What's the longest you waited to be called for an appointment in the hospital?

Four hours with my 83year old mil in ophthalmology. Only be told she couldn’t have the scan she needed as the scanner was broken. The consultant wouldn’t see her without the scan.

11 hours.
They had an emergency that day.

3 hours antenatal.

I can send you virtual hugs - I hope you have someone in RL you can phone who can be there for you.

Silver lining they found an issue that could have been missed on scan and you'll get appropriate care now.

20 week scan with pfb was told I had Placenta praevia - worried all way to 35 week scan expecting c-section birth. Long wait for scan and got lucky again that a passing consultant jumped in with spare room and equipment and I didn't placenta couldn't have been further away from opening. DSis has bad news at 20 weeks scan but her pfb - wasn't as bad as feared a club foot but at 17 you wouldn't now know.

It's impossible not to worry - but they know now and you'll get the appropriate care.

I had a 9am appointment for minor day surgery on Sunday. It became obvious that the appointment times were a suggestion, and a case of getting a group of people to the hospital that they could then work through.

Given the problems with people missing appointments, it can be more efficient for the hospital to have more people waiting longer. That way they don't lose the time if someone is ten minutes late, but the cost is lots of patients waiting a lot longer.

2 hrs for spinal post op consultant appt. I ended up watching tv on my phone! As the surgery area covers brain surgery I imagine the allotted time per patient is never enough so just overruns each time.

Unfortunately not a new thing then :/

Well I’m glad you were scanned at least. Don’t panic - concentrate on your breathing.

2 1/2 hours only to be told it had been cancelled because the consultant had been called away to deal with an emergency and was unlikely to make it back same day. I'd rather have been sitting in the waiting room than been the emergency

I once waited four hours for the rheumatologist, she always ran really late, her replacement is much better at time keeping. Ophthalmology has a well deserved reputation of being an all day affair and I've waited two and a half hours there regularly.

But the one that took the biscuit was the three hour wait for the psychiatrist who rocked up at eleven chatting and joking with a colleague and my appointment had been for eight am. He did ask why I had waited for him so long and why I wasn't angry. I'd gone past anger into despair by that time. Was actually worth the wait as he put me on an off label med which has worked wonders for me.

Hugs OP! ☹️

8 hours for MIL's cataract operation. Was told she was 1st on the list so be there by 8.30am for her to be done at 9am. She finally got it done at 4.30pm. It was the hottest July day ever and the waiting room as above the autoclave department, so extra heat. The aircon was broken and there was one tiny ineffective fan on the wall. MIL was having sedation so wasn't allowed to eat and she's diabetic. Fucking nightmare.

I had recurring appointments at a department that always ran about an hour late. Once I realised, I took work in with me & edited a few documents (on paper, it was decades ago) in the waiting room, so that I wasn't wasting my firm's time. The nurses REALLY didn't like that. Apparently we were supposed to take time out of our jobs & just sit there like dummies.

I once turned up to an appointment & the reception staff suggested I might like to walk into town & do some shopping because the wait was so long!

2 hours for obstetrician 🫣 they blamed IT issues

1.75 hours for an annual monitoring appointment in a cardiac outpatient clinic for my adult son. Boiling hot day. No ventilation in the tiny waiting area. No updates from clinic staff as to how much longer the wait might be and no apology from the consultant for the clinic running late when finally called in.

At my gynae clinic appointments, if the clinic is running late the nurses will sometimes suggest going off for a coffee and they phone you when it's nearly time for you to be seen. I've also had apologies from clinic nurses for the delay and they have offered to make me a coffee.

Over 2 hours - once I got in the clinic room I understood why - this is no word of a lie nor an exaggeration....

The consultant (who I was seeing for the first time) sat typing one key at a time on a computer well away from me while robotically asking me standard questions, not look at me nor interacting with me! There was a medical student in there too... who was observing- i was in there for 30 mins which was mainly spent with him typing with lots of awkward silences.

He was a hematology consultant at Addenbrooke's and was as cold and ice. I've never forgotten that!

Same. Except it was warm and I'd had no food or water for hours and walked in to my appointment and threw up all everywhere and then fainted

Oh hun, sending a virtual hug. Try to stay calm, it could turn out to be nothing worrying. Have you got someone you can call to be with you?

3 hours in the maternity unit

It was ophthalmology where we had a long wait too. However the consultant is excellent so I'm not kicking up a fuss and risking getting someone else

For pregnancy appointments I sometimes waited hours, which made sense as the consultant I was waiting for did get called into C Sections/issues during labour/mums with reduced movements who need enhanced checks etc and totally appreciate that comes before a scheduled appointment. It is annoying when it happens though, however the trade off was that when I was the one in labour, having issues, the consultant came running to help me and my baby and I was incredibly grateful for that.

8am, seen just after 11. Consultant didn't arrive till gone 9