People complaining about NHS appointments on a Sunday

F people are low income they can claim transport costs for some appointments

And most people can arrange a lift

I've been offered two CT scans this year at the weekend. So, your general point - weekend appointments or not - still applies.

So you would simply decline the appointment then as it doesn't suit. So long as you aren't swearing at op, then it's fine.

I find it a bit weird that people think Sunday clinics shouldn't run because it doesn't suit THEM - can't you see it reduces the list so you will get seen sooner? They are doing these Sunday clinics IN ADDITION to the weekdays, not instead of.

It's shocking how selfish people can be- only seeing their own needs!

Sorry to hear you were abused doing your job op.

DD lives in a care home 160 miles away. She comes home every 3 weeks for a week - 10 days, at their request for her mental health. We usually go on a Saturday or Sunday, so DH doesn’t lose a day’s work unpaid, and the roads are quieter. The M6 is very busy in the week! We usually book her returns home, several months in advance, so her care staff can book their holidays.

Care staff always find it hard to get time off. They have complained to us for years, about how they were promised at their interview, they’d get every other weekend off; and in reality they don’t get it! Or, they said at the interview, that they needed Sundays off to care for their DM, and are put under pressure to work on Sundays!

If her staff have booked their holidays, on the basis DD is at home from one Sunday to the next, we don’t like having to tell them, we are picking her up on the Monday, and can they find two people to cover the day shifts on the Sunday, because one of us has a hospital appointment. (We don’t want to take her with us, and she has to sit around bored for several hours. Not good for her and stressful for us!)

Agree. What makes it ok to swear at nhs staff. I do not accept the "oh but they might be stressed, anxious, upset " excuse.
It's bad behaviour and shouldn't be pandered too.
You can't go into Tesco and scream at staff because your favourite biscuits have sold out. You would get barred

To be fair not all of us drive, my village doesn't have a train station and the bus service was stopped, so it would cost a fortune by cab for me.

With the backlog for NHS appointments at the moment,I would happily take an appointment on any day of the week, including Sunday! I have an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon,with a view to having a hip replacement op,for the beginning of April next year. This was made in the middle of August this year. I knew the waiting lists were long but I never thought I'd have a seven and a half month wait just for the initial appointment!

I've had a couple of Sunday appointments - the first time I'd only been referred a week or so before and had been told it was at least a 3 month wait so I was a bit thrown to receive a letter with a Sunday appt less that 2 weeks later.... I did phone to check that a) it wasn't an admin error and b) they didn't think it was more serious than I'd been told. I was reassured it was just as they were getting the backlog down before Christmas 😆

It’s probably the short notice rather than specifically the Sunday. It’s very annoying to be on a waiting list (after jumping through all of the nhs hoops and battling gps who are dismissive and ignorant/rude) and then get a call from someone who assumes you should be gleefully grateful to be offered a last minute appointment on a Sunday - many people will have already promised kids to do something, have family commitments, have church, haven’t had a day off for ages, whatever.

But they are rude because they are rude - would be if you offered a Tuesday. That’s why.

Seems like you’re taking this and making it about “they should be grateful” - which, honestly, is the nhs culture all over - rather than making it about “some people are horribly rude”

Is it the short notice? I know I need help to get to appointments so that would give me pause...because I can't check it's ok during a short notice phone call with my carer travel support.

I had this once after waiting over 2 years once..a call at 5pm for an appointment the following day in a city down the motorway, city centre hospital no easy access appointment at 9.30am...I couldn't arrange support to get there OR work cover.

Even after waiting a long time you need time to plan how to get there ...so short notice appointments can be incredibly ableist and thoughtless. Patients may need to arrange help to get there.

Interestingly, I went to a Sunday Pre OP clinic my trust ran with, I now know, agency staff. Pretty much every bit of advice I was given was walked back by a matron who called a few days later late into the evening, some really out of range results were ignored and much later I was told no such clinics would be attempted again ...after complaints

We do not have to be a slave to the NHS. A week’s notice is not a lot of notice for a lot of people especially at this time of year. Have you never heard of the NHS Constitution? Patients are allowed choice and the service should meet their needs and reflect their preferences.

It's difficult I know. Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that everyone who can't make the appointment doesn't really need one. I really hope you can get one soon!

Positives of Sunday appts -
. No need to miss work
. Parking will be easier at hospital car park or depending on the hospital, able to park around hospital for free or cheaper

Disadvantages
. Those who rely on PT have limited service or none

OP
Did the patients who complained about the Sunday appts - did they give reasons why?

I understand the public transport situation but if they had zero plans - no need

Yes, I know it's not your fault. Just like it's not my fault that I have cancer, it's not my fault that my my consultant expects scans to be undertaken regularly, and it's not my fault that there isn't public transport to take me on a 20 mile+ round trip for a scan that could be done locally.

I also can't just wait for "the next one", I'd be dead if I did.

I get it, I've worked for the NHS and so I understand that there are plenty of members of the public who are rude, lazy and feckless. But we're not all like that. Most of us bend over backwards to help the NHS and often in the face of some astonishingly rude and uncaring NHS staff.

No it certainly doesn't.
I assume you're just offering them an appointment and they're free to say no thanks.
Personally, I'd be very happy to get offered an appointment on any day of the week at any time. Hopefully at least some of your patients appreciate the effort to get them seen.

I am in 2 minds. In my area a Sunday appointment would be okay for those who have a car. The roads would be quieter and it would be easier to get parked. However it would be rubbish for those who use public transport. The buses are every 2 hours on a sunday assuming that they turn up. It would cost £15 for a taxi and not everyone can afford this.

I used to take my dc for mris on Sunday mornings. It worked really well for us, but only because we had a car and I could drive and afford petrol. The hospital is out in the sticks, limited public transport on a Sunday morning and a taxi would have been very expensive. Not everyone is so fortunate.

I was given a Sunday appointment for a pregnancy scan. I'd have much rather had it on a weekday when my child was at nursery, as children aren't allowed to attend.

As it was, they gave me no choice of other dates as they were under instructions to offer the scan within a certain timescale, meaning I received worrying news on my own, while my husband looked after our eldest.

I also received very poor care and misdiagnosis from a midwife who was clearly shattered and fed up of doing overtime on a weekend.

I’m waiting for one but the appointment comes through when DH can’t take me or we’ve got a holiday booked and paid for what am I supposed to do? Ideally I’ll take the first appointment but sometimes it’s just not possible.

Shall we leave it at if you get offered a Sunday and can take it then that's good. If you can't then at least you may be moved further up the list. No need to be rude to the receptionist, people should just say I'm sorry, I can't take that.
Was having an operation some weeks ago and was in the queue. Turned up at 7.30am and was processed by the staff then seen by the surgeon and his assistant, then the anaesthetist. There is a queue and it was after mid day before they got to me. A lady came in at 11am for a minor surgery and was put out she wasn't going to be seen in the next few mins and it would be the afternoon she would be seen. Cue the huffing about the NHS etc and given how she was dressed I wanted to say the BUPA hospital is over there. Somehow her glass was half empty due to her having to wait (she had a business to run blah, blah)