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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:
Coconutspongexo · 06/08/2017 16:32

I don't think a costs record would be fair for people who are unable to work due to illness etc.

I probably cost the NHS a lot but it's through no fault of my own, I work but not full time as I'm a student also. I probably don't particularly pay my way with the NHS.

I do think fines should be introduced for no shows/time wasters.

NipInTheAir · 06/08/2017 16:38

It was a bit tongue in cheek dipping. Huge difference between people who are genuinely unwell and can't work and time wasters who piss resources up the wall because they've never had to fund anything for themselves.

The op can't be that skint come to think of it as she runs a car.

DoctorDonnaNoble · 06/08/2017 16:48

@NipInTheAir to be fair to OP. She doesn't run a car! She got the bus.

Littlefuckers · 06/08/2017 16:50

Op, just out of interest why do you have a mobile phone? Presumably you can't text on it either? That must cause a huge amount of frustration, not just for you, but for your friends and family. I could be projecting here though, as my DM won't learn to use a mobile, to either phone or text and it drives my nuts!

melj1213 · 06/08/2017 17:34

I don't think a costs record would be fair for people who are unable to work due to illness etc.

I think it would actually beneficial for some people to see just how much their care costs as some people act very entitled over their "free" healthcare as they never have to consider the true cost of their treatment. Not as a way to make them feel guilty but as a way to show just how much work is done in the NHS and why we should not complain if we have to wait for treatment/appointments.

So for every missed appointment and for every appointment you do attend you should get an itemised bill for everything that has been covered (tests/consultation/lab work etc) because I think some people would be shocked at how much even just a "routine blood test" truly costs and how much money is wasted every year on missed appointments and patients who come to the GP for every ache and pain that would be better treated with a trip to speak to a pharmacist in the nearest Boots.

lljkk · 06/08/2017 17:48

2 hours of babysitting & you could probably have the option to make some emergency phone calls. Small sacrifice and won't touch the £5 you want to keep handy in the bank account.

Coconutspongexo · 06/08/2017 17:51

Two of my local hospitals (one my mum works in) tell you the cost of appointments, bloods, diagnosis etc on your appointment lettter. I think this should be a nationwide policy it's eye opening!

I do wish a&e's could tell fine people for time wasting eg a patient going for excessive yawning, a patient going did to a paper cut

MsPassepartout · 06/08/2017 18:27

If I absolutely did need credit I would top up my phone when (if) the time comes. I'm not gonna do it in advance.

Have you considered that, in the event that you absolutely did need credit on your phone, that you might be without £5 in your purse at that time? Or, if you're topping up in shops, that you might be somewhere where you can't buy a top up at this time of need?

What would you do then? That's part of the reason people are suggesting you put an emergency £5 on your phone now. So that, in a crisis, you're not stuck because you're not near the right shops or only have £2 on you.

Original poster
10greenapples · 06/08/2017 18:27

Wow I said many times just cos I was stuck in traffic doesn't mean I was driving I never ONCE said I had a car, it was assumed!! I have clarified repeatedly I was on the bus!!

OP posts:
Original poster
10greenapples · 06/08/2017 18:28

And as I said I have a phone so I can use wifi!! That's my choice and irrelevant to the post!! Also people call ME which I have also stated

OP posts:
NipInTheAir · 06/08/2017 18:32

And you should have called the GP to apogise the second you got home. You are discourteous and entitled and I fully support your GP practice on this. If your dd had actually been ill you'd have had to call anyway because she'd have NEEDED another appointment.

Fresh8008 · 06/08/2017 18:39

I think the whole mobile phone thing is a red herring. Voicemail is not something a phone has or does not have. It is a network feature that you switch on or off, and the default position is on, so the op has chosen to switch it off. Some networks let you have a 'free' call even if you a zero balance. Also you can have a zero balance then 'top up', anytime you do need to make a call. And lastly if you have a zero balance and don't spend a penny for 3 months your account is shut down, as phone companies need to make a profit.

potatoscowls · 06/08/2017 18:39

If you ring up as soon as you can and tell them that it was beyond your control, there's a good chance they'll let it slide.
Not ringing at all is just plain bad manners.

Original poster
10greenapples · 06/08/2017 18:47

Oh ffs the phone was bought off eBay!!! I didn't turn it off so whoever had it before me must have talk about pick holes in everything

OP posts:
MsPassepartout · 06/08/2017 19:25

if you have a zero balance and don't spend a penny for 3 months your account is shut down

Really? I never knew that. I used to have a PAYG phone that I hardly ever used and that never got shut down, although thinking back, it usually had some credit on it.

MsPassepartout · 06/08/2017 19:27

Also I bought my PAYG phone new at a store and I'm pretty sure that bit about shutting the account down after 3 months wasn't mentioned. I guess that's a policy that could have started after I got my PAYG phone.

ButchyRestingFace · 06/08/2017 19:28

if you have a zero balance and don't spend a penny for 3 months your account is shut down

My mum died 4 months ago and her company hasn't shut down her account.

I called them Friday to enquire and account was still live.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 06/08/2017 19:29

"My mum brought up 6 kids in the 80s with no mobile phone"

And mine brought up two in the 60s and 70s, before seatbelts in cars existed, or became widespread - but I doubt you'd let your child travel in a car without the correct restraints, @10greenapples. And I am assuming you would have wanted the most up-to-date treatment for your child, had you seen the GP, rather than the treatment available in the 80s?

Technology advances, and it is NOT unreasonable to expect people to use the technology available to them to avoid costing the NHS time and money. You can't decide to live in the past just when it suits you.

ButchyRestingFace · 06/08/2017 19:29

Anywaaaaays, how's your other thread going, Apples?

Any better than this?

Original poster
10greenapples · 06/08/2017 19:32

Actually it's a year not 3 months lol. It happened to me once when I was a teen in school didn't have credit for a year so they disconnected me. I'm not saying I've never topped up in a year just that I rarely have credit.

OP posts:
Sosks · 06/08/2017 19:35

OP already accepted she was unreasonable. What's truly unreasonable are the people that can't quit attacking her endlessly...Hmm

livalot · 06/08/2017 20:00

It was my sister who suggested taking her to the pharmacy after when I explained I had missed the appointment

Hi 10greenapples

I would like to suggest that as soon as your sister suggested you should go to a pharmacy, you gave up bothering to go to your appointment, late or otherwise Let's be honest here, if your child was seriously ill, surely you would have moved heaven and earth to see a doctor! Even if you had arrived late, you would have done anything to get your child seen. I am sure the doctor's surgery would have helped you.

You obviously didn't think it was serious enough, so didn't bother going.

By the way, what did they give you in the pharmacy that resolved the situation and did you pay????

Moral of the story: don't bother going to the trouble of booking a doctor's appointment if you can ring your sister first for advice or go to a pharmacist first. Save yourself the hassle of trying to get to unnecessary appoinments on time. Trust your own judgement! Not all medical problems require a doctor's appointment

Original poster
10greenapples · 06/08/2017 20:16

I've already said what the issue was. Tbh I didn't know what was up with her eye hence why I called the drs who obviously thought she should be seen. I was obviously kicking myself when I missed the appointment but no apparently I was sat there on the bus smiling. ConfusedConfused

OP posts:
iMogster · 06/08/2017 20:17

livalot, she made gp appointment to get free prescription. She is broke and every penny counts. She had to pay for Piriton at the pharmacy. Obviously she doesn't want to go to pharmacy every time as the medicines would cost too much.

Coconutspongexo · 06/08/2017 20:29

Some pharmacists can prescribe though .. generally ones that look at minor ailments.