Wednesday, 29 January 2020

The supply shoe mystery

I’ve finally heard from the hospital about the “Supply shoes”.

A rather distraught voice spoke. She’d been given the job of sorting out all the phone messages to Orthotics. It seems on Monday alone she’d had 65 messages left. There may well have been more but the recording tape had run out of space. All the calls were similar. Wrong equipment, people who didn’t need appointments etc. I was just one among many.

Apparently the sole Orthotics clerk has left & they haven’t finally appointed a new person. Someone, based away from Lancaster, probably Preston as that is where the Orthotics Department is based, has sent out all these letters but most of them are inaccurate in one way or another. The lady I was now talking to had the job of sorting out the chaos.

Suffice to say the appointment was not meant for me. The supply shoes were for someone else. My knee braces had arrived & were awaiting my collection. I suggested I would call in on Friday as I’m at the hospital that day anyway so could easily pop in. Under the new system, orthotic collections are only on Tuesday but, as the department was the cause of the chaos, they would be happy for me to collect this Friday on this occasion.

I asked whether there was just one pair to collect. She said yes. I enquired what happens, assuming this pair suit, about a second pair. I always have two pairs initially of a new design or size as I need to wear something when the one pair is in the wash. They take several days to dry & cannot be tumble-dried (even if I had a tumble drier which I haven’t) or put by direct heat to speed the process up. She wasn’t sure about that. She’d try to locate an answer by the time the need arises.

At least that’s one less appointment next week. And no extra trips into Lancaster involved. Hopefully my knees will feel more comfortable in their new braces. And that they last longer than the last pairs. Let’s hope so.

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