to think a hospital clinic shouldn't run this late

[GalaxyInMyPants]

Over two hours late. My appt was half eleven but theres a poor woman sat here who's appt was ten o'clock. Loads to be seen before me.

nowhere to get food. Not even a water fountain.

last time I came there was a three hour delay.

I do love the nhs but this is seriously rubbish m

Well if its like the time slots the docs have they only have 10 minutes. If every patient runs over then theres going to be a wait. How can they really sort someone out in that short time?
Id rather wait and still get it free!

Longer waiting times only help with resource-allocation if they reduce the actual amount of work that needs to be done, because people die while they're waiting, or go private, or decide not to bother with treatment because of the inconvenience. If none of those are acceptable alternatives, then longer waiting times don't have any benefit, they just piss people off while delivering the same amount of care that could have been delivered with less waiting.

Agree with newname. There are many reasons.
Everyone is quick to slate the NHS but would moan even more if they had to pay privately.
I am 'only admin' but have been here for 12 years dealing with cancer targets, making sure we get a diagnosis and a treatment within so long. Tracking each of the 243 patients I have today on my list so that I have a step by step plan of their journey with us. It is tiring and if we have to move people around on our waiting lists for operations due to capacity/demand and clinical priority it is us, not the consultants, that get the short end of the stick on the phone.

Outpatients:
We have a breast clinic. It can be a four hour wait.
Check in, triage, weight & height. See Dr, send for CXR/mammo.
Come back, see dr. Have FNA biopsy, wait for results to be processed in the lab.

They aren't just sat there watching you sit uncomfortably, being irritated and bored, laughing at you though the crack in the door!

I feel quite lucky, I have an appointment every 3 months and have never gone in more than 45mins late, and I see the same consultant every single time.

Sorry for your long wait OP.

My postnatal obstetrics clinic was the worst, we were all given the same time and then just had to sit and wait (with not enough seats) praying your notes were at the top of the pile. We all had 6 week olds FFS. A nurse told a mum off for sitting on the floor, she looked exhausted.

It's a really old fashioned way to run clinics and not patient centered.

Can I ask is it a surgeon you are seeing, I always think surgical clinics aren't as well organised as medical?

It's rubbish when you have to wait but so many unexpected things can happen.

My nan has various appointments and I have to say the wait is generally not too bad and the staff very caring and attentive.

Sometimes though the wait is longer because something happens that mean the doctor needs more time with a patient e.g. my nan is elderly and sometimes needs things explaining more than once. She's also very slow on her feet/taking her cardigan off which all adds up.

It's hard bit we are lucky really.

But if it's every time then they need to make the appts longer

Fine, but assuming the same number of doctors they see less patient per clinic so you wait longer for your appointment.

Me and DS2 who has Downs had to wait for over two hours in a clinic once, in the end he was seen by a consultant nurse as it was fairly routine and it meant we could go home.

I once had an appointment at 9 am (hospital). I sat with another lady whose appointment was at 8.45. We sat outside the department, which was locked up. The doors opened at 8.45. And there you have it: the entire morning at least running late. What they should have done is opened the doors at 8.40, so that the 8.45 could at least sit down in the department and be "on time". This isn't about resource allocation, this is about common sense. I've had this at the GP too. An appointment at 8. I arrive a few minutes before (the surgery actually open at 7 for pre-booked appointments). The staff member with whom my appointment is scheduled arrives at 8. By the time that person is ready for the day, got my file etc., it's 8.10, and again, the entire schedule is late.

there has to be a reason why clinics run 2/3 hours late i used to go to BCH they were always about 30/40 minutes behind we expected this and packed food etc accordingly but one day they were running four hours behind thats a ridiculous time one lady was in tears she had waited over 6 months for an appointment and had to leave to go to work without her child seeing a doctor

its not really good enough is it

my friends facebook today her appointment for an MRI was 8.30 am clinic didn't start till 9am i mean why? they were just sat there for thirty minutes doing nothing (actually longer as she is early bird)

I´m curious! What do people who are not happy about waiting times and over running clinics think the NHS should do?

You know if you were in charge how would you change it and why?

newname start the clinic at the time of the first appointment. If an appointment is at 8.45, give people the means to be on time. Not open the department at 8.45! Like if you're in a shop that opens at 9, staff will be in prior to that time to ensure the shop opens at 9.

We open our clinic at 8am and first appt is usually at 8.30am.

What other suggestions have you got?

I manage the admin for a surgical clinic. We see patients from a very large catchment area. We run a one-stop session. They see a surgeon, a CNS and then have a pre op assessment. Our surgical clinics are very well organised (even if I do say so myself) and cut three seperate appointments into on (very long) visit. They don't complain about the 4-5 hours from start to finish, rather than waste days/travel time as they often come from 80-100 miles away - we cover from Devon to Gloucester.

I once had the first appointment at a clinic, I was the first patent to arrive, informed the desk and sat and waited, for 2 1/2 hours. Turns out the Doctor had simply not called me.
At my GP's I was left waiting 15 min whilst the GP went and got himself a cup of tea I saw him walking up the stairs and had to wait for him to come back down, he saw me for 30 seconds, I was 38 weeks pregnant. That was the same GP who insisted I came in to see him first thing in the morning to get my blood results, I couldn't wait 2 days for the appointment I'd already made for the results. I was worried sick and had a 3 hour wait to see him and was 4 hours late to work for that. Turns out my cholesterol was a tiny bit high.
And I have already paid for this with my taxes, why should I pay twice for this incompetence. Most of the time it's down to poor management, if every clinic is running late then there will be a simple solution. But as it's the receptionist who gets the grief from the patients not the manager sat in their office nothing will change, the money will keep rolling in regardless of customer satisfaction.

dino that's clearly how it should work, but doesn't at our local hospital. I've seen this in more than one department, too.

I had an appt at an obstetric clinic a few years ago (high-risk pregnancy, had regular appointments with the foetal medicine consultants). The clinical ran terribly late. However, one of the things that made it more bearable was that there was a whiteboard at the front of the waiting area. Written on it was the information that 3 out of 4 of the clinic doctors had been called to emergency surgeries that morning; consequently the clinic would run X hours late. Everybody knew of the delay, could accept it even if they didn't like it and, importantly, knew they had a bit of time to nip out and get something to eat and drink and not miss their appt. Communication is the key!

I had day surgery and was told to come in for midday. It was all very laid back, DH asked to wait outside the female only ward but given a coffee and told I was first on the list. No emergencies, planned surgery only. I was wheeled into theatre at 7.30pm. There were only 3 other people waiting and nobody would tell us wtf was going on. I understand that surgeons have commitments, emergencies affect things but nobody would tell us what was happening or why.

My Mum had surgery for cancer a couple of years ago and was told to come to the same surgery unit but on the 7am list. No emergencies again, planned surgery only. She was taken for surgery at 10pm and was in a total and utter, frightened, dehydrated state. 15 hours. It made a very difficult time much, much worse.

I felt like this when I last took my DS to see the doctor. We were waiting over an hour to see him. When we got into his room, he apologised profusely and then proceeded to listen very carefully to what both of us had to say about why we had come to see him, and then took the time to explain what he thought the issue was, and to ensure we understood his advice regarding what to do about it. For care and attention like that, which we received for no extra cost, I would be willing to wait much longer than an hour.

Most of the doctors who have been running on time are pleasant, but quite obviously in a hurry to diagnose & prescribe as quickly as possible.

My husband has a four weekly appointment at a cancer clinic and we were seen two hours after our appointment so, while we were waiting, I politely asked if the nurse could just check that he had not been overlooked. She was very apologetic and explained that they were a consultant down. I told her not to worry and it was no way meant as a criticism and that I'm just grateful to have a service that looks after my husband so well. When we were seen by the consultant she noted that we had phoned to report a 'new' symptom and talked us through it, explained that she was concerned and would seek an emergency MRI. Asked numerous questions and talked my husband through the next possible steps of treatment. She never made us feel rushed and treated us with great dignity. Our short, routine appointment ran for quite some time and, as a result, this would have affected the next patient.

My point is, this is a very specialist clinic, with extremely ill patients and although people were tired and may have discussed with each other the fact that they were late being seen, not one person complained or became angry about the wait as most of them will understand that things may have cropped up during other people's appointments.

No it's not nice being kept waiting and I do feel for you OP but does anyone really think the staff are happy with it? They must take a lot of crap from patients when times run over and I feel just as sorry for them as the patients in these circumstances.

I love the comparison with. Vets clinic.
Ffs!

The waiting is awful though. You have my sympathies OP.

for every antenatal appointment i had to take a full day off work (i couldnt afford the cab to hospital by the time the birth came thanks to all the missed days)

if i was really lucky i would get a 9am slot then i may be out for 11am (the receptionists did try for me, bless em)

standard clinic was appointment booked for around 10 and would leave around 3/4 starving and exhausted, noone relaying info and you darent nip off for a drink as occasionally you coukd be in and out in 15 mins!

Last time I went to my local breast clinic they were running two hours late but I didn't mind because they advised patients of this as soon as they arrived, meaning I could go and wander around the shops and go back a bit later.

No I do appreciate the front line staff are doing their best. But seeing as this clinic according, to other waiters is always like this it makes you think there's something wrong with the system.

The Dr's aren't covering anything else. The clinic is a mile from the hospital and nothing else in the building.

When I got seen the Dr said it was computer issues causing problems.

After we finally got sick of the crap service and went private (to see the same consultant) we realised that it was quite often the private work that made the consultant run so late for his NHS appointments.

And when we did see this same consultant, the help, support, advice and time we got was far superior to what he was able to offer us on the NHS.