NHS piss takers. Selfish, self absorbed people

[ThornsWithin]

Without going into specifics, I work in a clinic and see people by appointment. They have an allocated time slot ranging from 10 minutes to 40 minutes depending on what I’m seeing them for. Since I started this job I’ve become amazed and frustrated with how many people think it’s fine to stroll in late. Sometimes upto 30 minutes late and still expect to be seen. Once they’re 10 minutes late we can mark them as non attenders but half the time, they stroll in after that time and get at the receptionists about how they “must” be seen - the receptionists then come to us panicking and we end up seeing them to keep the peace. These people don’t give a shit that their behaviour puts the clinic way behind, makes other people’s waiting times much longer, causes staff to be off late ... and half the time they don’t even have an excuse for being late! We get “sorry, I forgot” or “sorry, I got talking in the shop” or even “sorry, I didn’t want to get up this morning! Hehe”

It’s a joke. What makes it even worse is when they stroll in late, check in and then bugger off to go to toilet or get a drink! You’re already 20 minutes late ffs! At least get a shift on once you’re here!!

AIBU to literally refuse to see people once their 10 minutes late thing is up? It would make me unpopular with both patients and staff but I’m sick of the piss taking. I’m sick of getting home late because people can’t be arsed to turn up on time.

I wouldn’t dream of strolling into an appointment 10 minutes late, why do people think this is ok??

Or should I be more tolerant?

Btw the clinic is not mental health related or urgent care.

Do you let patients know when you’re running late though? I’ve been kept waiting over an hour by NHS people (very little choice privately where I am so occasionally I just give in and use NHS). It works both ways.

They should turn up on time but NHS keeps people waiting for ages sometimes. Cuts both ways?

No it doesn't, and this ironically is one of the reason why late arrivals should be turned away.

I'm going to play devil's advocate and say that doctors, dentists, etc, should also run on time, should keep waiting patients updated on unavoidable delays & apologise when it happens. So many times my dentist has walked in half an hour late to start the day, same when I was pregnant & got 8am appointments and the obstetrician would arrive late, then have a long chat with other staff while fuming patients sat in the waiting room.

But obvs I understand how annoying and wasteful it is when people don't turn up at all or think that it doesn't matter if they're half an hour late. Most hospitals are plastered with posters saying how many millions have been lost in the last year through missed appointments. I think this is also mentioned on appointment letters at my local hospital, and they do automated phone calls to remind you of appointments and ask if you want to cancel. If people can have all those reminders and still do a no show or be late with no reason, then maybe there should be some kind of penalty. But I also think there should be a lot more politeness, apologising and accommodating people when delays are unavoidable - on both sides.

Do you let patients know when you’re running late though? I’ve been kept waiting over an hour by NHS people (very little choice privately where I am so occasionally I just give in and use NHS). It works both ways.

I went with my OH to see a specialist last year. Appt time 10am. At 11am, we asked reception if he was running late,to be told "shouldn't be long now". At 12, we asked again, same answer. All the while, the waiting room is getting busier and people are starting to have to stand to wait. At 1, same response from receptionist again. OH is diabetic so by now was worried about eating something. At 2, asked reception again, to be told the same. Finally got called through at nearly 3pm, a whopping 5 hours after the appointment time. By that time, OH was feeling faint because he'd only eaten a couple of biscuits we'd brought. If they're going to be so late, they should be telling patients the truth and not fobbing them off.

Lateness is so rude. Ask them why their time is so much more important than yours.

@fuma
The actual cost will be the destruction of the NHS. Overworking staff, treating them like they are skivvies, disrespecting their time and expertise - which is what lateness communicates - destroys morale and then rationale.

OP I have some sympathy however in the last two months:

(1) attended clinic, well on time, only to be told it had been cancelled but they hadn't bothered contacting anybody (they had address and telephone) to tell us

(2) attended re-scheduled clinic on time, consultant started 45 minutes late and was running 2 hours late by the time he saw us, would have been longer but we explained one of us had to get home for child returning from school

So it works both ways. We'll make efforts to arrive on time, if the NHS holds those clinics on time.

I worked in clinics (nhs) for years. This happens all the time.

One thing used to drive me mad. They would roster you for a clinic with your shift starting at 9am and the first patient booked in at 8.30am. I used to start at 8.15am and work 45 mins unpaid. To do otherwise would have been unfair on the patient.

Management told me I had a time management problem.

You're nbu op. I hate being late for anything, I always try and be early. Including my Dr's appointment last week I had booked 3 weeks in advance, turned up to be told it had been cancelled. Didn't get any notification at all. Now waiting til tomorrow to be seen, which meant taking more time off work.

I don't think I've ever been seen on time for any NHS appointment. I think you need to start implementing a much stricter policy, and the patients need to understand how important it is to be on time.

MrsCasares, why would they book a patient in at 8.30 if staff don’t start till 9am? Is it because they assume patients are often late?

Curly - no. I think it was more likely ineptitude.

Can I ask, for things like GP appointments, which have 10 min slots, if one patient is nearly 15 mins late because of unforeseen circumstances but the patient booked after is already there because they’re 15 mins early, surely you can just swap the patients round, and everything is back on track? I don’t agree with automatically rebooking an appointment if they are late if the clinic can be kept flowing another way.

Ds has been responsible for a consultant being over an hour late to clinic. He was critically ill and so the respiratory consultant was called over to the ward to save his life. It took an hour and a half to stabilise him enough that him (and the two other drs attending) could leave.

@BoneyBackJefferson That’s great your GP has changed for the better. My experience has been that wait times (either waiting lists or people waiting in clinics) are a huge concern for most services - it’s one of the biggest improvements services wish to make. However, as pp examples have shown there is still a lot of work to be done. Perhaps your GP surgery should share their good practice so others can follow their example!

I have had to see the nurse at our surgery every day (not weekends) for over a year. I've only been late on two occasions 9waking up unwell on day of appt) - both times I phoned in s no one was waiting around for me (on one occasion the receptionist didn't pass on my message and the nurse actually phoned to see if i was OK because it was unlike me not to be there on time)
If people are very late they don't get seen unless there is a very good reason/they phone in and let staff know. Be extremely late/ don't turn up more than twice and they won't see you at all any more.
If the nurses call out a name and no one resonds, the next person is called out and if they aren't there - the next etc. so slots are not wasted.
It seems to work OK - in retunr the nurses always let patients know if they are running late (they quite often have to fit in an ECG or get aa doctor to assess a patient). I always take a book to read.

The hospital on the other hand is regularly late, there is never an explanation, or an estimate of how long the wait will be (and sometimes it is hours so you could have gone off for a cup of coffee). I once had to wait until 3.30 for an 11 am appt at the hospital. Pople who had arrived after me were being seen before me. No one would give me an explanation, I wasn't able to go and have any lunch. My then husband who had wanted to come into the appt with me had to leave to pick up our DD from school. And this was for an appt to tell me I had cancer - you can imagine the state I was in when I received the news.

Courtesy and consideration should work in all directions. And I actually think it is fine for a nurse in clinic not to see late patients - if people get away with it, they will keep doing it.

Your permissive behaviour is what is making this an issue. Stop seeing them and making the rest of the patients that bother to turn up on time late or have their appointments cancelled.

One of my big bugbears about the NHS is that every waiting room is plastered with threatening notices about lateness and antisocial behaviour yet they do nothing about the most egregious examples of these things half the time. If they are late they need to reschedule the appointment if they get arsey get security or the police to remove them from the premises.

Make them wait and see the people who were on time first.
Your hairdresser won’t see you if you’re late, why do they expect the NHS to? Oh that’s right because it’s free, these people who abuse the NHS give me the utter rage.

Hoponindown - we had 2 security officers for our whole hospital. They used to take 30 mins at least to come when we needed them urgently (ie if we where getting our heads kicked in).

Police not interested.

Am so glad I no longer work in the nhs.

Umm yes, I think sometimes people have genuine reasons. I remember being late for the Drs once because I had to bring my baby with me (no childcare option) and my baby threw up 5 minutes before I was due to leave. I then missed my bus and was late for my appointment even though I'd built in contingency time. The Drs receptionist was an utter cow about it and I had to beg to be seen even though I'd rung to explain I was running late. However, some of the medical professionals let people overrun their appointments because of general chit-chatting / nothing to do with the reason they are there - I find this more annoying to be honest

I see haematology every 12 weeks. Have to get there an hour before appointment time to have bloods taken, and then appointment is usually 45-90 mins late
Is it frustrating? Yes. I never ever complain though because I'm aware they are telling people they have cancer, or the treatment hasn't worked etc etc and I'm not rushing that
It does mean I have to take a full day of annual leave from work every time though as I'm often there 3-4hrs
But I'm never late!

As you say the elderly can make it!

Generally they're more likely to be retired and not trying to fit their appointment in around work, childcare etc.

Maybe the answer is for everyone to get taxis even if they drive?

Last time I got a taxi to my nearest hospital, it cost £25. That was in 2009, I dread to think how much it would be now. And that's only 10-12 miles away, a lot of people have to go much further afield than that. At £50+ for the round trip, that would be way out of most people's reach.

Plus, of course, it doesn't necessarily solve the lateness problem. If some pillock has blocked the westbound dual carriageway by crashing, a taxi will be no less affected than any other car.

Put posters up in the clinic informing people they won’t be seen if late

I know for my midwife friend, not seeing people who are late is rarely an option. If anything happened between those visits, it would be said that the missed appointment was pivotal in the outcome. The clinic is always overbooked weeks in advance so slotting them into next day/week isn't an option and then they have to have a certain amount of appointments per pregnancy so you can't skip either.

Her only real option is to just see them on the day

@KTheGrey "The actual cost will be the destruction of the NHS"

I'm sorry. I assumed we were having a rational discussion.

Is there anyone else who can explain to me how, in a clinic that runs all day and for which there is a continual flow of patients waiting to be seen plus a myriad of associated tasks including admin, internal and external communication to be performed in relation to said patients, and therefore plenty for staff to do, a missed appointment costs the NHS money?