Survey to assess problems in medical provision
Following concerns that the University health provision is failing students, YUSU are planning to distribute questionnaires designed to assess student satisfaction with the healthcare centre.
The questionnaire will ask for details about whether students choose to use the healthcare centre, and whether they have encountered any negative experiences there. Students will also be asked to rank how far they are satisfied that the health centre has met their mental & physical needs on a scale of one to ten.
YUSU Academic and Welfare Officer Charlie Leyland emphasised that there should be healthcare improvements on campus in her election campaign last year. She added in her mandate that she would strive to produce an assessment of the healthcare centre as Welfare Officer.
Leyland said: “I’ve openly said that I would like to work towards having a GUM Clinic on campus and wanted to uncover any other areas that people feel could be improved in the process. I know that some of these have included the lack of confidentiality in the reception/waiting area, feelings of ’studentification’, and people being unfamiliar with a nurse-led service.”
Students this term have expressed further dissatisfaction with the readiness and thoroughness of appointments. One first-year English Literature student expressed alarm at a succession of three appointments, telling Nouse that the first nurse she saw “seemed to want to get me out of the room as quickly as possible” and was “not willing to listen to any further concerns I had about my medication.” The second time she went to the healthcare centre she’d waited two weeks for an appointment, and never managed to see the doctor because he was running over 45 minutes late.
“When I finally got to see him, he wasn’t willing to give me a blood test and told me to rebook. The ladies at the reception told me it would be another two weeks before I could get another appointment, and I was better travelling all the way to Asda’s drop-in centre at Monks Cross,” she continued. Another first-year student similarly expressed dissatisfaction, finding one nurse “abrupt” and “patronising.”
Last term, Nouse reported that there were concerns over a perceived lack of privacy present during the appointment-making process at the on-campus centre. Another major concern was raised over the lack of a GUM clinic on campus. Chlamydia tests are available free of charge from Nightline, the healthcare centre and the Student Union, but the health centre does not offer screenings for other sexually transmitted infections. Patients also wishing to make contraception appointments are directed to family planning clinics whenever possible. The nearest facilities are in Monkgate Health Centre in the city centre.
Leyland remains optimistic that the administrators at the healthcare centre are looking forward to the feedback of the questionnaire, and that they are “keen to improve their services.”
University officials have again claimed that the issue is out of their control. Following last term’s story, a statement from Keith Lilley, Director of Facilities Management, said: “The University does not manage the Health Centre provision. This is the local PCT (Primary Care Trust). GUM services are part of the York DGH (District General Hospital) provision and these services are commissioned by the PCT for our area.”
He also added that “Unfortunately the University cannot change this provision independently of the commissioner or indeed the provider.” Lilley believes that concerns for the appointments procedure can be raised directly with the practice.
Leyland agrees that the University “have their own constraints due to the nature of the local commissioning practices, but hopefully we can help them if there is enough feedback to allow them to insist, if not demand, extra provisions.”
Any students who would like to raise this issue or discuss more privately can email Leyland on acwelf@yusu.org, or visit the YUSU offices.
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Wow, this sounds like the problems that happen everyday with the standard healthcare in the US. The doctors expect you to be there on time BUT you might wait 30 minutes to an hour to actually get into your appointment. Since the insurance companies cause so many hurdles for our doctors here in the states, the doctors try to see as many patients as they can in a small period of time, most of the time you see the Dr’s assistant, not the actual doctor. This is not just a university problem, this is a national healthcare system problem.
I don’t think I have ever heard any student at York ever say anything good about the health centre, ever. That’s a lot of “ever”s, I know, but that’s because I mean it.
I have a friend who was bleeding heavily and they wouldn’t treat him because he hadn’t registered. They made him fill in the registration forms for ten minutes and then told him to find the porters. 30 minutes and no porters later, he ended up going to hospital. Well done to them.
Also people that need to see them quickly can’t because of their stupid timetabling system. The whole place is pathetic.
I too have never heard any good feedback about the student health centre, but have heard a lot of bad stories!
I am considering making a formal complaint because I was refused treatment that I then discovered that they are being paid extra from the PCT to provide!
Dissenting voice?…I went there May 2008, and they weren’t uniformly terrible.
Bad points being: that I wasn’t able to see a doctor immediately; that I had to register (I’d never needed to go before, so hadn’t filled out the forms); that when I came back for my appointment later in the day they had lost the details of that and had to make it again.
Good points being: that registering was a pretty quick process with a form; that I was able to get an appointment for later in the same day; that when I asked the receptionist what was going on with my missing appointment, she remembered me and arranged for me to see the nurse immediately; that the nurse was friendly and professional, and took me seriously, and gave me a careful check; that when she had cause for concern, she got the doctor into the room and had him check me over; that he was equally friendly and professional, and checked me over; that they both correctly diagnosed my problem (spontaneous pneumothorax) and sent me off to the hospital with an explanatory letter.
Dubious points: the doctor and the nurse didn’t seem to realise quite how serious the pneumothorax was, or at any rate didn’t tell me – I was led to expect a quick trip to the hospital followed by letting the issue resolve itself (the standard in milder cases), rather than a week-long stay in the place. OTOH, there was no reason to suppose it was especially serious, especially without taking x-rays.
So, whilst admitting that there were certainly some problems, and taking into account the effects of both a slow day for appointments and the statement “I’m having chest pains and want to check it out with the doctor”, nonetheless, I didn’t find the experience there so very terrible.
I have no doubt whatsoever that the staff there are friendly and pleasant but the system seems a bit overly difficult to use (especially if you have an immediate problem) and their competence seems to be lacking, evidenced by your story highlighting that they were unable to distinguish between strengths of the condition or warn you of the possibility of a week-long stay, etc.
Also the university system for illness means that under 10 days doesn’t qualify as an illness and you’re expected to catch up. With many hours of lectures a week, seminars, tutorials and, more importantly, weekly deadlines and laboratory sessions, there is no way that I would be able to catch up if I spent 7 days in hospital and it’s, frankly, ridiculous on many fronts.
I know that one doctor at the University Health Centre has had numerous complaints lodged against him/her, though as I continue to hear of more people complaining about this doctor, nothing seems to be done about it. Perhaps it would be useful for YUSU to also hear of complaints lodged against the Health Centre so there could be something done about it.
Additionally, one of the most common types of appointments made in a student health centre is regarding mental health issues, yet as far as I can see, there is not a single reference to mental health issues on their website…
“Patient” – I too have complaints about a particular doctor, and have heard 3 other people complain about the same doctor. I wonder whether we are referring to the same one as you??
Please do let Charlie know about this. Nothing can be done if we don’t have feedback on what is needed.