CyprusLiving

Tomorrow I have to visit the Paphos General Hospital where I am due to have a cardioversion to correct my irregular heartbeat. The cardiologist at Polis Hospital (where I normally go) says that I should go down there at about 07.00, register to see the named cardiologist there and then proceed up to the third floor to the cardiology department. I shall have my file with me and my medical card.

I assume I do not need any other documentation, and that I shall have to pay €6,00 as I am seeing a consultant. As I have never been to the hospital before (other than a late night visit to A & E after my wife was taken from Polis to Paphos by ambulance), I wonder whether anyone can offer any advice. I have seen posts about going past the café to register. Is there a number system or is it a jostling queue?

Slightly nervous about the procedure and anything to make the day less stressful would be good.

Yes the main reception desk where you register is through the door by the cafe which you will see from the car parking areas if you manage to get a space at the front (probably will if you're there before 7am).
There's not a ticketing system just a queue but it's not as chaotic as it sounds and it moves pretty quickly.
You should see notices and signs for the lifts but there are always people around to ask.

Good Luck

Mac, your nervousness is understandable. There is just a longish queue which you will see when you enter the double set of doors, behind the cafe.

The queue goes from the 'check in' glass windows, around the metal barriers and beyond. Just join the end of the queue and when you get to the window show your appointment slip or tell them where you are going.

They will enter you into the computer and this will generate a strip of about 6 or 8 sticky labels. You pay your €6 and you will be given a receipt and the labels, to slip inside your file.

You then sort of about turn and go down the corridor the the Right of the check in Windows. Go down to the end and turn Right. (Busy at this corner with people for blood test)
After you have turned right carry on down this corridor until it opens out into a square, where the 3 lifts are on your Left Hand Side. Use the lift to the third floor.

When you come out of the lift the Cardiology Lab is on the Left and you just wait outside in the corridor. If someone comes out of the lab it does no harm to tell them that you are there.

You will be fine.... it is just that there are a lot of people milling around.

Cheers. Trev..

Pickles and Trev,

A big thank-you for your advice ... of course it's simple if you have done it before, but a little nudge in the right direction is brilliant. I'll report back in the next couple of days.

To Pickles and Trev,

A very successful visit. Registration was straightforward and I reckon there was a fifteen minute wait in the queue. A charming young lady receptionist "sussed" out this was my first visit, registered me, gave me my labels in exchange for the fee and directed me to cardiology. Her directions were nearly as accurate as Trev's.

We arrived at cardiology and we were the "first customers" according to the nurse. Five minutes' later I was lying with a camera stuck down my throat, and this was the most unpleasant part of the visit. No thrombus and so down to I.T.U. (aka I.C.U.) where I was wired up to various machines and blood was taken. The anaesthetist visited and checked all sorts of things (Did I have my own teeth? Allergies? Previous anaesthetic?) and then there was a hiatus whilst my blood was analysed.

Then the consultant and his staff arrived and I woke up a few minutes' later to find the job all done and dusted.

Surprisingly they said I should stay the night to be monitored, and monitored I was. In the morning the consultant and some medical students visited and I was told I could go home. All was well and I should see Dr Agamemnon (the cardiologist at Polis Hospital) in the next couple of days so he could arrange monitoring over the next few months and then annually.

Ann arrived to pick me up and rang from the car park. But the senior nurse on duty insisted she come to I.T.U. to pick me up. And so I waited for her to arrive.

All in all a very positive experience and I was delighted to see most of the signs were now in Greek and English (something a previous poster had suggested was not the case).

And so, a great thank you to you both from me and from Ann, who found her way around the hospital with no trouble at all following the idiots' guide provided here.

I am glad it all worked out for you Mac... The daunting bit is being a 'newby', which of course you aren't now.

Trev..