Appointment times ...

[LurkingHusband]

Popping out later today with MrsLH, for a hospital appointment.

When the letter arrived MrsLH put the appointment time that was at the top of the letter into our diaries. Generally we try to get there as close as possible. In this case it was 12:00

It was only yesterday, when I glanced at the letter that I caught the text below the appointment time saying that you had to get there "15 minutes before the appointment for some checks". so in our case, this is 11:45

AIBU to suggest that this means the actual appointment time should have been set to 11:45 reflect this ?

Be curious to find out how many Did Not Attends this particular department racks up, and if anyone has wondered why ....

YABU. I presume the checks are with someone other than the person who the appointment (at 12:00) is with.

If they'd said 11.45 and you turn up to find it's 'just' the checks, not the actual appointment, you'd have people complaining about that.

This isn't a take away flier, it's a hospital appointment and requires you to read the whole letter.

Well probably most patients read the whole letter. Then they realise that although the actual appointment is at 'x' time, they should turn up at 'y' time for the checks, and even better even earlier than that to deal with parking faff, finding the department, going to the loo etc etc.

They just want time to check blood pressure, weight etc. I can't imagine they would turn you away if you weren't 15 minutes early - it sounds like they just are trying to stay on top of things time wise.

My experience of hospitals recently would suggest you'll be lucky to be seen before 1pm regardless of your arrival time!

It would be more sensible to say your appointment begins at 11.45 though. If that's when they want you there then really that is when your appointment starts even if you won't be with the doctor immediately.

Why would you try to get there as close as possible? surely if anything goes wrong on the journey (traffic, accident, too many red lights) then you will be late? and that will basically stuff up everyone's appointments after yours??

We like to get to appointments early, at least 10-15 mins so we can make sure we get to the right place and not be stressed and rushing.

YABU....you should have read the whole letter.

You should be getting there 15 mins early anyway in case there are problems parking or you get held up in traffic.

Of course you're not being unreasonable. I have the same thing where I have to arrive 30 minutes early for tests - tests that are needed before I see the consultant or one of the team, as the appointment with the consultant is pointless without the results.

12.00 noon might be the time you're due to see the consultant, and it's good that this time is in the consultant's diary, but your appointment at the hospital starts 15 minutes before then.

YANBU

If I wrote the letter I'd include

Please register at X desk time
Pre check with Y time
Appointment with Dr Z time

DD had an appointment letter, which casually mentioned a few wordy paragraphs in, you had to arrive an hour early and go and have an xray before the appointment!

Bit baffled as to how the hospital is somehow being unreasonable for telling you what time you need to arrive. I don’t think it’s too much to expect patients to actually read the letter.

Maybe it's to stop people getting there as close as possible but timing it wrong/traffic etc and arriving late. I work in an appointment based job and it's incredibly frustrating have a late customer. And it often puts the whole day out.

sausagerollsrock - no, that isn't the case. You go for the tests first, before your allotted time with the consultant, so it's not about getting you there early.

ParadiseCity is quite right. The appointment cards should be clearer on how the timings will work. Yes, you can say that people should read through to the end, but the subsequent paragraphs contain a fair amount of information that's often not relevant to you (eg with regard to parking for me) and these details can very easily be overlooked. The appointment cards are computer generated. It's just a question of looking at the lay out and making these things more obvious than they currently are.

If they tell people to turn up 15 mins early that means most people will turn up on time because the 15 mins builds in any unexpected delays which people should account for but don't.

As the OP has explained, the appointment with the consultant is at 12.00 noon. The 15 mins early is to have tests done before the 12.00 noon appointment with the consultant, so it's absolutely nothing to do with unexpected delays. The actual hospital appointment is at 11.45 am. The OP's point, which I very much agree with, is that the appointment card should state 11.45 am and not 12.00 noon.

I had a similar issue with my optician. Specifically asked for a late appointment as I work some distance away, and was given a time of 16:30. Arranged with my manager that I could leave work at 15:30 (45 minutes earlier than usual), so I could catch a train at 15:40 and be at the optician with 5 or six minutes to spare.

The day before my appointment I received a text telling me to be there 15 minutes early for pre-tests. That would mean leaving work half an hour earlier, and I would not have accepted an appointment at that time.

In my experience

• the tests never take 15 minutes (more like 2)
• your actual appointment will not be on time

but I do agree the letter should be clearer