This is a word to word write up of my feedback to the Apollo Hospital Wellness Center. I had visited it with my father for his whole body check up.
It went as follows:
-Courteous and helpful staff
-The call centre when called up to make the appointment informed us that the senior citizen discount of 15% could be offered to us inspite of the age of the patient not being 65years (DOB 21-9-42) caused inconvenience and delay (Patient on fasting)
-The process of movement of patients from one to another and thus causing blocks at certain specific rooms is of no help to the patient and neither to the staff involved.
-The food served for breakfast had egg and onions and garlic. The least that could have been done was to have requested the preference of the patient and restrictions if any. What if a diabetes aile the patient and is served food not suitable for diabetics.
-The connection between the PA’s of different consultants is appalingly minimal. Dr. V.K.Ahuja’s PA could not ensure us a committed consultation with Dr. Girish Raheja. He spoke in front of us to someone over the phone and confirmed the appontment with Dr.Raheja on the 14th of Aug.’07 between 2-3 pm. On arrival at the designated time, we were informed by Dr. Raheja’s PA that no such appointment existed. Dr.Raheja was not even in town (coming back on the 16th) He even denied any conversation seeking such an appointment. This led to a lot of discomfort and an unneccesary confrontation with both the Pas. God knows (or they) who is telling the truth and wherein lies the fault.
-The billing process, the lack of staff, toilet cleanliness, glasses for drinking water, lack of GROs like Vaibhav, are just some of the problems plaguing the hospital.
-I really pity the staff, who has to attend to all of us patients, very demanding at times, and who is clearly at a physical disadvantage to be able to attend to 1 person at a time. They don’t need to grow more hands. The hospital needs to add on more staff to ensure a smooth front desk and a smooth process at the wellness center.
-You treat people with heart problems, BP and hypertension problems. Please see to it that your staff does not fall prey to these ailments and that neither does the visit to the Apollo wellness Center, guarantee the visitor, heartburn, stress and a sense of being cheated out of a JCI accredited hospital environment.
-If you are JCI accredited and aspire to remain the leading Healthcare setup, please behave like one.
(Signed)
K.K.Sinha
This trip was followed up by some more visits to meet some more consultants. But fresh surprises were in stock. I have submitted some more feedback to the hospital, actually to the head GRO (as announced to me) Mr. Srikant in person. It went as follows:
My set of records and reports including the Xray Film and Lifestyle management and dietician reccomendations and diet charts were submitted along with the complete file (hospital records) on the 16th of Aug. in the afternoon, post my repeat ultrasound test of the whole abdomen. The corrected report of the ultrasound had been submitted by me as well. That is the last that was seen of those papers. I have not been handed out these pages and neither has anyone else on our behalf (There is no entry in the handout register also). On my visit to the hospital on the 23rd of August for my appointment with Dr.S.K.Rawat my file was retrieved from the MR after a long search at the desk of the wellness center. The loan slip was produced in 20 mts. Flat for the required retrieval. The delay in the search of the file delayed everything and I had to apologise to the Doctor to accommodate me beyond my appontment. I was to undergo the Uroflometry test, but since it was already 7pm, it became impossible to do so on the same day. Now on 25th August, post conduction of the test, I am penning down this but the records are lost and still not tracable inspite of the valued efforts of all concerned. My dissatisfaction is not with the individual but with the Hospital senior management (who assign and divide the policies, code of conduct and the process definitions) and the system being followed by the hospital. I have seen many baffled, lost, and disgruntled patients and visitors. I have seen the stafff (at the desk and the support staff inclusive) to be in a state of daze, overwoked, and thus frustration. This leads to a lot of negative energy flow from both directions. This is so unnecessary and not required.
I request the JCI accredited hospital, after having achieved it, to maintain the standards, keeping the visitors, patients, and staff’s comfort and mental well being in mind.
(signed)
K.K.Sinha
My visit with my father to the wellness center was repeated once more to collect the reports which were traced by the staff. They refused to disclose the hiding place of those papers, but I duly thanked them for their efforts and requested Mr. Vaibhav to follow up on my feedback.
As it has come to my knowledge, the feedback that I had given to the Head GRO, has been dispatched back to Vaibhav, the Gro at the welness center without any reccomendations or notings. The whole exercise of requesting feedbacks is useless and done without any intentions of being looked into to better the services and environment provided.
I am also sending a copy of this to JCI so that they have a first hand insight into what happens at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, Delhi.
I am also adding a listing from the Apollo hospital, Delhi’s website.
Accreditations
Joint Commission International Accreditation
The Joint Commission International (JCI) is a U.S based accreditation body dedicated to improving healthcare quality and safety around the world. The accreditation is an international gold standard for hospitals and has been so far achieved by only 24 hospitals in the world.
The Apollo hospitals group achieved the unique distinction of achieving accreditation for three of its hospitals at Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad in quick succession. Indraprastha Apollo hospitals Delhi became the first hospital in India, while Apollo Hospitals Chennai became the first hospital in South India to achieve this unique and coveted accreditation.
JCI works directly with healthcare organisations to achieve their goals of providing quality clinical care and services in safe, efficient and well-managed facilities.
JCI assesses through a rigorous on site survey process, a healthcare provider’s quality in the following key areas -
Access to health care Health Assessment and care processes Education and rights of individuals Management of information and human resources Safety of facility Infection control Collaborative integrated management Facility management Performance Measurement Education & Rights of Patients