5 mins late for medical appointment and reaction of HCP

[BooeyBubbleHead]

I am 34 weeks pregnant. Due to an unforeseen traffic diversion followed by a slow moving farm vehicle on a winding road, I arrived 5 minutes late for a medical appointment today. I had left enough time to have been 10 mins early, should it have been a standard journey. I think being on time is important and I would never intend to keep anyone waiting. I was unable to phone ahead as I was driving and do not have hands free, and safe places to stop are few on this route.

This is a very regular appointment and I have never been seen on time - I have always had to wait at least 10 mins after appt time, and sometimes up to 30 minutes. I accept and understand having to wait and have never made it an issue or taken it out on staff; the sheer volume of patients mean that it is inevitable and nobody's fault.

Today, HCP was incredibly offhand with me, and even implied that I was lying when I apologised (sincerely) and explained why I was late. The appointment was rushed and very unpleasant and I felt that I was being punished. There was much passive aggression and hostile body language. I did state that I was offended by her tone but this just made her more argumentative - she needed to have the last word. I arrived feeling stressed and left feeling even more so.

AIBU to expect the same empathy and understanding when running very slightly late, that I give regularly when kept waiting?

Really annoyed and considering making a complaint...

Sometimes there is no way of avoiding being late - traffic hold-ups etc. - and staff should understand that, especially as you took the trouble to apologise. There is no excuse for rude and offhand behaviour on the part of a health care professional.

The problem of course is that some people attending clinics are themselves rude and offhand and staff bear the brunt of a lot of unacceptable behaviour.

londonrach - your working conditions sound wholly unacceptable and if you really are unable to go to the toilet (presumably you wet yourself) or eat lunch then you should be talking to your union. Patients will sometimes be late due to unavoidable circumstances.

Blueblueskies you can't be that ill if you won't wait, so why bother taking up appointments at all?

No I was not ill, but I still needed to see the doctor and had to make 3 appointments till I got seen. I was then referred to hospital for an Xray. At the hospital I was seen within 5 mins of arriving.

I understand that doctors do run late, but I hate waiting so leave after 20 mins. My surgery complains about patients that do not show up for appointments, surely they would be running even later if everyone did show up.

There is no excuse for rudeness.

But this is commonplace IMO and IME. I once was a few minutes late (under 5) for a 20 week scan because my (prebooked) taxi turned up 30 mins late. I rang to let them know I was running late and why and was subjected to The Attitude . When I got there it turned out they had been running late all day and I had to wait for 20 mins. I suppose I gave the person manning the clinic reception the opportunity to vent and have a power trip.

The HCP should remember they are there to serve you and be polite.

In private practice people are sometimes late - you just suck it up and are nice to them anyway. If they are really late you politely explain they will have to reschedule.

Just because it's the NHS and you aren't directly paying them, they are still there to provide you with a service, which they should do with good grace. Slightly rushed apt - fair enough. Rudeness - not ok.

I am frequently seen late by my GP. But as I've been the reason for her running late when she takes that extra time to give me proper care I don't mind. What was very frustrating though was having the first appointment of the day at the hospital anti natal clinic (8.30) and not being seen till 9.30. No explanation. No apology. No receptionist saying 'doc is dealing with an emergency so clinic will run late'. Bloody annoying as it seemed like they had just got to the hospital when they saw me. They then had the cheek to mention that they were surprised I was down as having low blood pressure when it was normal. It was only normal (which is high for me) because I was stressed about a meeting I was now going to miss.

Whatever though, there is no excuse for rudeness as life happens no matter what plans you put in place.

This is very poor. Either she re-arranges, or she tells you that due to you being late, she can only continue for 25 mins, rather then 30, so lateness does not continue to future appointments.
I have waited 2.5 hours in clinics before.

BlueBlueSkies so you leave instead of seeing a doc because you hate waiting? Taking a spot when someone could have seen the doc?
If they only have 10 min slots then people may need longer? I don't think docs actually want to run late

Hang on a minute Kali. If there are notices all over GP surgeries saying Drs won't see late patients the sentiment works both ways.

I recall being late once having given myself 10 minutes leeway for a 5 minute drive. Narrow London Roads - there was a scaffolding lorry ahead of me and by the time I reversed an Ocado van double parked behind me. Nothing I could do.

6.32 for a 6.30 apt. Apologised, barked at by receptionist that it was up to the Dr if I was seen. The patient in front of me was called in at 6.40. The Attitude is totally unacceptable.

Would love one of the GPs to hop on and explain why they expect the scummy patients to respect them and their time when there is little or no reciprocity. Never happens in a private medical setting.

It gets a little wearing to hear all the things that can happen in a doctor's day to make them run late in the same breath as berating patients for allowing themselves to be a few minutes late, ever. Either some HCPs genuinely believe patients do not have lives of their own with factors outside their control and gasp other people relying on them, or they are guilty of quite breathtaking hypocrisy.

Maybe because i can understand how they can Run late if they only have 10 min apps. i myself have been in for longer than 10 minutes and i have also been kept waiting when one child was taken to hospital, which def made a huge wait to everyone.
i think it's completely different when it's a patient who is late. This pushes people's appointments back even further.
I know the doctors at mine have frequently gone through their lunch and have stayed past their opening hours to see patients rather than hurried their patients.
I've said the doctor should not have been rude, but too go on about how they are so awful to make patients wait, don't think they would on purpose.

Maybe because i can understand how they can Run late if they only have 10 min apps. i myself have been in for longer than 10 minutes and i have also been kept waiting when one child was taken to hospital, which def made a huge wait to everyone.

I can completely understand these, too, as I've said repeatedly. But a little understanding of why patients may sometimes be late themselves (though there are also undoubtedly some who are just inconsiderate) would go a long way. Can you honestly not think of any reasons a patient may be late through no fault of their own and despite all their best efforts?

Last week our last patient in clinic was over a hour late. She didn't want to be late, but there was a major accident on the motorway.

Doctors where still there dictating letters. I was still in clinic tidying up. Of course she got seen, and with no attitude.

Sometimes people run late, but clinics run late too. There was no need for rudeness if a patient is late.

This happened to me at my dentist a few years ago. Had a mid-afternoon appointment, so set off from work to drive 16 miles to the surgery. Usual time for the journey at that time of day would be 30-35 minutes. I allowed an hour just in case, as I hate being late.

There was a humungous accident on the motorway and it was completely shut. Fortunately I'd had the radio on and heard a traffic bulletin, so didn't get trapped on the slip road. What did happen though was that every single alternative route was jam-packed because the motorway was shut. I rang the surgery to tell them what had happened - still ahead of my appointment time - and that I would try my best to get there, but to warn them I may not be able to reach them in time.

It took me another 2 hours to get to my village. I went into the surgery and spoke to reception, apologised again and referenced the calls I'd made earlier. Explained that I realised I was way behind my appointment time and could I re-book again. I got a really patronising lecture from the head receptionist, about checking traffic conditions before setting off. Through gritted teeth I asked her if she routinely checked Google maps before driving home from the surgery, reminded her that I'd rung ahead of my appointment time to let them know and pointed out that the accident had happened an hour before I'd set off, so the outcome wouldn't have been any different.

Sometimes life gets in the way. If someone is usually on time, had a good explanation and is apologetic and polite with it, then what more do you expect them to do?

It is hugely arrogant for hcp and their representatives to say that they can run late because they are doing such important work, but to completely disregard the fact that other people are also doing important work or have important demands on their time which may occasionally cause them to run late.
Hcp are very quick to complain about the aggression they face at work from some patients and of course no one should feel threatened at work but if you speak to already stressed people like shit then that is going to bite you on the arse.

Well, I used to run an NHS clinic, and I would always see people who were a minute or so late (or more) because tbh rebooking them was an arse and actually a lot of them had stressful lives that didn't need making worse.

In 5 years I can think of maybe 2 women I made rebook because they had no regard for turning up on time. Basically if you turned up for me late but apologetic I'd see you but if you just rolled your eyes and shrugged and were rude I wouldn't see you 😂

I didn't run late either, as a rule. Which meant that everyone came to know if I was running late it was for a good reason. And people didn't complain. And I'd like to think that it was because people learnt I was reasonable, but in the main people would turn up on time. Even the people with 'chaotic home lives'.

Whereas I knew a midwife who was always an hour late and the women had no respect for her clinic because they were always late, and it was so frustrating.

I see no reason for receptionists or HCPs to be rude. There's absolutely no need for rudeness.

I can completely understand why a patient can be late ( say for a third time this doctor should not have been rude even if she was annoyed) however i don't agree with 'if they can be late why not the patients' when a lot of the time it's because the slots they have are so short.
I've moved a few times in last few years and i've yet to go to a doctors where their slots were longer than 10 minutes. Some patients only need that, or less but that doesn't seem to be the norm.

I'm glad you complained, OP, feedback from patients is one of the few things that makes change in the NHS.

Where I work, and I would imagine it's the same in other places, your list is designed to take into account the average DNA rate. If your clinic's rate is say 20% you will have a similar rate of overbooking. It generally means that the work get done with the resources allocated ( time and manpower) but it makes keeping to appointment times a hairy nightmare.

You're being totally unreasonable. You've said you love a distance away so firstly leave more time, yes we all plan to get to the doctors early (personally I give it at least 20 mins and I only live around the corner. But you left no contingency. Also they probably had 20-30 people On their list that day. When it gets to 530 and their children need picking up from nursery etc what do you think happens if they're running late!? They don't just tell the last few patients to go home - they see them!! So they leave late - because even if they're running 30-60 minutes late, patients don't just disappear they still need seeing. So effectively youre saying 'I can be late if you're so late' whereas in actual fact they might be late due to either sick patients, or their own problems at home. Either way you should bloodynwell get there on time and be grateful you get free, decent healthcare and your baby is being looked after. Also, if she had to rush, there are things she might have missed which with that extra five minutes she may have seen and prevented ..... them I'm sure you'd be blaming her that she was crap or didn't do her job properly
Medical staff work long hard hours - just give a bit of respect and get there way before your appointment and don't make crappy excuses - leave more time next time

Oh and I did see your comment that you're always 10 mins early and you've done the same
Appointment many times ...... BUT 10 mins early for a medical appointment is insufficient - it's your fault you were late - yours! Nobody else's - not the traffic, you didn't leave enough time.
I also saw that you complained - what exactly are you expecting!? I can guarantee that anybody reading your letter or email will no doubt write to apologise but in actual fact, any medical staff there will deep down be shouting 'get to your f'ing appointment on time!!' You're the one who needs their care, they make time for you --- you need to learn a bit of respect for other professions and not assume 10 minutes for waiting and contingency is ok for a hospital appointment ... it isn't!
Maybe your clinic may start telling ALL patients to arrive at the start of clinic soon, to be seen as and when possible ... to stop this ridiculous sense of entitlement about being late

YANBU - 5 minutes late is understandable. They should build in some slack to their schedule so people don't have to miss out on lunch. I have often been made to wait for over an hour for an appointment with no apology.

I have been in a similar situation and pointed out that it's very unusual to actually been on time as they are normally running at least 20min late!

Congratulations and good luck with the baby

I work in dentistry. It's very frustrating when people come late however if people apologise and there's a good reason like traffic then that's fine It can't be helped
We have no turn around time inbetween patients tho so if the first one is late that's us late for the rest of the session
It shouldn't impact on how professional we are tho

Wow flumpybear calm down and stop frothing.

Sometimes shit happens.

And as for 'building in slack to the schedule'. We can only dream
That's dead time that the boss isn't making money - never going to happen