to suggest treadmills and skipping ropes in waiting rooms

[Mitchy1nge]

or possibly dance mats?

Had to wait for over an hour the other day and could tell that prowling round the waiting area was making people uneasy so a designated space and equipment for fidgety or restless people would make good sense? Sitting is hardly ever comfortable in those sorts of places after all.

[BlackeyedSusan]

dance mats...

[Latara]

Or Twister.

[WorraLiberty]

'Take plenty of snacks to keep you occupied'

Well that seems to be the MN advice given to parents with bored kids

So if you're sat in the Doctor's waiting room for example, just chow down on whatever takes your fancy.

Sod the exercise

[Mitchy1nge]

yuck

imagine eating in a room riddled with infectious diseases and depression

I think they should have pedals on the seats at least and if patients don't cycle hard enough the lights will go out and the automated check in thing stops working

[MrsCakesPremonition]

what you need is one of those buzzy pager things (like they use in some restaurants) so you can take it outside for a wander without missing your call.

[hellokittymania]

Twister

But them you might pull a muscle or something....

[ThaneOfScunthorpe]

YY to pedals on the seats. Patient-powered surgeries, it's the way of the future. Saving the NHS money while cutting obesity, heart disease ...

OP you're onto a winner. Stand for ... something, you have my vote.

[AgaPanthers]

Not sure that work very well down the GUM clinic.

[wafflyversatile]

Put people to work answering the phones, portering and giving massages to stressed and depressed patients. If you're there for more than a could of hours you can move onto googling symptoms and filling prescriptions.

[wafflyversatile]

Also why skipping ropes and treadmills? Why not a bowling alley and hula hoops?

[Mitchy1nge]

my husband used to do bowling for PE at school, it never seemed very energetic to me but I was always getting told off and sent off courts and pitches for over-exuberance :(

hula hoops would be so much fun

so would it be unreasonable to suggest more active waiting rooms?

[MmeMorrible]

I can think of 3 reasons why it wouldn't work|

1. if you're well enough to skip etc. what are doing in the waiting room?

1. You'd get people coming in to use treadmills so they didn't have to pay for the gym.

1. Would be noisy and irritating for the ill people waiting.

And also - why not work on elimnating the reason to wait rather than accept that waiting is a given?

[Mitchy1nge]

well in this situation it was parents waiting while their offspring had lengthy psychiatric or psychological assessments, some had younger children so a big trampoline would have been nice for all of us

but you don't have to be unwell to be waiting in a more GP type surgery, eg I go for regular blood tests or might need holiday jabs or a minge check up or whatever

the option should be there, sitting is just so bad

[MelanieCheeks]

Meh, knitting and a kindle.

[Mitchy1nge]

god I love knitting

and crochet, was learning to crochet, what happened to that? ok but is it unreasonable to (in all seriousness) ask for some active space in waiting areas, as a general principle? not all illnesses and conditions make movement impossible or undesirable and not all people waiting in places are unwell anyway

[MistressDeeCee]

Eh? What about thunderingly heavyfooted folk skipping & shaking the ground each time they land, panting as they go? The noise could make you want to draw blood. & It could all go tits up...literally, in my case I mean the FEET are still light, but...

Is reading a book whilst waiting old fashioned these days?! Its ok to still the mind and body sometimes, a lot of us would be better off if we did. .

[Shewhowines]

Activity co-ordinators could assess the individual needs of each waitee and give appropriate distractions. That caters for those who are physically or mentally unable to participate in some things. - Cuts out the unfairness.

[cheminotte]

I think they could at least tell you how late they are running so you have the option of going for a walk around the block. At dentists recently I asked how much longer when it was 10 mins only. The receptionist checked and said at least 1/2 an hour! We (me and kids) could have been in the park if we'd known.

[Mitchy1nge]

actually there is a gym at our gp surgery

have never had to wait for long there though and they are always apologetic if it's more then ten minutes or so, is quite well run

[CheeryName]

I think a couple of giant hamster wheels would work well. But you can only have a trampoline if you have a self service x-ray machine too...

Or they could take the seats out of the chairs, but leave the arms/frames so you could do seat squats, with a chart on the wall for this week's top score.

[CheeryName]

Oh and those twisty things, popular in the 90s, like this:

www.littlewoods.com/pineapple-twist-board/959514702.prd?aff=google&affsrc=acquisition&cm_mmc=google--%5Breporting+categories%5D--Sports+%3E+Gym+%3E+Equipment+%3E+Abs-_-0HG9Aqlt_36194215946

With Chubby Checker and the Fat Boys playing in the background of course.

[Mitchy1nge]

am laughing out loud for actual real BUT I would love waiting rooms like that, those are all brilliant ideas

am drafting my suggestion for the suggestion box

[wafflyversatile]

a trampoline would cheer up all but the illest. It'd cure me of half what ails me.

[MistressDeeCee]

CheeryName come on now there's no need for abject cruelty

[MoominAndMiniMoom]

You could have it as a way of catching people out... if they start playing on the dance mats or building a giant Jenga tower, they're well enough to be at the bottom of the priority list however long they've been waiting

if they come in and walk right past the ball pool, hoola hoops, jet ski ride like you find in the arcades and hook a duck, they really need to see a doctor and go to the top of the list