Just to get an appointment?

Now I am not one of those advocates for the wonders of the U.S. medical system, since I am well aware of the lack of service it provides to the uninsured. But when my family here in Iceland warned me that I would not be able to book a doctor's appointment, and that I just needed to show up at the emergency room between 4pm and 8pm, I really did not believe them. So today I pick up the phone, casually dial  Heilbrigðisstofnun Suðurnesja, and push one for booking an appointment. After 3 rings the line disconnects. I try again. Same thing. Try a third time, same thing. So then I call back, and push 2 for the switchboard. I ask them if I can have an appointment, and they transfer me over to a woman who informs me there are no appointments through the month of March. Fine I say, can I book one for April? No, to book one in April, I have to call the first week of April. The appointments are only booked one month at a time. She tells me she has to advise me to go to the emergency room hours, which means of course I have to find someone to babysit Palmer, unless I want to bring him along. Sigh.

I am not complaining, per se, since I really do understand both what they are trying to accomplish and the limits within which they are working. Rather, I am amused by just how dramatically Icelandic it is, that I have to go through all these gyrations in order to see the doctor.

Comments

Iris said…
Since we had to do that with Lilja as you know, I can tell you though that it was unbelievably FAST. The woman told us waiting time was 30 min and we thought "yeah, right" since the waiting room was pretty packed. But, lo and behold, it was our turn in exactly 30 min (which at least over here can be your waiting time even if you have an appointment).
Also, to the best of my knowledge all of Scandinavia has a shortage of doctors. Germany has too many, therefore, our Scandinavian language classes were usually overrun by yound med students that were trying to get into Norway, Sweden and Iceland.
March 17, 2010 at 8:24 PM
MamaOlive said…
Sounds about like the military health care system.
March 18, 2010 at 5:53 AM
Anonymous said…
I never get this problem at Heilsugæsla miðbæjar, might not be able to get a visit with my family doctor the same week, (always within 2 weeks if I can wait) but normally the same day or the day after with one of the other doctors. Not bad at all. They also have those open hours, from 6-7 PM if I can't wait until the next day.
March 18, 2010 at 7:58 AM
Lissy said…
Yeah, Hildigunnur, I asked about whether I could get an appointment elsewhere, say in the city, but since my logheimili is in Reykjanesbaer, I can only use the open hours of things in the city also.
March 18, 2010 at 10:41 AM
Ko-Leen said…
thats strange, when I talked to them on Friday they told me the doctor was sick but to call back monday morning for a monday appointment.
March 20, 2010 at 5:22 PM
Anonymous said…
heh, hefði átt að hrósa heilsugæslunni minni meira - nú fæ ég engan tíma fyrir Finn greyið og verð að mæta með hann á opna tímann...
March 22, 2010 at 11:22 AM
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