Was I U with dr receptionist

[Namechangemum100]

Genuinely interested to see if my response was unreasonable...

Called Dr to make appointment for Ds to have his 12 week immunisations. He had his 8 week set last week but was crying too much in the surgery for me to book the second appointment as there was a wait.

Called today to be told there was absolutely no appointments, and he would have to wait until he was 14 weeks for the next appointment.

I pointed out to the receptionist that as the schedule is set for 8-12-16 weeks, they should find a space for him as I know they offer appointments on the day if you call up, therefore find it very hard to believe there is absolutely nothing for him. She told me that it was fine for him to wait until 14 weeks as sometimes vaccinations are delayed when a child is I'll.

Aibu in thinking that

A) everyone and his mother tells us how important vaccinations are, and therefore delaying his by 2 weeks is not acceptable unless for health reasons

B) if the government set out a schedule of 8-12-16 week vaccinations, then appointments should be given as a priority to small babies

C) delaying for a non medical reason and leaving a baby exposed is not acceptable

D) surely there is a reason why they stagger them in 4 week intervals and therefore leaving it 6 weeks may affect effectiveness.

She did eventually manage to find me an appointment (as I knew she would, it's always the way with our surgery) but it has left me feeling very frustrated when we have the fear of God put into us about vaccinations and how important they are, yet I'm being flippantly told that my son can have his delayed without a medical reason.

I think you are worrying too much - as pp have said it's a minimum 4 weeks so an additional 2 weeks isn't a big deal.

I do think YABU about your comment about appointments prioritised for young babies though, especially healthy young babies! Why should your healthy baby get priority over an unwell person?

I kinda of agree with Miri

I've only got to page 3, but I'm really relieved to see so many being nice about medical admin staff.

It's a thankless task sometimes, and yes I know we attract some right martyrs and know- it- alls, but most of its are just trying to get the job done.

Unless they follow a different process, she will have double booked a slot, or taken a spot meant for emergencies ( you know, such as a baby who's sibling is very sick), and everyone will be ever so slightly inconvenienced because you needed the attention and didn't trust the receptionist. She wasn't lying about not having spaces. If there are emergency spaces we have to use our judgement about how to use them. Please ask for an appt with the practice manager so she can explain how it works. Not sure why you would assume someone is lying when you don't know how it works.

I did understand your timeline, but think you would've been well advised to listen to her about what was necessary. Most of us would not have pushed your appointment back unless we were very sure it wasn't a problem. We would either try to accommodate you, or check with a nurse or doctor.

Now I'll read the rest and find we are actually the devil's foot soldiers

@Gottokondo - this. Bang on. OP may not think she was rude, but if she mulishly dug her heels in, taking up valuable time and demanding an appointment she didn’t actually need - that’s rude, actually.

I am continually stunned at people's unreasonable demands on the NHS. I see it daily in my job in a hospital. My friend is a gp and regularly has mothers turning up at the end of surgery demanding she sees their dc. As they are dc she has to see them as if she turned them away and something happened it would be front page news but these are the same mums time and time again. Friend also has her own children and she hates that people who can't wait until the next day due to their expectations (not the dc in life threatening condition) can demand her time and dictate when she gets to see her own dc!

Go private if nhs isn't good enough!

Thinking about this over night. We’re told how vitally important they are and you are neglecting a child if you don’t. So no wonder people get a bit worked up at missing the ‘deadline’ there is no ‘it’s ok a few weeks after’

So I see your point. I can see why they don’t tell you it’s ok to delay them a bit. Does seem if you’re a new mum you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.

YANBU to want your baby to be vaccinated within the timescales recommended by the NHS within all guidelines, including national and local policIes. It isn't your baby's fault that the NHS is over stretched. Getting it Right for Every Child should mean exactly that.
It's all very well PPs talking about herd immunity and how two weeks doesn't matter, but you'd never forgive yourself if your baby caught a vaccine-preventable disease whilst waiting for a vaccine which was delayed for no individual-specific reason.

My friend took it to team lead / ombudsmen level when her DD's MMR was being delayed for 2 months due to lack of appointments available.

Our surgery has specific vaccination clinics which are organised when baby is born and appointment sent out to house with schedule for drop in clinic and form to sign.

So we go to drop in clinic that runs for two hours, sign a form (most injections are preloaded so no waiting about for things there) and we are clearly advised not to g8ve children anything before injections in case if allergy etc. (This is strictly monitored by trained reception staff and when asked again before injection is given and you have given something they tell you to come back next week and follow the rules).

Now our receptionists are fully trained and some are actually nurses who have left for valid reasons etc - don't think they don't know anything as some great advise I've had off them and immediate support when family have been ill etc.

FtM I totally get but don't panic about waiting extra time and imho if baby is screaming then most people will let you go first in a queue to help you out.

YANBU at all. All you did was refer to the NHS vaccination schedule and said vacations should be at 12 weeks. You were right not unreasonable. The fact that it probably doesn’t matter for a couple of weeks doesn’t make you unreasonable. Your description of the conversation sounds assertive but polite.

I also think were totally reasonable to call to make an appointment rather than wait with grouchy baby. It’s not like phoning is an unusual way to make an appt.

I’m not sure why you are getting a hard time here.

CPtart I am not embarrassing myself. In my country, the DOCTOR does all that at a normal consultation. And the information is all entered in a centralised computer. Are you calling me a liar? Do you want me to PM you proof or something? All of that is done by the GP. Within 2 minutes in total. So don't embarrass YOURself, ok?

Totally agree with glue. Similarly I was very over due my smear recently and needed 2 appointments - one with the GP for some thing unrelated and one with the nurse for a smear. I asked for them on the same day and it was impossible, even though I was happy to wait weeks or months for same day availability.

I work full time, an hour away from the GP so explained I couldn’t leave work 2 days for separate appointments right now, so id make the GP one and come back to the smear another time. I got a lecture from the receptionist about my health being at risk and how the smear was absolutely vital.

Well sorry, but if that’s the case you’re going to have to be a little more flexible to fit in with peoples lives. I’m sure the receptionist wouldn’t be able to take 1/2 days off at a time for various appointments, their employer would expect them to organise it efficiently too.

I'm pleased to see that a handful of people have understood my concerns over the 2 week wait. It's all well and good saying 2 weeks won't matter, but what if it did? What if my child became ill because I didn't fight for him? Yes it's unlikely, but that isn't the point.

If I had posted on here that I wanted to deliberately delay his vaccinations, people would be up in arms about the risk I was taking.

I stick by my decision to ensure my son has his vaccinations on schedule. I will however ensure that I book his 16 week injections before his appointment to avoid the same situation arising as suggested by a pp.

@Namechangemum100 , you are getting a bit of a rough ride on here, you say you weren't rude and you now recognize that ywbu.

As someone who has done 2 under 2 twice, in 6 years, I understand the headfuck of trying to balance everyone appointments and then schedules. But the world still cannot bend to you, you have to be on the ball and make the appointments in advance.

Yes vaccinations are important, no two weeks will not matter one bit, and don't even start on the 'what if's, you will literally drive yourself crazy.

I often sit down and work out what I need to arrange for the next six months, call and make everyone's appointments, write them on the calendar, put them in my phone and then breathe...

Typical AIBU.

90% of posters agreeing that yes indeed you were being unreasonable. OP repeatedly comes back to say that she thinks she was right.....

@cremebrulee... have you actually read my replies! I have agreed to being unreasonable multiple times... typical aibu where pp can't be arsed to rtft!

*Namechangemum100

You said:*

'I stick by my decision to ensure my son has his vaccinations on schedule. I will however ensure that I book his 16 week injections before his appointment to avoid the same situation arising as suggested by a pp.'

That's not recognising that you were being unreasonable (and rude).

Salem
In my country, the DOCTOR does all that at a normal consultation. And the information is all entered in a centralised computer. Are you calling me a liar? Do you want me to PM you proof or something? All of that is done by the GP. Within 2 minutes in total. So don't embarrass YOURself, ok?

You're in Australia, yes?

Well here in the UK we have practice nurses, who are specialist nurses. AFAIK GPs in Oz don't have practice nurses in the same way (or so my Oz family tell me). GPs here don't usually give immunisations - their time is far better spent doing things only a doctor can do. So us nurses give them. If the GPs I work with had a baby booked in for imms they wouldn't have much of a clue what to do and would come and find me!

If a doc is doing complicated baby imms in 2 minutes I would suggest s/he is not practising safely or competently.

It takes me approx 5 minutes to check and prepare the vaccines (between 2 and 4 vaccines depending on the age of the child, some of which need mixing). Then a minute or two to check the child's records. I then call the parent in, explain what's due, assess that the baby is well, explain side effects etc. Parent then has to partially undress the baby, I give the vaccines (remember between 2 and 4 - one of which may be oral).

Baby is then comforted, plasters applied if needed, Red Book filled in, computer records filled in (even with templates on our system I have to input batch numbers and expiry dates, so takes maybe 5 minutes). Info given to parent that has been printed off the system, and the parent advised when the next imms are due and advised to make the appointment ASAP.

If your GP can do all that in 2 minutes then s/he is The Flash

*What if my child became ill because I didn't fight for him? Yes it's unlikely, but that isn't the point.

If I had posted on here that I wanted to deliberately delay his vaccinations, people would be up in arms about the risk I was taking*

Exactly. I still don't think YWBU. I also don't think that phoning less than one full business day later is 'dropping the ball' and requires you to accept a two week delay

What do you want the receptionists to do, cancel someone else’s appointment so your son can have it

The system is broken, but that doesn't mean Namechange needs to just meekly accept that.

@cremebrulee...I acted on what I believed to be the best interests of my child who cannot do this for himself, so yes, I do stand by my decision, but as I have pointed out I have agreed on multiple occasions that my approach and misunderstanding of the vaccination schedule was unreasonable and i would have done things differently in hindsight

I don't think you were unreasonable OP .

I'm also surprised they bother with appointments for vaccinations at all. At our GP they run vaccination clinics and they book you in so they have the right vaccinations ready for your baby, but they are not 30 min appointments.

When they do the flu jabs in the autumn they take less than a minute on each person. I know baby vaccinations take longer, but you don't need a 30 minute appointment.

*salem but we're in the UK so how your health professionals proceed using your immunisation schedule (differs for each country) is irrelevant in the context of the OP's experience. If your doctors give one needle in two minutes then bully for them. Nothing to do with calling you a liar. It's not how it works here ffs

I can only dream of a thirty minute appointment for vaccines.

Where did the 30 minute appointment time come from?