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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Doctor's appointment

537 replies

10greenapples · 04/08/2017 12:03

I missed a drs appointment for my dd as I just wasn't going to make it on time. Anyway today I recieved a letter which says if one more appointment is missed she won't be allowed another one for 6 months! We can cancel an appointment but need to give an hours notice. So we will only be seen at the walk in if another is missed which is 8am-11am and a 2 hour wait. Aibu in thinking this seems pretty harsh?!

OP posts:
FlyingFox95 · 04/08/2017 16:43

Time to stop living in the dark ages

ilovesooty · 04/08/2017 16:44

I don't think many people had any kind of mobile phone in the 80s. You really are being silly now.

abigcupoffuckyou · 04/08/2017 16:45

No you didn't need credit. You had whatsapp and wifi, so why not use that to call?

AccrualIntentions · 04/08/2017 16:47

So ignoring the phone credit stuff (which I think is a handy excuse - you can make wifi calls now, lots of buses have wifi, there are wifi hotspots all over the place) then what's your excuse for not calling when you got home, other than being so devoid of manners you didn't know it was a thing?

Suck it up and accept the letter, it seems perfectly fair.

ClaudiaNaughton · 04/08/2017 16:48

No wonder drs get so fed up. My dr nephew is off to Australia in September.

PutItOnYourPancake · 04/08/2017 16:48

Haha oh OP... you're rudeness knows no bounds. No, we aren't ridiculous to suggest you have emergency credit. Do you see how there are many of us saying the same things and one of you? Nobody denies that you are struggling financially and that it is hard but budgeting to always keep an emergency £5 top up card in your wallet or always be disciplined enough to keep your balance at £5 is doable for anybody.

Coconutspongexo · 04/08/2017 16:49

There wasn't a crisis to the extent there is in the NHS now in the 80s btw

PutItOnYourPancake · 04/08/2017 16:49

*your, not you're... autocorrect Angry

MommaGee · 04/08/2017 16:50

have never once needed credit to make a call that wasn't to 999 or could wait till I got in! erm except for deciding not to bother taking your child to the Dr's.

OP do you work or claim benefits? What happens if you're late there and don't bother to let them know? You get sanctioned financially for benefits, some jobs cut your money, you might even lose your job if it happens repeatedly.

genuineidiot · 04/08/2017 16:50

I haven't read the whole thread, but...

YABU. I assume you've missed appts before then? Or just this one?

I was at my GP's today and there was actually a notice about the missing appointment thing.

Dentists actually charge you though, in my area at least, for missing them!

Original poster
10greenapples · 04/08/2017 16:53

How do I call the drs on whatsapp?? They don't come up on my whatsapp as they don't have it.

OP posts:
Original poster
10greenapples · 04/08/2017 16:54

How am I living in the dark ages I said I can't afford it? Wow you people are really nasty aren't you

OP posts:
ThePurpleOneWithTheNut · 04/08/2017 16:54

This shows the other side of why doctor's clinics can run late or why appointments are hard to get. Some people do not realise or consider the knock on effect of their actions. OP if you had called that appointment is unlikely to have been wasted. Such is the demand, that someone needing it would probably have been slotted in.

I'm heartened to see so many posters pointing out the op's poor attitude, which is by no means a rare occurrence from patients. But otoh, next time there's yet another gp thread hating receptionists and generally the lack of available appointments, no doubt this one will be long forgotten.

genuineidiot · 04/08/2017 16:55

You can't call someone through WhatsApp is they don't have it themselves.

MommaGee · 04/08/2017 16:55

And I haven't replied on you're other thread because I know nothing of Child Maintenance

PinkDaffodil2 · 04/08/2017 16:55

Just read the first two pages but sometimes even if a patient is running late I'd see if I could squeeze them in at the end of the surgery, especially for a child. Certainly I'd check what they had come in for - if anything serious I'd make seen - though you may have to wait around for a few hours till the surgery finishes.
Also it's really rude not to let the surgery know ASAP - even if that is after the event.

ilovesooty · 04/08/2017 16:58

How are people being nasty in pointing out that you should have contacted the surgery?

KC225 · 04/08/2017 16:59

I used to book appointments for a consultants (NHS). The person had to be referred by their GP. I would make the appointments in person by phone usually a month in advance and I would send them a confirmation letter. The week before, I would call them to remind, I would leave a message if I couldn't get hold of them. I'd there was no message, I would send out another message. Usually out of 10 appointments at least 2 to 3 didn't turn up. I had a waiting list for people who could make it on short notice. It was shocking. We.wer told each appointment with a specialist consultant cost 250 by the time e you factored in everything.

Running late is not good enough. You should have gone to the pharmacy first.

Floggingmolly · 04/08/2017 16:59

You could have whatsapp'd someone else and asked them to make a call for you. You must know somebody with a working phone?

Original poster
10greenapples · 04/08/2017 17:02

I don't know many people no. Definitely no one I could have asked. I think telling
Me to get out of the dark ages because I said I can't afford to top up my phone is rude.

OP posts:
123MothergotafleA · 04/08/2017 17:05

Sorry for your mother having to suffer abuse while attending to horrible nasty patients like the one you mentioned in your post here Dippingmytoes.
I have seen and heard of countless examples of outright abuse of NHS staff.
People like 10 green apples who feel entitled and lack basic human decency are just the tip of the iceberg.

lovemycatsanddog · 04/08/2017 17:05

Our local hospital has a rule now if you miss an appointment you are charged £50, this has only just come into force

WeAllHaveWings · 04/08/2017 17:05

the accident/reason for the delay, no credit on phone, needing to run errands, etc in the grand scheme of things all don't matter.

the only two points that do matter are misusing a doctors appointment instead of a pharmacy for a minor ailment, and thinking it is okay to not show up and not call, as soon as you could, to explain and apologise.

WeAllHaveWings · 04/08/2017 17:09

Our local hospital has a rule now if you miss an appointment you are charged £50

GP's should do this too. I don't go to the doctors often, and we usually get squeezed in after calling 111/going to pharmacy as its usually for something significant with ds, but the hundreds of missed appointments for the month that show on the screen is shocking.

PutItOnYourPancake · 04/08/2017 17:10

Fair enough if you can only call someone through Whatsapp if they are also a user but there are countless other apps youbcan download to call through wifi. Maybe check them out for future use if you are are against having emergency credit.