From the Everett Herald:
Wait times for Puget Sound VA up to nearly 59 days
New patients seeking a primary care doctor through VA Puget Sound in Seattle faced an average wait time of nearly 59 days, according to a Department of Veterans Affairs internal review released Monday.
The report shows wait times for averaged about 29 days in Spokane and 43 days in Walla Walla, indicating that delays at the state’s three largest VA systems far exceeded the department’s stated 14-day goal.
More than a dozen facilities in Washington state were visited during the two-phase audit process, and six — Spokane, Puget Sound-Seattle, Puget Sound-American Lake, Walla Walla, Portland-Vancouver, Washington, campus and South Sound in Chehalis — were flagged for further review during the first nationwide audit of the VA network following uproar that began with reports two months ago of patients dying while awaiting appointments and of cover-ups at the Phoenix VA center.
A preliminary audit last month found that long patient waits and falsified records were “systemic” throughout the VA medical network, the nation’s largest single health care provider with nearly 9 million veterans and their families as patients.
The entire upper management should be fired. A couple of people had a brilliant idea - for all new hires, hire veterans only. That would guarantee that the administration looks after their own.