Over-running appointment

[whiteroseredrose]

Had a physio appointment at 8.30 this morning. The physio only works mornings so I book that time and then go straight to work and arrange a late shift.

So I arrived at 8.25 and waited. There is no receptionist but I could hear the physio talking in her treatment room.

At 8.40 I started to think I must have the wrong day and perhaps wasn't on the late shift at all. My memory can let me down now that I'm post-menopausal! At 8.43 I left and set off for work. Physio was still talking from behind the closed door.

A few minutes later I got a text from the physio to remind me of the appointment. I pulled over and phoned her back and explained what had happened. She said that she'd had to overrun with the previous patient. Unfortunately if I'd gone back I'd have then been late for work so I said that I'd have to reschedule which she wasn't happy about.

Was I BU to leave?

@CatchingBabies ante natal clinics and physio are very, very different.
physio: not life threatening, no massive urgency, arranged around commitments
ante natal: can be urgent, emergencies (and very unprofessional that they told younthat!)

@CatchingBabies that's a terrible and sad situation and nothing like what the op is talking about.

I agree physio and antenatal are very different it wasn’t a question to the OP it was a question to those saying they should pop their head round the corner to explain the delay etc. and comparing GP appointments where emergencies and delays also happen.

Wow - given that you work in an antenatal clinic so one assumes you have some considerable level of intelligence, I’m genuinely surprised that you can’t see how astonishingly different your example is to the case of the OP attending a private physio clinic.

@CatchingBabies just realised you work there. you must have had a horrific day today which explains your answer, but still, physio and antenatal - nothing in common (and yes, I know how it feels if there is no heartbeat! i slso know how physio feels)

@Yura it can be. My physio spotted an emergency and overran because she was sorting it out via the GP/hospital etc and sending me for an urgent MRI scan

Er .... I think people can tell the difference @CatchingBabies

13 minutes is no time to wait if you have no where else to be.

But it's an eternity when you have to be somewhere, especially work, after your appointment! That's why you book a certain time.

YANBU at all and I'm glad you had an apology.

I think 13 minutes isn't long enough to wait to assume you'd got the time wrong. If I overran I would absolutely not mind if someone wanted to rebook for another day however I would expect them to let me know. If someone just didn't turn up effectively I would think they just hadn't turned up.

May be someone had injured themselves or had an asthma attack or something that required a little longer, it works both ways because if the physio was running over with you you wouldn't want them to just cut it short.

I've overran because someone has fainted, someones dad had died so they were upset, someone had a panic attack, someone had a potential cancer. There's lots of reasons why someone might run late, and if it were you who had one of the above you would absolutely want me to run late.

@CatchingBabies complete projection and false comparison.

If private YANBU. Glad it is getting sorted

For the second time I am not comparing antenatal and physio. Several posters commented on GP’s appointments and why should they wait etc. stating they would want an explanation. I am showing this is not always possible. I have not once compared a physio appointment.

I would have texted her and asked how long.

I can’t see that one person has said they’d expect an explanation for a GP running late - we all accept the NHS can’t seem to run on time and we just have to suck it up - apparently even if you are the very first appointment of the day.

You didn’t look very hard.

Also remember that the first appointment of the day is usually AFTER the morning ward round or dealing with any urgent messages / phone calls. There not just turning up late to work and sitting around having coffee are they!

The "explanation " needn't be any more than "I'm sorry the hcp is running late".

Again a private sector physio appointment is NOT NHS antenatal or Gp.

That first paragraph you circled is not talking about the NHS, they’re talking about the OP and her situation.

The second paragraph - As I said, and I’ll reiterate, we all accept that the NHS and their time management in general is poor, appointments are booked with no consideration for wasting the time of the patient, and we just have to like it or lump it because how very dare we expect something like the basic courtesy of an apology - never mind an explanation.

You clearly had a shit day and have taken this thread personally, and can’t see that your example, or work, has nothing to do with a private physio appointment running late.

We need to stop accepting that the NHS is "just a bit shit"
We pay for it.
It needs massive overhaul
No government has the balls to do it though.

Probably would have been best to knock on and tell her you were leaving at least. You need to give yourself more time to get to work after an appointment as they can often overrun.

YANBU. If you had to get to work, you had to get to work. It’s not your fault there was no receptionist. I think I’d have texted to let physio know I was leaving and needed to rebook.

It’s not like a GP appt at all - but even then, if for some reason it had to be booked without lots of extra time allowed for them to be late, I’d just apologise to the receptionist and leave.