a few months ago, i wrote a post about the issues i was having scheduling an appointment with our local doctor, who is part of the national health service. today i spent 45 minutes on the phone trying to book something with an ophthalmologist using our private insurance, and my feeling at the moment is that that process is no better. here is what i have gone through in the past few months trying to get this single appointment set up:
1) i visited optometrist who recommended that i get a small mole removed that was near my eye.
2) the optometrist wrote me a referral letter to take to my doctor (gp)
3) i scheduled an appointment with my gp
4) i went to see my gp and talked to her about the referral. she said she could refer me on to a private ophthalmologist but that i needed to call the hospital to get the name of someone who could do the surgery
5) i looked up consultants' names on the internet, and called two of them. i got voicemail and neither one called me back. after two more tries, i gave up
6) i went back to the gp to see if she could give me a name. she suggested i go back to my optometrist and see if he could suggest an ophthalmologist
7) i went back to my optometrist, and he gave me three names to contact
8) i called one of the ophthalmologists and scheduled an appointment. the secretary said to remember to bring the referral letter from my gp and an insurance claim number
9) i phoned my gp to give her the name of the ophthalmologist i would be seeing. she will be writing me a referral letter that i need to go to pick up before i go to my appointment
10) i phoned my insurance company to get a claim number. they said they needed a copy of the gp's referral letter to ensure they would cover the claim. they asked me to call the gp with a fax number and ask them to fax it over.
11) i phoned my gp again to give them the fax number. they said they didn't think the gp would share the referral letter with the insurance company but they would let me know.
this is as far as i got today. i still have no claim number and no referral letter from my gp.
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