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?

YABU. Every five minutes adds up.

I agree it's shite being heavily penalised (by your appointment being cancelled) if you're more than 10 mins late when patients routinely wait for much longer than that to see the GP, but the NHS is an overloaded system and the people working in it do their best although GPs' receptionists IME could try to be slightly less vile.

Also, if you always turn up early you'll always have the moral high ground.

I am always late to see one particular doctor but don't mind as he never rushes you so it is just something I accept.

I was less happy when one hour after my appointment time I still hadn't been seen and it was because the receptionist hadn't marked me as there as she was mid nail filing.

Im a turn up early person however i hate having to wait. I like to book in & get seen. Doesnt work like that though. In our surgery if we have been waiting longer than 30 mins they have a sign up saying you need to remind them that you are still waiting. If im in a hurry il ask how many people are in front of me that way i can gage how long il be waiting.

If you are late for you appointment why should you be put into the queue. They could already have called your name.

I was once 5 minutes late for a doctor's appointment, was waiting ages & when I finally got in I was told 'you were late for your appointment so we saw the people who were on time first' I was given the number of times I've been made to wait even when I was on time.

OP - you have my sympathy about the situation you describe regarding the PND consultation. V similar thing happened to me. First appt about PND, small baby in tow. I was in an absolute state by the time they saw me .

But YABU

I usually arrive on time as I think it's bad manners to be late for anything.

The one time I did arrive late for dd2's appointment I was told off and told I might not be seen at all. I was late because I had had a miscarriage two days earlier and had only just stopped sobbing long enough to remember about the appt. I probably shouldn't have been there at all because it wasn't an emergency. I really wasn't in the mood to be told off and wasn't feeling strong enough to tell the receptionist why I was late so she probably still thinks I'm just rude.

I went to the GP yesterday.

My appointment was at 10:10, I got there early at 9:55. I was seen almost immediately and was back out in the car by 10:10!

Just depends on how the other appointments are going I would think. So YABU to not show up for your time slot.

YY Sidge
I'm not in a GP surgery but I have my appointments booked.
I'm there 50-60 minutes before my first appointment to set up, get notes, read them.
If a patient is late I give them 10 minutes then get the next person- though there's no guarentee the next person is there.
Some patients do take ages to get ready, I need to assist with removable and replacement of shoes and socks.(And why do people wear tights under trousers when they know they need bare feet)

Some people have family bringing them.Or taxi .Or Dial-a-Ride.
One patient in a wheelchair wheeled a load of dogs' pooh over my floor -nice. I had to clean that before the next patient. And sometimes I need a bit of airfreshener and a bloody good scrub of the chair extra alchohol wipes.

Our HA has a 10 minutes leeway- it's our discretion if we see them after 10 minutes.
TBH I'll see a late patient if it's physically possible.
But I might only be in a clinic for the morning. I have to get my daughter after school.

I've had patients turn up 2 hours late. One 6 hours late. And expect to be seen.
Their arguement is "Well I always have to wait". Yes, because I might have a patient who takes longer. I'm not drinking tea.
I'd love to say "Oh if I'm running late, you can refuse to see me" but I'd get cats-bum face.

And if I see a late patient and they don't acknowledge their lateness, then I say "Some of my collegues will refuse point blank.For any reason. " (Bet their blardy clinics run on time)

When I lived in West London, the Receptionist was SCARY! She'd look at her watch and say Hmm, You're a little late when only a couple of minutes past.

If people were later than 10 minutes she'd tell them to wait until the end of surgery.

It worked though, the appointments were broadly kept on schedule and people made the effort to be there in good time to see the Dr.

YABU. GPs don't choose to be late, they are doing what they can to give adequate care to their patients.

It is annoying at the GP surgery, and it can be truly horrible when it's a hospital appointment, but this is the price we pay for free healthcare for all.

It's swings and roundabouts IME. I once had an appointment for PND; it was the first time anyone had actually acknowledged what was happening instead of breezing that 'that's what being a mum is all about!' and I definitely took longer than my allotted time. I also got a number of glares from the waiting room as I walked through on my way out.

I'm usually in and out in less than a couple of minutes when I take DD. I would always turn up on time or slightly early, most of the time I would be seen in the timeslot I expected, but if I'm not, I do remember how nice my GP was when I needed a practical listening ear and hope someone else can benefit as I did.

I did get very when the receptionist cancelled DD's appointment altogether because although we were early and had registered early, she needed to be taken to the loo and we missed the first 'call' of our appointment. The appointment was already running 10 minutes late so we had waited for about 20 in the waiting room, I'd told the receptionist what was going on and the loo was just next to the reception office, but no, 'you should have told her to wait - if you're not there when you're called you lose the appointment'. If DD had been 7, this would have been fine, but at a just-potty-trained 2 I felt it was a bit much to expect.

Mine always runs late too. I always turn up on time. I guess some poor souls just need extra time and am grateful it's not me. We have a free NHS, should be grateful it's there at all.

Scary receptionists can be worth their weight in gold

We have a phone booking system, sometime the appointment time isn't written down by the patient, they turn up (thinking they are on time).
Sometimes they say "I was told 10.30" -even though there is no 10.30 timeslot . So they couldn't have been given that time.

But I don't have a scary receptionist to field off latercomers and grudgingly offer to fit people in at the end.
No, I have to deal with it myself ,,(sigh..)

Only 21 years until I can retire......

MY GP always runs late, but she gives everyone the time they need and many times it's me or my kids who are in there longer than the 10 minutes allocated. If I know that the problem is a simple one, eg, a chest infection, then I go to the practice nurse or another GP who doesn't seem to take teh same care, but will serve the purpose. I also "clock in" and ask how long it will be, and then sneak out to get my shopping while I am waiting (if it's a reasonable wait - but only if I'm prepared to get shunted down the list if my name is called before I get back)

festival
if I told an elderly patient or one with SN (I don't treat children) to "just wait" I'd have to deal with the aftermath and probably get a rollicking from my Line Manager.

Sorry that's a vunerable adult with LD. (for adults).

last time I went to the GP I had to wait 1 hour 40 minutes with no explanation by the receptionist. The GP apologised and said he had been waiting for a phone call from the local hospital to get a bed for a very ill patient. Don't know why he couldn't see his patients in the meantime

mirry2 because if he'd had a patient with him when the hospital called back he would have had to ask the patient to leave the room whilst he discussed the patient needing the bed. Not ideal either.

If the ill patient was in the surgery he might have been monitoring them, arranging the admission paperwork, speaking to the family etc.

I appreciate not everyone knows what goes on behind closed doors and it never hurts for receptionists to keep you updated as to delays, but I think people forget that not every patient is a straightforward "in and out" like you might be.

last time i went to the docs I was nearly 2 hours waiting, i think somebody had collapsed. I didn't mind, I had my kindle. BUT the doc was very harassed and I felt like I couldn't discuss everything I wanted to because I felt rushed and although I was given my prescription I left feeling that I hadn't sorted out my problem at all.

I can understand the dr being harassed if he had had to deal with a collapsed patient for 2 hours though. Would have been better for the staff to give people the option to book again for another day when a delay was so big.

GPs have to find time for home visits too. When are they expected to do that? 7.00pm? 8.00pm?

My husband was taken ill; I rang the GP (had been told to), he told me to call an ambulance and he arrived just as the ambulance people were here. I think it was his lunch break but I do apologise to patients in the medical centre waiting room if they were delayed. There are also people who are in bed home and unable to visit the surgery so are visited at home and these visits have to be squeezed in between surgery appointment periods.

Jamieandthe olympictorch. Thanks for your comment it is a horrible situations I was trying not to burst out in tears in front of everyone. In the end I refused to go to gp again for antidepressants and started going to the gym instead which worked wonders.

I agree with everyone I am being very unreasonable and in future I shall attend five minutes early.

Thanks for the feedback

Sidge fair enough but the receptionist could at least have said something instead of leaving me on tenterhooks about whether to leave and make another appointment or go out and feed the parking meter or risk a £40 parking fine and then drive like crazy to make sure I wasn't late for a lecture I was giving.

Our primary care service in the UK is not fit for purpose and patients deserve better.

mirry you're right, of course the receptionist should have taken a moment to let everyone waiting know what's going on. Especially when you've paid for parking. Did you go and ask at reception about the delay though?

Yes I did as, several times but the receptionsist said she didn't know what was causing the delay. At the end I was the only one left in the waiting room wiating to see that particular doctor.- - and no other doctors had time to see me.