To think that a quick telephone call or text wouldn’t have gone a miss?

[Friedbluetomatoes]

I had a hospital appointment today.
Due to COVID it was a telephone consultation at 3pm.
I wasn’t expecting it to be dead on 3pm but at 3.30 thought I’d better ring the appointments office to make sure they had my correct number, yes, all fine there and he was probably running late.
4pm I called again just to make sure they hadn’t had any notifications of problems, no still active on computer.
4.30 I managed to find the secretaries number, was told he was running late but he would ring me.
It’s now 5,30 and I have no bloody idea when he’s calling?
I totally appreciate consultants run late etc but it would have been nice to have been notified rather than me having to do all the calling.

[AnnieMaul]

I've had this before too.

I was told that although you're given a time for telephone appointments it's actually "as and when they're available."

Unsure if this is general practice or if it's just the way they handle telephone appointments here, but it is frustrating if you're trying to schedule your day around when the phone might ring.

[CreditCrackers]

I feel your pain. When I was pregnant (pre-Covid) they were once five and a half hours late doing my ultrasound scan. Another time I was waiting for a neurology appointment. It was booked in for 9.10pm and I didn't get seen until 1.30pm. How can they be four hours behind by 9.10 in the morning?
The mind boggles.

[peppersaunt]

Mine was half an hour early on Friday and 2 hours late in March

[cologne4711]

How can they be four hours behind by 9.10 in the morning

Because they roll in late. I remember ds having an appointment at 9am, hanging around and eventually the consultant rolled in at 9.30. We were eventually seen at 9.45 with no explanation.

But it sounds like we were lucky!

[ChangeThePassword]

How can they be four hours behind by 9.10 in the morning?

They may have been called to an emergency. Neurology emergencies can be very urgent and need immediate attention.

[Georgieporgie29]

I had an early appt once and the consultant wasn’t happy when he got to me, he said he does hospital rounds in the morning and doesn’t start his clinics until 9.30. They weren’t supposed to book any appointments in until 9.30 but had started booking them from 9 so he was already running late when he started his day. He was lovely to me though and said it wasn’t fair on the patients because every appointment through the day would now be running behind.

[Mornington30]

If there was an emergency, should there not be a way of someone being asked to contact? Unlikely to have been just the OP.

Though in the medical profession there are good reasons for behaviour like this, unlike utilities or parcel companies who expect you to be there for hours waiting for them.