Mainly older people are waiting to see specialists. Coughing can be heard, but no one is using the masks provided at the registration desk. Doctors, paramedics and nurses squeeze past the patients. None of them are wearing masks. Omicron is taking its toll, flu season is underway, and it is impossible to maintain distance in the crowd gathered in the small space of the specialist outpatient clinic at Bolesławiec Hospital.
Patients are given appointments with specialists for a specific time, but these times are not realistic. They wait from half an hour to several hours to enter the consulting room, particularly in the case of the surgeon.
The lack of organisation and logistics in admitting patients to doctors at the specialist outpatient clinic is alarming. It is as if the pandemic had taught the healthcare service nothing.