We’ve just been involved in an exercise in which a reader having hearing problems emailed 43 Sydney ENT Specialists, (Ear Nose and Throat,) asking two questions:-
(1) Is helping people with hearing problems “within your areas of specialisation?” and, (2) If not, is there anyone else you could suggest?
- 15, just over a third, didn’t respond in any way, even though they were emailed twice.
- 14, just under a third, advised that it wasn’t within their areas of specialisation but recommending someone else – a number which pleasantly surprised us.
- 8, responded with responses that didn’t inspire confidence – not answering the questions and just looking to get the reader to make an appointment.
- 6, i.e. 1 in every 7 emails sent, provided answers of the sort that made you feel that they may be worthwhile to consult at least once, which to us was about normal – further research can and should be done with such people, of course.
We feel very strongly that this is what you/we’ve got to do if you/we want medical help with anything important. To us it increases the chances of seeing the very best people for you to see enormously.
Of course, the theory is that you just ask GPs to advise you as to who are the very best Specialists to help – but we could write a book on how we’ve found this to be nonsense with anything important, even having disastrous consequences at times.
Once a letter has been drafted, it can be sent to 43 people in not much more than an hour, if names and email addresses are available – gathering these is the hard part. But by using this link you can go to the 43 names and email addresses used in this exercise, at least.
Of course, we could also provide you with the details of how various ENT specialists have responded in this exercise. But no thank you very much!! The thugs in the medical profession, of whom there are a few, say that people and their families may be refused treatment even if they just hint that any particular doctors may not be the very best people to see. We know!!! Readers have to send out the emails themselves, and evaluate the responses themselves.