Project Ask: General tips
General tips
• Trust your gut, sometimes our feelings that something is unfair, means it most likely is.
• Keep your cool! Do not get angry – the person on the other side of the line is probably not the person who is making the decisions and is just trying to do his or her job. If you get mad, you may not get through to a person who will solve your problem.
• Always keep records of who you spoke to, when it was and what was said. Keep copies of all correspondence, emails, faxes, sms’s, etc. If you have to submit these documents as proof, do not submit the originals and always keep an extra set of copies in a safe place.
• On letters, documents, etc: write down who received the document and when it was delivered or sent. If you receive a letter back, write down when you received the letter (click through – do not take the date on the letter as the date it was sent or received).
• If the discussion or responses are in a type of language you do not understand (medical terminology, legal terminology, abbreviations or acronyms). Ask the person who wrote the letter to give you understandable explanations (plain language explanations). Also ask for assistance from your doctor or patient support groups (click-through to NGO section) if you do not understand any of the answers given to you. .
• There is a law that you can use to access any information from your medical scheme. It is called the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA). You can use it to get copies of letters, discussions, findings, recordings of telephone conversations, etc from your scheme. There is a specific form that you have to fill out (click-through to PAIA requester form, with sections completed eg the right they are protecting). The form should go to the Information Officer at the scheme – all schemes should have an Information Officer (click-though to list), otherwise you fax it to the Principal Officer (click-through to list). They may ask you to pay a small fee for photocopying costs and to fill out a so-called “Requester Form”.
• Get the support of your doctor/social worker/nurse at the practice. S/he may have important information which could help your case.
• If people tell you that what you are saying is not right, tell them that you have received the information from a good source.
• Do not feel intimidated by threats of the law, or any bad consequences for you. Patients have the law on your side. .
• In public hospitals and clinics, there has to be someone who is the Complaints Officer. If you are unhappy, immediate go to him/her.
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