To think this man had no right to rage at the GPs receptionist because appointment was late?

[listsandbudgets]

I had to take DS to the GP last night. The appointment was at 5.40pm. We were finally seen at 6.50pm. GP was already running late then took ages with the man who went in just before us at 6.10pm for his 5.30 apointment - I think he had to be admitted to hospital and she didn't want to leave him until arrangements were made. The last appointment was for 6pm.

The receptionist was obviously working late in order to deal with what was going on. She told us that there would be a long wait as the doctor was dealing with an emergency.

By 6.15 the person with the 5.50 appointment (the one after ours) were shouting at her and demanding she hurried everything up. She explained the sitaution again. THey started shouting at her then banging on the GPs surgery door shouting that they had to be seen. GP came out and told them to leave the premises or wait quietly. They calmed down a bit but still went up to receptionist every 2-3 minutes to insist she hurried things up.

AIBU to think that

1. They should be grateful that the GP was prepared to see them at all given how late it was and their behaviour
2. They should be bl**dy grateful it wasn't them who needed admitting to hospital they were there because they thought they had scabies according to what they were shouting
3. Banging on surgery door when you know GP is dealing with an emergency is completely beyond reason

They ranted and raged at me too trying to get me to complain and I point blank refused. I told it wasn't the receptionists fault or the doctors fault and that I didn't mind waiting because I'd rather have a GP who spent time with people and dealt with them properly then shoved them out in 5 minutes when they clearly needed help. he called me a sanctimonious busy body

DD (8) did not help when she said very loudly "mummy I think that man is very rude, I think we're lucky to live in a country were we can see a doctor and not worry about money"

Sorry epic post didn't realise how angry I was about it. Call it therapy!!

Don't know why the DD's comment is so unbelievable to some. My 8 year old niece would come out with a comment like that.

Chaos next time I have a patient with suspected appendicitis or someone suicidally depressed I will tell them to get out of my room after their 10 mins is up then.

Not chaos...giles

Ofc emergencies happen.

But the doctor was already running 30mins late, and it doesn't sound like the receptionists did much to manage the situation prior to the man kicking off.

Yanbu for thinking he was a complete asshat for being so rude, but perhaps he was sick and feeling at the end of his tether? I have been kept waiting for over an hour at the gp before and when you know you need treatment it feels borderline unbearable.

Perhaps in future you could teach your dd that compassion is as important as being a pious know-it-all "right"?

It is free to many people. I'm sure I read somewhere that you need to earn over £25,000 a year to pay back more into the pot than you take out.

Strike out fail :(

Not saying that an emergency would cause chaos.

I'm saying there are some things in some drs and the way their systems work that are chaotic because They have failed to account for things that happen regularly that could make things run more efficiently the rest of the time.

For example having two receptionists so that of one person is having a long conversation or registering there is till someone to check people in.

Or having a nurse who can dress a wound or whatever.

I work in Health Centres and I have lost count of the number of times there has been an Ambulance in the car park to Blue Light a patient away.
I hope that anyone in the waiting room would think "Poor Soul" and be grateful it wasn't them, rather than rant.

I did have to call Paramedics when someone collapsed in my surgery, and I had to put a "Running late due to Clinical Incident" (so no-one thought it was a Security Incident) note up.

Still didn't stop the arseyness but I couldn't say "Someone was taken to A&E " unless they saw the Paramedics, it's not the other patients business .

Yes, the bloke was an arse (but he's probably an arse in other situations too)

Depends. Do you also think it's ok if people turn up an hour late for their appointment? Or do you take the NHS line that this is evil incarnate and they should be fined/killed/struck off patient register regardless of reasons? If the latter, then it should work both ways. GPs time is not more valuable than anyone else's. If the man needed constant supervision while awaiting hospital admission, they should have had a nurse or HCA do that, or sat him in with the receptionist. Also I don't think anyone should be 'grateful' that they aren't seriously ill ffs- that is something one should be able to assume most of the time, and though it's sad when people can't, it's not anyone else's job to spend their whole life feeling guilty because someone else was iller than them once.

Yes because nurses and hca have nothing to do do they? Or yes just stick them in with the receptionist, because they are medically trained to deal with an emergancy

I don't take the NHS line that it is evil incarnate if people turn up an hour late for their appointment however I will only see them at the end of my clinic if I am able to. I find it the height of rudeness if patients turn up late without contacting the surgery or apologising. I despise running late, apologise when I do run late and try my best to run on time

Fudge face if the man needed constant supervision whilst waiting for admission it would be inappropriate for a HCA or nurse to supervise him so the doctor can carry on seeing patients. Sometimes patients need emergency drugs before the paramedics arrive (I'm thinking of the young bacterial meningitis I have to give an injection to before the blue lighters arrive. Or the young asthmatic toddler who needed back to back nebs whilst waiting for the paramedics).

Also I don't think anyone should be 'grateful' that they aren't seriously ill ffs

No it's not a competition but if you see someone going to their GP and be taken away by ambulance / be admitted from the GP directly, then you don't go up and rant.
And no-one has to feel guilty that someone is iller. But think " Hope they're ok" not "Why are they taking up more than their 10 minutes"

And IME (not IMO ) the patients who are admitted will usually be unwilling to go to hospital or not want to "cause any bother".

He was obviously BU.

But

Where I am, if you turn up 2 minutes late for a GP or dental appointment, they tell you it's been cancelled and you have to make a fresh one.

I am sure that few people would be upset if their appointment is late because of a blue light emergency tbh.

It is more annoying when you get seen half an hour late and you are the first px of the day as it has happened to me before.
I also know that at my surgery they do tell pxs when they arrive that appointments are running very late and they should expect 45 mins wait at least. I am pretty sure they have also tried to contact people when this happens to check if they want to reschedule the appointment. Some people do, some don't.
The impression of chaos ime comes when you are expected to wait, no one is telling you what happens and you are just left in limbos. Then if course there are 1- lots of people waiting, 2- a sense if urgency as the GP is sort if trying to 'make up for it' and 3- stress on the side of the pxs that might have other things to attend (school, other appointment etc). Put that altogether and it feels like chaos.

My dept (not a GP or Dentist but I'm NHS and have booked appointments) has a 10 minutes 'leeway' there are signs up that if someone is 10 minutes late (so half their appointment) they might not be seen.
Of course we have the "Well I;m always kept waiting" from the patients.
I will very very rarely refuse to see a latecomer (of course there will be times when I cannot)

But if I am a patient somewhere - I know where I live.
I know where I have to go.
I know if I have to factor in travelling/parking/buses/ finding the right place.
And I turn up 10+ minutes early.

I've not experienced the 2 minutes late but I'm sure some clinics do it.

And believe it or not I do realise that a drs time is limited and feel lucky I ft an appointment at all. BUT I would immensly appreciate a service available where I didn't have to tie up the drs time for something trivial. They system doesn't always give you the option to NOT "waste their time"

For instance, with dds inhalers I was told when I called that I had reached the limit that I had to see the dr again. So I dragged my perfectly healthy dd down the drs and have the dr look baffled as to why I was there and click his mouse. It could have all been done by a call back that the receptionist could have requested.

I also know that some GP who are chronically late (ie they are just late, not just your emergency type of scenario) they do have 10mins slots booked in in advance so they can 'catch up' and pxs don't have to wait too long.

And that's the thing. If your GP is never late, the day when he is 30 mins late you know something serious has happened. When they are constantly late, then you assume it's an issue with the organisation of the place, pxs taken for granted etc.

Today I had a call from the surgery 40 minutes before the appt I'd taken the day off work for to say it was cancelled as they had made an error and my GP was not actually working that day. They made me another appt midday, and despite turning up on time, I had to wait nearly an hour.

However.... It didn't really occur to me to be seriously annoyed. I figure mistakes happen, they apologised, I got seen eventually, all is well. Also the dr really took time with me, so if he's doing that with everyone, he's bound to run late sometimes.

I think it is only annoying when they treat you as though your time is unimportant. For example, several times my consultant's secretary has not bothered to check the surgeon's instructions properly and I have been made unnecessary appts despite querying it. That is irritating because it takes up a clinic slot someone else could use ad wastes my time, and she has been told.

But that type of incompetence which is what I think Giles is talking about, is far different to hardworking people running late.

The doctor shouldn't have been baffled. Patients on regular medication should have annual medication reviews. Patients with asthma or other chronic diseases should have annual reviews. It's about safety although may appear to be a waste of time.

Giles there are some good reasons why you would want to do regular checks before issuing a drug again.
To start with a child with asthma isn't 'completely healthy' they have a serious condition that could be life threatening. So it makes sense to see the child on a regular basis. What could be changed us the frequency depending in the severity if the asthma for example.

Well obviously his behaviour was unreasonable but I don't think it's an inevitable part of a receptionists job to put up with being shouted at. I work in a clinical environment and my employer wouldn't stand for their staff being shouted at and indeed backed me up after I asked a shouty client to leave the premises recently.

I have never ever been asked for her to come in for a check up. Never. The inhalers aren't frequently used. She only has the blue one.he said himself I needn't have been there.

Some really interesting and thought provoking responses here.

Astonished to hear about people being turned away for being 2 minutes late. Our surgery allows leeway of 15 minutes and after that does tell people to come back another time. Luckily they've got a carpark on site which does help although we're fortunate enough to live close enough to walk.

Or for instance the receptionists never used to explain that they were a dr down that day was it urgent or could I come another day. Again that could have saved many over run appointments and one or two drs having their time wasted on a very busy short staffed day.