VA hospital's director: New stats don't reflect progress
The Fayetteville VA Medical Center's director is responding to a new report that shows local veterans have the second-longest wait in the country to see a doctor.
Posted — UpdatedPatients can wait up to 30 days to receive care at the hospital, the study showed. Nationwide, veterans wait an average of about seven days to see a doctor.
Hospital director Elizabeth Goolsby said Thursday that the numbers do not reflect the increased medical care veterans are now getting at the hospital.
"The number that you're seeing is face-to-face care time," Goolsby said Thursday. "But we're providing care in many other modalities that are not included in that number."
Goolsby says the hospital uses secure messaging and "tele-health" alternatives in addition to traditional face-to-face meetings with doctors.
She hopes the wait times come down now that a temporary clinic opened on Breezewood Avenue in November to provide primary and mental health care services for local veterans.
A permanent 250,000-square-foot VA Healthcare Clinic is expected to open on Raeford Road in October.
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