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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think an 1hr and 40 minute wait at the doctors is a bit crap.

38 replies

GregBishopsBottomBitch · 15/03/2013 17:39

I went to the walk in clinic, 6 people ahead of me, appointments are 5 mins long, really needed to see the doctor, otherwise i'd have walked out and waited for an actual appointment next week.

Probably Unreasonable, but so tiring just waiting, my 5 yr old was as good as gold though.

OP posts:
noblegiraffe · 15/03/2013 17:40

I think getting to see a doctor without an appointment within a couple of hours is pretty good actually.

WileyRoadRunner · 15/03/2013 17:41

Sorry OP i think for a walk in clinic it takes as long as it takes...

teatrolley · 15/03/2013 17:42

Walk in. So you got a chance to see someone without a booked appointment and you're complaining?

HollyBerryBush · 15/03/2013 17:42

Depends what the people in front of you had TBH.

GrendelsMum · 15/03/2013 17:43

I don't know about this case, but the last time I had a very long wait at the doctors it was because a lady had turned out to be extremely ill indeed and it was all systems go to get her stabilised and into hospital. We saw her when she was carried out and she looked terrible

And all the time the woman next to me was tutting about it!

3littlefrogs · 15/03/2013 17:44

I waited 7 hours in A&E with a child with a broken arm, so actually I think you did rather well.

Original poster
GregBishopsBottomBitch · 15/03/2013 17:45

Thats true Holly, luckily i have an actual appointment for next time, i could tell i wasnt alone in getting fed up, some of them must have been there alot longer than me. I was there for 30 mins before another person got called in.

OP posts:
lockets · 15/03/2013 17:46

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Purple2012 · 15/03/2013 17:46

Yabu. I have had to wait an hour when I've had an appointment due to an emergency.

I also have to wait at least 4 weeks to get an appointment.

Original poster
GregBishopsBottomBitch · 15/03/2013 17:47

Grendel, No ambulances, if that had been the case, i'd have waited aslong as i had too since they'd be in more need than me.

OP posts:
NorthernLurker · 15/03/2013 17:47

It's a walk in. You wait. I expect the people seen before you 'really needed to see the doctor' too. Get a grip on yourself OP. Did you get sorted out though?

Original poster
GregBishopsBottomBitch · 15/03/2013 17:49

Grip firmly located Lurker, if it didnt need the medication i would have waited til next week.

OP posts:
DeskPlanner · 15/03/2013 17:49

In a Gp practice, yeah It's a long wait. In a walk-in centre, It's fair enough. Bloody hell were lucky to have such a service. They will probably all end up being shut down anyway, the way things are going.

alarkthatcouldpray · 15/03/2013 17:49

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
GregBishopsBottomBitch · 15/03/2013 17:51

Not bashing the GP, shes first class, the wait kinda sucked though, ah well, atleast it werent in A + E.

OP posts:
ivykaty44 · 15/03/2013 17:53

grendels mum - that was me two and a half years ago at the walk in surgery - I was admits to hospital and lucky not to have been taken to ITU

Just a note to say thanks to the other patients that had to wait while I had an egg and the doctor took care of me.

Suicide is the biggest killer of men in their 30's - it is higher than cancer or heart disease and yet taboo still and not rarely is fund raising done for mental health

ivykaty44 · 15/03/2013 17:53

not an egg Grin an e c g

DeWe · 15/03/2013 17:53

Well our surgery (appointments) is pretty good, usually in within 20 minutes. But there was the time I went in with dd1 thinking a simple pulled muscle. 45 minutes later she had been diagnosed with cronic pneumonia and we were on the way to hospital.

If they'd felt that they had to get her out in 5 minutes it could well have been missed as it was in a very unusual place and she was not showing other typical symptoms.

And then there was the time I went in with ds for his usual ear infection, and on the way out the GP called me back in because he noticed he wasn't walking right... Ended up with two GPs (out of 3 on site) taking a long time to examine him.

That's why I like our surgery. If you need time they give it to you, they're not afraid to take extra time. And it's unusual to have to wait to the next day for an appointment.

ChestyNut · 15/03/2013 18:00

I get that it's frustrating waiting but if your waiting its for a good reason.

I've experienced people complaining about the wait due to an unexpected cardiac arrest, we were actually doing CPR and all though people couldn't see that, they could see lots of staff with high tech equipment and paramedics in and out........

Still they complained about the wait Hmm

WorriedMummy73 · 15/03/2013 18:02

Whenever I read about (or hear, at my GP's) people talking about long waits to see the GP, I ask myself 'what would Jesus do?'.

Not really! But I do find myself thinking about people who have no NHS (my friend is American - their system is a nightmare!) or access to local healthcare at all. We're actually pretty lucky in the UK to have the relatively cheap and easy-to-access system we do have.

Still know how annoying it can be though OP.

spiderlight · 15/03/2013 18:07

I always expect to wait two hours at walk-in, unless I get there before it opens at 8.15. It's sometimes longer if it's the turn of the fabulous doctor who takes as long as she takes to get you properly sorted out, but she's worth every minute of the wait ten times over. It's not fun, but I'm always just grateful that I can see a doctor at my own practice the same day.

ChristmasJubilee · 15/03/2013 18:07

I work in an outpatient clinic where the patients have appointment times. We often run late, sometimes very late, but the nature of the clinic means we often don't know how Ill someone will be before we see them. We don't know how many questions they will want to ask. We don't know if we will have to find a hospital bed for them there and then - and they are not ten a penny.

We could say "sorry, your test results show you have cancer but we have people waiting and you've had your slot so we will explain your treatment next week if we can fit you in" but we don't. People still moan about the wait. We don't have coffee or lunch until we have seen everyone no matter how long it takes.

If we are running to time it is usually because several people haven't turned up!

YABU

pansyflimflam · 15/03/2013 18:10

Fuck me.... 1st World moaning or what. We are all really lucky we can see someone within a couple of hours without an appointment.

pansyflimflam · 15/03/2013 18:10

and as if you hadn't guessed YAB staggeringly U

MisForMumNotMaid · 15/03/2013 18:13

I was one of those horrid people who had everyone else wait and caused mayhem when i was 26 wks pregnant with DD. I phoned the GP and spoke to the receptionist to ask for an appointment because i was suffering from breathlessness. She said i'd better come right in. I went in, didn't realise how bad it was really till i couldn't get my name out. A man appeared from nowhere and helped me through to a side room, two doctors came through and took history etc (i'm never ill so they hadn't got a full history), one of the doctors and the asthma nurse, who left her appointment to come and asses got me on the nebuliser thing. We're a long way from an A & E. The doctors were fantastic, an hour latter i felt completely drained but significantly more able to breath. It was a severe Asthma attack, it came from no where and just built till it felt like there was just no breath.

At least three peoples patients were disrupted that day and i'm very sorry for that but i realise now just how serious it was. I doubt anyone in the waiting room even noticed what was going on they handled it so calmly and smoothly.

GP's, nurses and other frontline staff have quite a tough time especially as budgets are cut and they are having to make continuous difficult decissions.

Is there something constructive that you could suggest out of this like if you're 6th in the que could they have a system where you hold your place and come back every 30mins to check que progress?