Robotic communication leaves me frozen – people are much warmer

BEFORE I say any more, this is no complaint about people not turning up for work when there’s a snowstorm. On the contrary, safety first for all involved, customers, patients and employees.

Despite the plethora of Government warnings, endless weather reports, public announcement closures such as schools and the courts, I discovered a serious lack of common sense on Saturday – the thaw day.

I had been receiving emails from my gym since Wednesday advising it would be closed, but it was keeping an eye on the forecast and would update members regularly – a very typical, organised process, obviously from someone working form home.

Just what you’d expect from a good business, with thinking staff, even though there’s nothing essential about going to the gym.

Similarly, the courts service emailed and texted that courts would close for three days.

I had an MRI booked for Saturday afternoon, and wondered would it be cancelled, even though the storm was to end on Friday.

I received a text early Friday morning to remind me to attend my MRI in Dublin. I thought that was very organised, and clearly I must attend as I’d create a logjam of rescheduled appointments if I didn’t turn up. Plus, I obviously needed the MRI.

I decided to walk in the slushy snow as the roads and footpaths were definitely walkable on Saturday. It took an hour, but was refreshing. Footpaths were populated with walkers, the roads busy with cars again. I arrived at my destination to find the lights turned off, the reception area empty, but offices open. It appeared as if the medical staff might be down the back, and perhaps the receptionist couldn’t get in to work.

After 20 minutes of knocking on doors, I went to a separate medical clinic on the floor below, which was full of staff and a busy waiting room, to see if they knew where the MRI people might be. They were not connected to the business above, but it was sufficient proof that the building was accessible and medical work was going on in the thaw.

I tried several of the clinic telephone numbers and sent an email. The auto-phone recording said they were open on Saturday from 9am to 6pm but the office was closed, so phone on Monday.

I’m scratching my head. I’m here at the right time. It is a week since the weather warning, people are catching up, bread is not in short supply anymore. I’m not in a sweetshop. I’m in a highly technological medical centre. The auto-email said ‘due to adverse weather conditions… cannot respond etc’. With all these auto-responses there was no human response to cancelling appointments, rather there were auto-reminders to attend.

I checked to see if there was a social media account that might respond. On Twitter, it was described as “a leading operator of, and investor in, public private healthcare partnerships. In 16 countries across Europe” with a slogan of ‘nothing is more important than health’.

Being referred for a MRI, seeing it written in your diary, is not a minor option. It’s not like going to the dentist. I know if I had I booked a manicure or blow-dry on Saturday, I’d have been notified whether it was going ahead or being cancelled.

So surely a leading operator, not public health I might add, could handle a simple task like notifying patients?

I am writing this, not just because of the weirdness of sitting for an hour in an empty medical centre, with absolutely no contact,

If I’ d booked a blow dry on Saturday I’d have been notified if it was going ahead or not – but not for my MRIs can

but because there are so many service providers relying on cheap-pay call centres outside Europe, robots and unreliable software, all to increase share values and line pockets.

Cutbacks on human resources in favour of automation is rising in every field, and leading directly to a lack of common sense.

Human-to-human communication requires lateral thinking when systems crash or bad weather intervenes.

Last week, the self-employed worked from home for three days, keeping up their obligations and duties where they could, others used the time to enjoy being snowbound, leaving work stacked on their desk. But bad weather is not an excuse to avoid making a necessary phone call.

Information technology and information communication technology are major industries, requiring high-level qualifications in design, administration, maintenance and management. My experience on Saturday was a result of no information or communication, from human or technological. And that is a very poor service.

What is the point of teambuilding workshops, leadership training, life coaching and all that stuff, when writing a ‘to do’ list and following it up is the most basic of skills? No third-level degree is required to write down names and numbers, and text to cancel.

Three hours after my tweet, someone offering an apology contacted me with an explanation that nobody could access the software for automatic reminder texts. Despite the ‘Beast from the East’ being forecast days in advance. That would suggest that nobody on Tuesday or Wednesday, when all the warnings were issuing, thought of cancelling appointments, basically the only thing to deal with.

Oh my. A sheet of paper, a pen, a phone, oh and a person. The four Ps. All ‘leading operators and investors’ should remember that people matter.