To turn up late for gp appointment.

[Needstotidyup]

I always arrive 5 mins late for gp appt as I know they are never on time. I am currently still waiting for my 1150 appointment (now 12:17). Should I turn up on time regardless?

Yes, the bastard receptionists will make you wait even longer out of spite.

It's really petty to turn up late because you expect them to be late. You get the time you need as does everybody else and yes sometime they will be late. It's annoying but the alternative is to make every slot 20 minutes instead of 10 - and thus halve capacity. Patients really would not like that!

I usually arrive early for mine, that way if the person before me hasnt turned up, I get in earlier.

If everyone were to arrive 5 minutes late, then it might not run behind in the first place.

If you turn up late they will just make you wait longer.

And quite rightly so.

How do you know if you're not there? Possibly they call your name..you're not there so they go on to the next person.

Maybe your appointments are always running late because other people have the same lax attitude to punctuality.

I'm always on time for my appointments and have been seen on time, late and occasionally early.

yes.

one day they may be on time and there is nothing worse than a receptionist 'telling you off'

It's a chance you get to sit and do nothing (except flick through last year's antique magazine) - when ever do you get a chance like that? :)

I don't know about your GP surgery, but mine check you in when you arrive - and if someone who has a later appt time than me arrives before me, they get seen first. So arriving late means I'm more likely to wait even longer, iyswim.

Turn up on time, or even a little earlier - that way you might get seen quicker (if your surgery operates in the same way as mine).

It IS annoying when they constantly run late, but then it would be just my luck for them to be running on time on the one day i cant get parked and come in 5 minutes late!!!

Mine generally runs between 40 minutes to an hour late, even if I'm the first appointment of the day! I sympathise, but I still wouldn't dare turn up late.

I understand your points but I used to be a five minute early person but I have NEVER been seen on time. The final straw was when I had to wait 45 minutes and still hadn't been seen for Pnd so walked out as 3 month old DS was miserable I was getting anxious and there were still other people before me. Since then I've given up hope of gps ever being on time but I agree I prob am BU.

In the past 2 years I have seen he doctor a fair few times, between myself and DS. The earliest I got in was 20 minutes after my appointment time, the latest was 55 minutes. I am normally pretty understanding but my goat was really got one morning when I ha the first appointment of the day. 20 minutes after the appointment time the doctor swans in, Starbucks in hand and has a nonchalant chat with the receptionist before heading up to his room and calling me in 10 minutes later. I have been less tolerant since then.

My GP cancels your appointment if you're more than 10 minutes late for it. My appointment has been more than 15 minutes late though so fair enough.

I expect you do have to wait longer if you're late for your appointment too. YABU.

Would I be even more unreasonable to pop across the road and get a bag of chips while I wait ( if I'm still here at 1)?

Not really!

Poor you! Can you try and get the first appointment in future? What's the policy of kepping you up to date? My surgery has a scrolling thing telling us how many minutes late they're running, so at least you can walk round the block.

I work in a GP surgery and like the GP have my own clinics.

I occasionally run late as people turn up late and expect to be seen, attend for one thing and then ask me to deal with a few other problems "whilst they're there". I might have ten minutes booked for a consultation that then takes longer as there's a problem, I have to get the GP, get a prescription signed, tell them they have a serious health problem, deal with someone who's collapsed in the toilet or fell over in the car park and gashed their leg or head. Share bad news, sit with someone whilst they cry because even though they came for a pill check their Granny died last night....

As frustrating as it is waiting to see the doctor or nurse we're not sat behind closed doors watching Jeremy Kyle and eating biscuits - we're seeing patients and dealing with paperwork, phone calls, queries, extras. The GP might be late in to start their clinic in the morning because they had to certify a death on the way to work, or visit a terminally ill patient. The GP will have far more of that than I will - a patient comes for their test results and has to be told they've got cancer; you can't just say "you've had your ten minutes, off you go". Some of my patients take three of their ten minutes to get down the corridor!

I think if you are late you just wait until they can fit you in, you aren't considered to be in the queue as such, which seems fair. You should turn up on time and take a book to read (and entertainment for DS) in the waiting room. These five minutes you choose to be late is really cutting off your nose to spite your face. My GP is great but one of her best qualities is that she will phone the hospital and ask if she in unsure about something (I am complicated), I would rather wait for her than see a doctor who whizzes through but stays on time. Perhaps you can watch the other doctors and see if one seems to be taking their patients faster and ask to transfer to them.

excellent post sidge. turn up on time for you appointment and dont be selfish. who seriously exptects not to be delayed at a doctor's appointment for exactly the reasons sidge described. besides what if things were on time, you arrive late, expect to be seen and as a result of YOUR selfishness all appointments for the day are running late.

Them running late is frustrating but it's impossible to guess how long each patient will need so unless everyone gets kicked out after their 5 minutes even if that is mid consultation then you can't ensure they run on time

Having been the person who made everyone late by needing 40 minutes of GP time plus the 10 minute wait for the paramedics, I never moan if I'm held up. If that GP had just said I had a virus and gave me just 10 mins I'd be dead.

I've also seen the GP for depression and taken longer than my 10 mins. Sometimes I'm in and out in 2 so it balances out.

I agree whathasthecatdonenow my DS had anaphylaxis and another lady had suspected heart attack, the surgery was running an hour late. Rather be the person waiting.

agree with sidge and what. yes, it's a pita waiting for 30 minutes plus, but there will almost certainly be a good reason the surgery is running late. Think we have all had times when we are in and out the door in about 2 minutes, but also times when our appointments have been lengthy through no fault of our own or the doctor/nurse.

At our surgery, if you book in late for your appointment, you have to wait til the end of the surgery session to be seen - you do not maintain your position in the queue - even if surgery is running late.

If you are always early or on time, but consistently being seen more than 30 min late, then write to the practice manager and officially complain.

agree. some people just dont see past their own little world in their own little bubble.

yabu, it is a pita but it is what is is, my gp surgery pretty much always runs late, as does my dentist, but they are trying and as others have said they book 5/10min slots and some people are done quickly, others take longer. some of my appointments are quick ie a quick review of meds, others take longer, it is what it is, but i would get told off by my receptionist for being late, they mark you in (or rather i sign in on a flatscreen thingy) i did point out the one time i WAS late was because as i was going out the door my baby did an exploding poo, up the back jobby, literally as i put them in the pushchair! so i had to clean them up, it was pretty much a bath job and as i was goin gto be early i was still only a few mins late. they just kind of gave me a face probably because they are sick of people who turn up late deliberatly thinking that they will be running late so it doesnt matter!