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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think getting the people who book the appointmentsare twats

163 replies

Domjolly · 25/02/2013 18:48

Rung up to day to book my lad an appointment to get new braces

He broke the other ones during half term (before any one says anything i am paying £80 for new ones)

Any who i asked if i could have the last appiontment of the day as i dont want ds to miss a whole day of school for a 20 minute appointment

The sodding lady on the phone CLEARLY said " we like to try and keep the last appiontments empty because the nurses like to go home early on a friday Confused WTF wouldnt be all

Its not as if it closes at 8pm the last clinic is at 3:45 Shock

I challaned her and said what did you just say you purposley keep the last slot emepty do every one can leave early she tried to back track and say she didnt say it when i told her i was on a iphone and had recored the phone call he relented and booked the slot WTF is going on in the NHS ffs shoddy shoddy shoddy oh is a nurse in private hospital and he could never ever get away with this i think most people dont even relise the clinc is open till 3:45 because they have been strearing people to lunch time appointments cant ruddy believe it

OP posts:
middleagedspread · 25/02/2013 20:55

Venus, my DS's orthodontist is NHS. He's employed & paid by our NHS Trust & works solely at the NHS hospital. He's not a dentist.

maddening · 25/02/2013 21:25

Dentists own their own business but are contracted by the nhs under the PCTs - they get UDAs (units of dental activity) based on the treatment they give - if they hit their uda target they keep the salary allotted to them. If they are short they have to pay money back. If they are over they don't get any extra.

Orthadontists are employed by the hospital - I would assume they have targets to achieve but it won't be the same as a dentist. Some may work privately as well I guess.

VenusStarr · 25/02/2013 21:29

Ah, ok. Sorry I hadn't seen that.

Glad you got the appointment you wanted.

IAmLouisWalsh · 25/02/2013 21:33

Eh?

butterflyroom · 25/02/2013 21:37

YANBU

OneHandFlapping · 25/02/2013 21:40

YANBU, and I'm glad you called them on it. So what if you weren't quite truthful? You use what weapons you can to fight the bureaucracy.

Frankly I think you should write to PALS and tell them that it is the practice of staff in this department to withhold appointments so that they can bunk off early.

MidniteScribbler · 25/02/2013 21:47

Oh FGS you acted like a twat. Lying about recording phone calls, and being a prat. Do you care that these people may have families of their own that they would like to actually get home to on time some days? No, probably not, because it's all about how fucking important you think you are. You could have calmly stated why you would like that appointment and asked if they would consider making an exception this one time. But instead you acted like a prize pork chop and threatened them. Charming. Really chaming.

A 3:45 appointment is never going to get seen at 3:45. They'll already be running late from the rest of the day. So keeping that appointment free gives them one chance to try and catch up on their day and get home. They're already working through their bloody lunch. What more do you want from them?

Oh well, you got what you wanted. Next post you'll be complaining that they weren't all sunshine and roses to you when you get to your appointment.

HeadfirstForHalos · 25/02/2013 21:50

Midnite, if that were the case, then that's fair enough. So why not just say that they leave the slot free to cover appointments that have run late? Instead of "We want to go home early"?

Don't we all?!

montmartre · 25/02/2013 22:15

I asked for my son's repeat hospital appointment to be "at the same time please" (i.e. 8:30am) ... so they sent me 15:45 Confused

It's not even the same half of the day!

Delayingtactic · 25/02/2013 22:34

Midnite reign it in! The scheduling of appointments has got nothing to with the OP. if the staff are finding it impossible to keep to time be ause some admin guy has decided appt take 15 mins that's not her fault.

OP I can't believe the stick you're getting. I work in clinics and our appt times are ridiculous sometimes - we can be an hour or two over, but its not the patients fault for having the cheek to book a late appt. it's the time slots we have available. And by the sounds of it, she tried to stop you getting the last slot and it was only when you pressed that she agreed. I can understand being a pit peeved if somebody did book the last slot but not actively trying to stop people getting it, especially if that meant waiting a lot longer for a child.

I think you did the right thing and I'm pretty sure the orthodontist doesn't know this is happening.

bumperella · 25/02/2013 22:46

If a waitress/barstaff/checkout person/whatever said "ooh, no, you can't order at x o'clock, we like to get home early" then they'd be fired. Don't see why it should be different for someone meant to be professional (doctor, dentist, nurse, whatever).
If receptionist had said "the last appointment is kept free for emergency patients and we don't ever release it in case of over-runs" then that would be fair enough. But this isn't waht was said: you were told they like to knock off early on a Friday (wouldn't we all???!). Which is shoddy.

IneedAsockamnesty · 25/02/2013 22:59

Aside from all the spelling jibes.

Its not illegal for a indervidual to record a phone call in the uk.

Under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA), it is not illegal for individuals to tape conversations provided the recording is for their own use.

Its only against the law if the content of the call will be passed or made available to a third party.

It is also ok to do when considering The Telecommunications Regulations 2000.

KatyTheCleaningLady · 25/02/2013 23:05

I think the OP is NBU at all. I'm glad she had the gumption to challenge the guy and, if lying is what it took to get him to change his tack, then good for her.

We'd all like to go home early on Friday, I'm sure. Oh, well!

FryOneFatManic · 26/02/2013 13:54

Domjolly

FryOneFatManic is this private i was told becuse of the way he jaw is it has to be at the hospital gurrr if the braces dont work they are talking about re setting his jas i havent tod ds yet because he will feak out

Sorry, didn't spot this yesterday. Private, yes, but DD qualifies for NHS funding (just managed to meet criteria, thank goodness, we couldn't have afforded it privately). And their opening times are a joke, meaning that DD always has to miss some school. Next appt is 11am so not too much, she'll be back for lunch.

PessaryPam · 26/02/2013 15:47

DomJolly, you dared to expect them to work their allotted hours on a Friday??!! How very dare you Grin I thing YANBU at all. Loved the backtracking when she thought you have recorded the call. Well done you.

PessaryPam · 26/02/2013 15:55

And I do record work calls quite regularly so I can check what was agreed as customer is chaotic. I don't think it's illegal.

maudpringle · 26/02/2013 15:58

Well done Domjolly Smile

KobayashiMaru · 26/02/2013 16:03

Ok you can't spell, fair enough, but what have you got against full stops?

Sounds like you were pretty rude on the phone, esp considering how you have behaved here.

IneedAsockamnesty · 26/02/2013 16:14

Kobay,

How exactly has she behaved here?

She's been ridiculed and ripped into because she has a learning disability has been ripped into because her learning disability caused her to miss out a word in a sentence and not express herself very well.

Someone must have a pretty low opinion of themselves if the only way they can make themselves feel all superior and intelligent is to take the piss out of someone with a learning disability.

atthewelles · 26/02/2013 16:15

YANBU and I cannot believe some of the criticism you are getting on here Shock

ClutchingPearls · 26/02/2013 16:28

If your 20 minute appointment was at 3.45 that will last until 4.05pm so they will be 5 minutes over their finish time of 4pm.

I don't think it was a case of them not wanting to fill the slot (with a shorter appointment) but rather not wanting to end up with overtime.

If the receptionist/nurse said that to me I would have just responded with "oh, sorry but I really need that appointment so I'll still book it please".

As others have said, saying you recorded isn't on.

PessaryPam · 26/02/2013 16:33

Why is it not on to either record or say you've recorded a call?

IneedAsockamnesty · 26/02/2013 16:35

Clutching. The clinic set the appointment times and duration if there last appointment is 3:45 then that's when the last appointment is.

The op is also completely at liberty to either record a phone call for personal use or to say she had people do it all the time.

CuriousMama · 26/02/2013 16:39

YANBU it's a bloody cheek of the staff to do that.

atthewelles · 26/02/2013 16:44

Hairdressers and restaurants always set a time for last bookings that will enable them to close at the appropriate time. They do not tell customers that they are keeping the 'last booking slot' free so staff can go home.
If a last appointment slot exists then that is the time staff are meant to take final appointments. They are not meant to keep it free so they can go home early on a Friday.

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