctor)?

5 What is the patient's doctor's name, surgery name, surgery address?

6 What is the patient's date of birth?

7 Who is the next of kin?

8 What time is the appointment?

9 How much time do I need to allow in advance for form filling and walking from the car park to the department and queuing to register

10 Is a family member of friend permitted, required. For example, after a hernia operation, my husband was not allowed to drive home. Therefore he needed me or a taxi to take him home. But he also could not drive himself to the hospital, because he would not be able to collect the car later.

11 Is the hospital car park free and are there spaces? If not free, how do you pay? Do you need to key in a patient number to gain admission?

12 What is the patient's number?

13 What is the name of the patient's consultant?

14 If traffic makes you late, should you give up and go home and re-book? If you re-book is there a charge? Or go to the hospital and expect to be seen later, or at the end of the morning or day?

15 Can you arrive early and wait? Or does Covid-19 mean you must wait to be summoned? In our quarantine hotel in Singapore, we were told to wait for a phone call for both the covid test and for check-out to prevent crowding.

16 If you are in a quarantine hotel, you may find you are in a cordon and must use the lift (elevator) one by one.

I am delighted that hospitals are improving tracking of patients.

Useful Websites

https://www.hse.gov.uk/coronavirus/index.htm

https://www.gov.uk/get-coronavirus-test

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hospital_information_system

https://www.myheritage.com/research/category-2030/death-burial-cemetery-obituaries

About the Author

Angela Lansbury teacher of English (advanced and English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language, French and other languages, aspiring polyglot.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Member of many toastmasters  speaker training clubs and speaking contest judge.

Angela Lansbury, the author of 20 books including Wedding Speeches & Toasts, and Quick Quotations, has lived in the USA, Spain and Singapore. 

She  has several blogs and writes daily on at least two of the following:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

Languages Needed Visiting A Loved One In Hospital Overseas

Problem
You don't have a chance to speak to your loved one on the phone. Check what the country's hospitals provide and ask what your loved one needs.

Answers

SPAIN
My Spanish friend has flown back to Spain from the UK three times in the past twelve months to look after her mother in hospital. My friend says that Spanish hospitals expect relatives to come to hospital and stay on hand. Whilst the nurses do medical procedures, relatives are expected to be there to do things like helping patients to eat and clean their teeth.

UK
Many UK NHS (National Health Service) hospitals are run on different lines. Visitors are discouraged from visiting outside restricted times in afternoons or evenings. Staff seem to regard visitors as a nuisance, bringing in infections, sitting on sterile beds in outdoor clothes, obstructing access to beds, creating noise so other patients cannot sleep or be heard or noticed, getting in the way of the morning doctors' rounds.

Car parking is expensive and car park spaces often in short supply, discouraging long visits by family and by the elderly. This discourages visits from spouses and friends of the elderly (who form a large proprotion of both short and long stay patients, in every deparment except maternity and chidlren's wards).

CORSICAN, FRENCH, ITALIAN & RADIO
I was in hospital with multiple injuries after being knocked down by a car in Corsica. I spoke fluent French, which wasn't much help as most people, patients and staff, spoke Italian. If I had my life all over again I would learn German, Russian, Spanish and Italian non-stop in all my free time from primary school onwards. Never mind crosswords, TV, anything else. Just learn languages.

Radio
I was bored after the first 24 hours and asked for a radio. I was told the radios were downstairs and was promised I could have one. I was taken to the ground floor for an x-ray and when I came back, still no radio. Eventually, I discovered that radio was short for radiography in Italian hospital language, and they had thought I wanted an X-ray.

Whether you are a patient or a visitor, just being able to say hello and please and thank you makes staff more ready to stop and listen to you.

Learn Languages Now
Don't wait until you get called to visit a hospital to start learning the language on the plane. Start learning the language of the country where your spouse or parent or child or relative or colleague is living now. Then if you ever get called over in an emergency, you will be ready.

MEDICAL ENGLISH
Check the English, too. I recall driving all around a hospital not knowing which department to attend when my doctor sent me for a blood test.  No sign said blood tests. You might need a department called pathology or phlebotomy.

We also drove all the way round Barnet hospital trying to find the mortuary to view my uncle's body. We didn't see any sign saying helpful things in plain language such as: Your Dead Relatives Are Here. No sign saying Living relatives, turn right, for dead relatives turn left. Not even 'mortuary'. Might upset the living.

The word pathology comes from the Greek word pathos, meaning suffering or disease.

If you look up the hospital map online, you can then see what they call the various departments.

If grandchildren or children or nieces and nephews are likely to visit, they also need to understand the lingo. As a teenager I would not have understood the words:
audiology (hearing tests);
geriatric (elderly)
gynecology (connected with women), which is spelled differently in the USA and UK.
infirmary (hospital),
physiotherapy (exercises),
renal (kidneys).

I recall being baffled by the sign A and E (accident and emergency). If you take a local taxi they are more likely to know the outpatients or accident areas. Taking an ambulance rather than driving yourself ensures you rush through the traffic and go straight to the right department.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
Blogs posts about travelling which are educational and entertaining. Please bookmark and share links to your favourite posts.

Travelling to new venues? Check maps and stick maps in your diary.

I shall start by talking about the stress of changing a club venue, choosing a venue and supplying a map on your website for potential visitors. At the end of this post I shall talk about the importance of maps for yourself in finding a venue, and adding maps to your diary. Always carry with you a map, for example in the back of your diary. Staple it in to the inside of the cover or a blank page or between pages. Alternatively use transparent sticky tape or double sided tape.

 Keep a spare local train and street and bus map in your pocket for foreign visitors. (From any airport, or railway station. From a nearby hotel - either ask the concierge or take a free magazine advertising local theatres and cut out the map.)

A diary map of Singapore supplied at the back of a diary bought in Singapore.

Add another map using sticky tape.

I added a London tube map for England at the front of my diary.

Good Venues Two groups of people are in need of a new venue in London, England, and this has caused me to look at the problem we get worldwide when organising or attending an event and the importance of maps.

Harrow's The Bridge ClosingTwo groups in London need new venues, a Toastmasters International speakers' club, HOD, and a mental health support group. If I understand rightly, in London the Harrow Council (labour) has received reduced funding from the government (Conservative) and is proposing to close a building, as I understand it leaving the place empty for four years. 

I find the place stressful because Volunteers want to run the building which houses a unit helping those with mental health problems, providing a day centre. In the evenings it provides a venue for Toastmasters speakers group (used by two members or former users of the members of the mental health care group and two of its organisers. 

The building needs a new boiler costing about £20,000. It has been repaired twice and their is not funding.

The building has various items which belong to the Council, in effect the tax payers. These items could be sold to raise money or donated as compensation to the organisations using the building. For example, two computers, several desks, chairs, armchairs, posters, basins and toilets, mirrors, frames and pin boards, a screen, shelving, doors, door handles. Every item has a value. It could be donated to cancer research, removed by volunteers, auctioned by volunteers, or as a fund raiser for mental health or Toastmasters. If nothing is done, instead of recycling, this income will go to waste, these items will go to waste - literally. Loss of goods, loss of money, loss of resources, waste of council time and money at recycling centre. 

 Changing a venue is stressful for anybody. Many people put off visiting a doctor, dentist, hospital or even an optician. People wanting to join Toastmasters Speakers' groups (one of which meets here) to help gain confidence for job hunting and interviews, or immigrants wanting to learn or improve English, often put off visiting the group for up to 6 months. After a car accident or give birth it can be days or weeks before you even go shopping or out to post a letter or lift a pen to write a letter. David reported that amongst the vulnerable mental health patients using day care, one person had visible signs of scratching their face and another had other visible injuries. A change of venue is stressful. A loss of the venue is a disaster. David says we need local writers, the better known the better, to help publicise this cause.

Choosing A Venue
Our new venue needs: 
1 PARKING AND TRANSPORT
Parking for visitors. Proximity to public transport, a bus to the door and a nearby station. 
2 KITCHEN FACILITIES /and storage
Water tap, plugs for kettles, storage.
3 STORAGE for our paperwork - membership lists, agendas, magazines, pedestal.
4 SCREEN and AUDIO EQUIPMENT.
5 WIFI.
6 FIRE EXITS AND FIRE EXTINGUISHERS & NON_FLAMMABLE FURNITURE.
7 THIRD PARTY INSURANCE.
8 DISABLED TOILETS AND ACCESS
A website telling visitors how to find it, where to park, the front door, the caretaker if you are locked in the boiling or car park.  

MAPS - Singapore
Maps are important. The first time I attended a Friends of the Museum lecture on a Monday morning in Singapore I went to one of two adjacent museums where I was dropped at the wrong one by a taxi driver. 

If I had used a map and if at that time the venue had shown a map I would have arrived early. However, I arrived late. The venue closed the door because the venue is so designed that access is from two doors behind the stage and latecomers would interrupt the speaker.

A latecomer at one meeting, a committee member, parked on a double yellow line in London thinking no wardens would be out after 9 pm at night, and he was in a lay-by not obstructing anybody. He got a parking ticket.

Every year, for one reason or another, somebody gets a parking ticket at that venue. I got one, directed down a one way system which ends in a single bus lane. 

Latecomers
My view is that a notice outside should say, please wait until interval for admission. There should be two intervals, one about fifteen minutes after the start. Chairs should be placed outside the door. Two latecomers could sit and chat to each other or a designated gatekeeper (who could use the time to hand out leaflets on future events and membership). The chairs should be far enough away that the people outside cannot be heard from inside.

I lost a potential member of a Toastmasters Club in London, an American who had just arrived in London. I invited her to a contest in a further venue of our then Area (Stanmore), a train ride out to St Albans, quiet a distance. (Our Area is now part of a north London group in the Southern England District and the northern counties are another Area.

 She got half way and turned back. She knew that latecomers are not admitted to contests. She thought it would be a waste of her time arriving late. So she wasted her fare money and time and was left with bad feelings associated with our organisation and my particular group. We had somebody outside the door, missing the contest, waiting for her until half time. She could have sat in the pub, but that might have cost her money ordering coffee, not knowing if she was allowed to take it in.

How could all this have been prevented? It is still happening. We held a committee meeting this month in London. Two members told us at the last minute they could not come. One of them was a VIP, area governor, essential committee member, and had transport difficulties. I don't know whether the stress of all the travelling had made her ill, or whether she just could not face the effort of driving to an unknown place.

Another of our members used her satnav to walk from the station. She got lost, in the rain, and had to be fetched by another member. The whole committee meeting started half an hour later. The member who drove to fetch her was one vital committee member who had to leave promptly at the end of the meeting.

So even with satnavs on phones it is still a problem. In Singapore I check the venues by satnav and online maps. I can waste an hour of my time checking three venues to pick the easiest.

What saves me time is if the venue organiser has sent a map of the venue and parking instructions. Also the exit from the station. Many stations have several exits. When you are meeting somebody who arrives by car, you do not want to be stressed waiting at the wrong exit. Nor do they want to risk a parking ticket waiting for you whilst they phone to ask where are you and direct you to the correct exit.

I have been to several Toastmasters competitions where one of the competitors has not turned up. One got lost on the way to a contest in Cambridge, England. 

The organisers of a meeting are often very busy doing other things. Also organisers are often judgemental types. "They are adult. They can find it."

Contestants and newcomers are often stressed. Please help them by providing clear maps and instructions.

HELP NUMBER
The other thing you need is a help number. The toastmaster of the evening asks everybody to switch their phones to silent. But you need somebody by the door with a phone switched on and handy to answer calls from people who are lost in the building. Whether it's an exam or a Toastmasters Speakers' contest, people at your event have travelled long distances, speak foreign languages, and are stressed about the event as well as the venue. Please help them. That way you will have few no shows.

Finally, hospitals. At a large conference of 300-1000 people you are likely to have one person needing a doctor, dentist or hospital. They could have food poisoning, ulcers, miss their footing on the stairs, get hit crossing the road, lose a tooth, lose a filling. 

Hospitals
Have you ever arrived at a hospital and had trouble finding your way? I have, numerous times. In the UK, Barnet hospital, driving around looking for the morgue after my uncle died. 

At Watford, numerous times with different people visiting patients. You can't park at A & E (Accident and Emergency). You have to find another car park and have the coins for the meter. If you have an elderly or handicapped person they may be entitled to a discount parking card. At Watford you need a note from the ward, then a visit to the office issuing permits which was only open in the afternoon, but visits to wards were only allowed in the evening. 

In Singapore, at two hospitals, once when I burned myself cooking biscuits for a meeting. I tried to wipe the top of the oven, not knowing it had a grill hidden at the top. The taxi driver is driving around trying to find the right entrance.

In Singapore I was visiting evaluator for a speech at an in house club. We had instructions, entrance A. But the gatekeeper sent us the wrong way to entrance B. By the time we had phoned the organiser from the second car park,B, we were at the wrong end of the building. 

Fire Exits
When you arrive in a hotel, check the fire exit from your bedroom. Walk it with your eyes open, then your eyes shut. If the fire exit door has a warning that it is alarmed, you cannot push it open. Is it a push door and does it need a key? maybe the cinema / disco owner has locked it to prevent unauthorised entry. What would happen in a fire? How would you get out?

Check that nobody is planning to light flames. Do you have candles in a cellar? Will you have fireworks and flammable decorations? Does a member of the band plan to set fire to his guitar (like Jimi Hendrix)? 

Look at the outside of the building to check the fire exit is not blocked by stacked boxes or parked cars.

Fire extinguishing
Do you have fire extinguishers? What happens if the barbecue outside or the flamed food sets fire to a customer's hair or clothes? Maybe you should warn the building owner or performers or get them to sign a contract or take out insurance. 

Committee Meeting and Book Groups
When you hold a meeting, the venue owner needs a helper to distribute the agenda and organise refreshments. Even a committee meeting at somebody's house needs somebody in charge of fetching enough chairs whilst the householder is answering the door.

Airports
The same applies to airports. Which terminal?

The answer is maps and instructions. The taxi driver doesn't know. He doesn't know which airline you are catching, which flight or which terminal. Things could have changed.

Help yourself and help others so everybody arrives stress-free and on time. Happy travelling.

The out of date Singapore MRT (train) and LRT (light railway) map which came with the diary.

The London map I added.

DIARY MAPS
I bought a diary in Singapore for 2016 which had a useful map of the MRT (mass transit, that is the underground railway and linking overground around the island city). However, it did not have the latest line which was added in December 25  2015, probably after the diary was compiled.

I obtained a new map from the MRT station. I can add that at the back of the diary, folded to the size of the cover, attached with sticky tape.

You could do the same in your home city, or any city you visit on business or holiday.

More Information From
maps.google.com - worldwide
tel.gov.uk  - plan my journey UK

Angela Lansbury, travel writer, photographer.
AUTHOR of How To Get Out of the mess you're in.
Angela's Adventures are on this travel blog. Also see other blogs, follow this blog, like me on Facebook, link to me on LinkedIn, and watch me talk about restaurant etiquette and writing poetry and performing comedy on YouTube.