Waiting room times - how long should you wait?

[Chiavennasca]

I’m currently sat in my dentist waiting room for an appointment at 12.30. It’s 12.34 as I write this. I’m on my lunch break from work.

How late do you think is acceptable? Not just for my situation but for any waiting room appointment scenario - how long would you wait before saying something?

My gp used to be horrendous and I'd regularly have to wait for 2-3 hours.

I can’t imagine waiting for 2/3 hours past an appointment time - I simply don’t have the time to spend half a day waiting for a 10 minute appointment. I’d ask for an approximate time and either rebook or go away and come back again. There’s no way they don’t know they’re going to be 2 hours over.

My DH is a dentist. If you are waiting a long time, bear in mind that the dentist might have had to squeeze extra people in that day who need to be seen urgently because they're in pain.

When you are that person in pain, you'll be very thankful that you were given a same-day appointment, never mind the impact on the waiting room

Like anything, it depends.

If they've overbooked, I would not be happy to be waiting for non-emergency situations.

I've had to wait at the vets, but had been told upon arrival that would be the case and offered the chance to re-book as a beloved pet had been brought in after being hit by a car and they were dealing with that.

15 mins then ask. Another 10 mins then I’ll leave, unless given feedback.
I don’t expect to be seen on time, but grateful if it’s with 5mins of the appointment time.

I would wait 15 minutes before asking if everything was OK and if I had much longer to wait.

I used to have a dentist (some 11-12 years ago,) who was always ALWAYS behind. Like over half an hour to 40 minutes! Did my fecking head in! I would be the first appointment sometimes (after lunch at 2pm,) and he didn't call me in til 2.15-2.20pm. Sometimes he didn't come back from lunch til 2.05 to 2.10pm. Then it would be another 10 minutes before he called me in. So he was already 15-20 minutes behind and he was only on the first appointment of the afternoon. A few times, the 2.15pm appointment had come in and I was still sitting there. And I even remember the 2.30pm appointment rocking up too when I was still sitting there at 2.22pm!

There was never any reason for the lateness, and quite often when my appointment was mid morning (like 11am,) he would be 45 minutes late. I kept asking what's going on, and there was ALWAYS an excuse. Pissed me right off it did. I was made to feel like I should be grateful to have an NHS dentist.

I now go to another one near the place I live now, and have been going there 9-10 years. She is never EVER more than 5-7 minutes late. She is usually on time or just 1-3 minutes late.

My good friend who has a chronic illness has an appointment with a consultant every 4-5 months, and he always, without fail, calls her in 45 to 50 minutes after her appointment time. Sometimes he is an hour late. The people/patients before her, go in to see him, and spend some 25 minutes in there, but she is in and out in 5 minutes. She has said she is getting annoyed by it, but the receptionist said 'some of the patients are more complex.' It can't be this every single time. He is always ALWAYS late. Like, close to an hour late. Not just 10-15 minutes late.

It's so fucking rude. Like their time is more important than yours. As has been said, if you are more than 10 minutes late, you lose your appointment. Such a superiority complex some people have!

well I had an optician appointment the other day and I was the first appointment at bang on opening time at 9.30. Didn’t get seen until 9.40 🤷‍♀️

I don’t mind if there are emergencies, I don’t think anyone does. What I hate though is if appointments are running behind they don’t call to let you know to not not turn up for those 20 mins. Just let people know so they don’t turn up and just have to sit. 5 mins is fine but once you get into lengthy waits it makes sense for them to let you know. The worst is when you check in and they don’t mention that appointments are running late

More in defence of dentists. They can't do anything without a dental nurse - so in response to the PP who complained about the dentist seeing them late for the first appointment after lunch it might have been to do with the nurse's availability. Also, my DH has some very nervous patients (he's known for being good with them so they seek him out) and it takes an awful lot of time getting anything done - particularly with children. It once took 15 minutes just to get a small child to sit in the chair.

No health professional wants to be behind with their appointments, it's a nightmare. It puts DH in a very bad mood (never visible to the patients – definitely visible to me when he gets home!)

I don’t mind if there are emergencies, I don’t think anyone does. What I hate though is if appointments are running behind they don’t call to let you know to not not turn up for those 20 mins. Just let people know so they don’t turn up and just have to sit.

But say 15 people are being seen that day - the receptionist simply wouldn't have time to phone 15 people, and the 20-minute wait would be over by the time she got even half way through the list anyway.

In terms of telling you when you turn up that they're running late - they might make up with one patient the time they lost with the previous one, so the receptionist won't necessarily know.

Imo I wouldn't start worrying 5 minutes in, dentists can ovverun appointments especially if they're doing something like extractions.

I have had to wait ages for appointments and am happy to do so, because I know it's nobody's fault. I don't think the world revolves around me and was simply making the point that there will be a good reason for them running late.

my previous dentist and current doctor always run about an hour late

nothing I can do about it if I want to keep my NHS spot

No just walk in and kick whoever is taking too much time in the chair out of it 😂. I do wonder if people actually realise how dentists/doctors end up running late. They will be the same people who will also feel rushed if you keep to the appointment time. They can’t win (and I’m not referring to the naughty doctors and dentists who show up late to work without good reason!).

I wait as long as it takes unless I really couldn’t (work can wait in almost all cases). You’ll likely wait weeks/months for a replacement appointment. Unfortunately when you see clients for a living and there are emergencies etc you can’t always stick to time.

I left my midwife appointment after waiting 40 minutes as it had happened several times so clearly that's my limit.

I'd always allow 10 mins for dentists etc.

Goodness I have had to wait nearly an hour in the past! And much MUCH longer when waiting for cancer treatment in the day case unit. On one occasion my 3pm appointment was so late the day case unit was closed and I was taken into another unit for my treatment at 6.15pm. I know and understand the reason for the delay, but it is still a very long wait for myself and the other cancer patients involved, all of whom are feeling pretty terrible.

Less than 5 minutes is nothing at all and I think expecting to be able to fit your dental appointment into your lunch break is a little optimistic.

I disagree with this. I used to have a GP (growing up) who was always running late. You knew this. You’d usually have to wait 1-1.5 hours after your appt time. I used to take a book as knew I’d be in there for ages. But it was because she was brilliant and lovely and thorough. She always took her time and covered everything and never made you feel rushed. I’d was delighted to have a GP like that. My current GP is fine, usually runs to time but I waste time having to go in for multiple appts for more than one thing (which I have to wait weeks for) and often feel very rushed in appts resulting in me forgetting to say things or ask questions. I’d much prefer my previous GP.

My dentist also often runs late but I am an extremely nervous patient and he is so good with me, kind and takes his time (I suspect he has other patients like me and doesn’t rush them plus the normal dental emergencies). Again very happy to wait for him.

There's a surgery in the Borders that only allows 7.5 minutes per appointment. You are triaged by admin staff when you phone then when you arrive you are given a laminated card reminding you of the time limit and that you can discuss only what you phoned about!

And you’re unreasonable like OP! You have no idea what the GP might be dealing with! For example they maybe trying to arrange for a seriously ill patient to be admitted to hospital! I’m sure if you were seriously ill you’d expect your GP to give you time and sort out your admission. If you don’t want long waits, pay and go and see a private GP!

It isn't the best plan to book things like us your lunch hour as it does make you more anxious about waiting times .

Some times it's an emergency sometimes not. I once had an appointment at 8.15, the first of the day. I waited and waited and then saw out of window my GP coming into the building at 9.05. When he eventually saw me I pointed out that my appointment was an hour ago. His response was that he had a young child and sometimes "life happens". I was not amused as I booked the early appointment in order to get to my own work on time.

I was admitted for surgery at 7am supposedly surgery at 9.30am. I didn't go to theatre until after 6pm due to an emergency and it was a nightmare of a day! Anxiety and nothing to drink or eat all day. NHS.

Absolutely. Issue being, if the person waiting cannot stay past a certain time because of school pick up, fear of losing job etc etc and therefore miss their appointment, that might be something equally serious being missed. Especially if appointments are as thin on the ground as they can be in some areas, and they have to wait another month. Only for the same to potentially happen again. But, 'tough' eh.

So, your solution is?

There isn't one. But the answer isn't 'tough'. In exactly the same respect that the world doesn't revolve around the person waiting, neither does it revolve around the person being seen or causing the hold up.

In an ideal world there would be capacity for someone needing a longer appointment to have one, or for an emergency to mean that someone else sees the person waiting, or takes over with the emergency so that the rest of the list can move on. Or for people to be able to take time off for medical appointments without fear or reprisals, or docking of pay or worse if it runs over etc. There would be more GPs/dentists etc so people don't have to wait so long for appointments.

We don't live in an ideal world obviously, but it is more faceted than just 'tough, be patient '.

Equally, if surgeries showed more tolerance of those who are unavoidably late they may get more tolerance in return! 😁