Mental Health Services. You would think that they would make things especially less stressful for…read morethose already under abnormal levels of it! The fact that this is run by the county makes coming here for mental health alleviation quite difficult- more like a nightmare. Before continuing, I need to preface these complaints by saying that all the employees and providers here are not at fault. They are 5 star people and I believe it they ran their own private practices, they would receive full marks!
Alas, this is run by Bexar County. So what does this mean?
Upon arrival, patients are to sign in downstairs. After a short wait, depending on the day, they need to be escorted by an employee upstairs. After another waiting room, they will speak to a case manager and/or get their vital signs taken. Then back to the waiting room. Then the patient will finally see their provider, their nurse practitioner. After the time allotted with this provider, they can go back out into the waiting room. More waiting if they have been prescribed medication. They wait for a separate team of nurses to get the medication prescription or samples together. Depending on how busy they are, this could take a while. Then, after they get the prescription, they can then be escorted to the elevator to be taken downstairs again. Once in the downstairs lobby, they will sign out. And. Wait for it, because they saved the best for last.
Here, at the end of their adventure in bureaucracy, patients cannot schedule their next appointment. No, siree. They are given a reminder card. Reminder for what, you may wish to know. A reminder to call in x weeks to schedule the next appointment. To call where? Central scheduling, not the office they are standing in right now. Why? Because central scheduling is unable to schedule anything more than one week in advance.
So in between visits, which are typically 4-6 weeks in psychiatry, less for counseling, patients must set an alarm or reminder to call central scheduling to schedule the next appointment. They must call early, because there is often a hold time and if the appointment slots are filled, patients are easily stuck not getting their next appointment until week after the recommended time, meaning they will run out of medication!
Also of very frustrating note is that in order to reach anyone in the Center, one can only call the main number, reach an operator, and these operators are willing to "relay your message" or "leave a note" for your case manager, your counselor, the nurses there, the nurse practitioner assigned to your case, etcetera. Nobody seems to have a direct line that you can easily reach! Emergency? Go to the emergency room. Semi emergency? Either deal with it or go to the emergency room. "We can only relay your message for your and they will get back to you."
It is worth repeating that the employees and providers, the nurses and front office personnel, are nothing but kind and polite, friendly and welcoming here. They do their work well. Unfortunately, this is a case where the governmental red tape prevents their potential from shining, because patients cannot access it as easily as they should.