To wonder why so many services run late?

[FightingtheFoo]

Why do so many services (e.g. hairdresser, dentist etc) always run late?

I just don't understand how if your business offers the same services regularly you can't anticipate how long they will take and maybe factor in a few 15 mins gaps throughout the day to account for clients that are running late? (Or have a strict cut off policy eg more than 10 mins late and you forfeit your appointment).

At the hairdresser last week they were running "10 mins" late when I got there, which was clearly a lie. It ended up being 30 mins.

Apparently the first appointment had arrived late - so don't serve them then? If they've missed their slot then tough. Rather than having a knock on effect on half a dozen other people. And they at least could have called me to warn me before I set off.

Now I'm at the dentist and it's the same thing. My appointment was 20 minutes ago I just find it deeply irritating.

Sod's law says the person who arrives late or takes longer than expected is the one with the appointment straight after the gap. That's lost income for them with no improvement for customers.

I don't mind a bit of give and take. We've all been the one stuck in traffic or on a late-running bus. I do think it's polite for them to tell you on arrival how long any delay is likely to be, certainly if it's over about 20 minutes. My most annoying one was on a hospital trip with a prem baby, when I asked how long the delay would be because she needed a feed, and they said I'd be seen soon. By the time they came for me I'd given up and fed her anyway - just as well as it was not "soon".

This drives me insane at the hairdressers. I tried out a new one after lockdown and they started my appointment 40 minutes late. She then told me she didn’t have enough time so I could either do a toner myself at home or leave with wet hair!

I wouldn’t have minded so much if it was because appointments were taking longer due to covid restrictions but they weren’t doing anything out of the ordinary and half of them didn’t even have masks on.

Nail salons are also notoriously bad for this. I don’t know why they bother taking appointments when they never stick to them and just treat everyone like a walk in.

I don't like it when this happens at the dentist as I am a nervous patient in there so a long wait makes me very anxious indeed. But last time I went I was called in a couple of minutes early and I was very grateful to be seen so promptly.

A few minutes is fine, but it's when they run massively late that it annoys me.

I still remember the time my son had a 9am appointment with a specialist - first appointment of the day and he rolled in at 9.45. No explanation given. There's no excuse for that. I wasn't very impressed, given we'd made the effort to be there on time. But that's the NHS for you, it's "free" so they're doing you a favour being there at all.

My hairdresser sometimes overruns, but not by much. Same with the dentist, it's very surprising if it's more than 10 minutes at most. It's a private dentist though, not an NHS one.

I think if you arrive for an appointment and they know they are running massively late they should tell you so you can go and do something else and come back.

I was also going to say I've been the first dentist appointment of the day and they've still been late starting! 🤣

In the NHS, it's usually because they've overbooked the clinic. They might only allow 20 minutes for each appointment and. a complicated case could take an hour. I've waited ~ 1hour plenty of times when seeing an NHS consultant.
For services that you pay for (e.g. hairdressers) anything more than 10-15 minutes would drive me mad, especially if there's no apology/offer of coffee/magazine etc

NHS is understandable and frequent fliers just get used to it. Gaps to catch up mean fewer patients seen mean longer waiting lists, issues not picked up in time, and so on.

An early patient might suddenly need an hour not 20 minutes; often we’ve waited an hour or more due to this but equally sometimes we’ve been that patient, when new issues need dealing with or investigations take longer than planned.

Late starts to clinics are very annoying but in hospital it’s usually because they’ve been held up on the ward round before coming to outpatients, or have come in to an unholy urgent mess in their inbox, or been up much of the night doing emergency surgery. Or have patients at an outlying hospital they need to check up on They certainly aren’t just deciding to have a nice slow start.

I’m guessing with hairdressers etc. it’s simply that gaps = no money and after the last year especially they can’t afford that.

I used to work in the NHS for a service which was vastly oversubscribed. Main reasons for running late were trying to accommodate urgent patients, or spending time calming anxious patients. Obviously the most efficient thing would have been to just have cancelled the non-urgent patients in favour of the urgent ones as it would have made our lives much easier, but we thought running late was the better option.

My hairdresser never runs late.

I can only dream of a dental appointment so can’t comment on that!

I think the worst one I've had was the consultant clinic when I was pregnant. I get that they overbook to allow for no shows etc. But you have a 10 minute slot, every appointment I had ran over by at least 10 minutes and I was relatively straight forward. So more complicated cases took upwards of 30 mins.

I used to ask for a late slot so I didn't take the P with work. So I booked in for 4pm every fortnight. My first appointment I was finally seen at 5:50. I changed them all to 9:30 after that!!!

My hairdresser charges a deposit when you book now to cover no shows and she will only wait 10 mins. Any later than that and it's tough luck. She said some people don't want to pay a deposit, so they find somewhere else to go. And the ones that used to be consistently late to every appointment amazingly manage to turn up on time now.

Appointments when you are pregnant are always late - I had to wait 2 hours for one last year whilst heavily pregnant with twins on those bloody hard plastic seats

@andivfmakes3 yes! In the middle of August in my case in the worlds hottest waiting room! I swear the water cooler water boiled at one point!

I agree with the OP in being annoyed at lateness. Others being late I think is a part, and an unwillingness to not serve latecomers adds to this, but I think tight scheduling is another.

What I find completely unacceptable especially given mobile communications being available are those utilities and parcel companies who come to you deliver 'in the morning' or 'between 8 and 1' etc. I think if you are offered that, the response should be to ask for an appointment, as that is an approximation.

I think a GP who runs late is the sign of a good gp. They are trying to help in a small 10 minute slot.

Same with dentist. It never bothers me. I really don’t get people who moan. If you don’t want to wait pay for private care.

The worst long waits are full bladder scans. You're bursting having consumed so much water then they make you wait an unknown period so you can't do a proper wee, just let out as little as possible.

Medical stuff is forgivable as it's not always predictable how long stuff will take. But some information would be appreciated. I think late clinics are usually medical emergency related as well - our GPs covered the local cottage hospital as well and consultants obviously have inpatients and rounds as well as clinics.

From a GP point of view, everyone is given ten mins. Some people need more than that, but you can't tell. The doctor may have been called to an emergency.

From a hairdressers point of view in my past life) similar happens. You are given a set time for a cut a blow, the client gets there and has really thick hair so ot takes longer, or can't make up their mind what they want.

@Florencenotflo and @andivfmakes3 the issue with maternity clinics is that everyone has to be seen within a short timeframe. There are very few no shows but if there are 45 women needing appointments and there are only 30 slots then the only option is to double book. Then you try to persuade management to book an extra doctor/ midwife for that clinic and negotiate another clinical room or two. That might or might not happen.

The staff are absolutely shattered by the end of these sessions and they do it every day. Of course they know it’s awful for pregnant women to wait but unless the services are better funded they have no other choices.

Having said all that I dislike waiting for appointments as much as anyone. I take my kindle and water and am frequently disappointed that I’ve barely got started before I’m called in.

I vote with my feet beauty and hair wise, the salons I go to don’t tolerate lateness and run to time.

@MatildaTheCat

I know it's not the staff fault at all and they aka ways do seem apologetic about any late running. On a plus note I did get 2 baby blankets knitted in the waiting room

My worst overrun was the IVF transfer for my twins - you have to have a full bladder and then when I got in there the doctor was feeling chatty and the embryologist was doing something I was literally crying and begging for them to get on with it before I wet myself 🤣

GPs I've seen it from the other side. Phoned up for appointment for sick baby, halfway through Receptionist asked if that was the baby crying she could here, and when I confirmed it was said to bring the baby in now, no appointment needed. Then directed to next available doctor, baby proceeds to be sick all over Doctor and consulting room. Baby fortunately wasn't seriously ill, but not only took two doctors out for 15minutes for check up, one doctor needed to get changed and the room needed cleaning before it could be used again. So by 10am, an hour into morning clinic, they were already well behind on schedule.

Anything centred around people will always run late because of the unpredictability of humans.

I purposely didn't mention GPs because I agree, running late can actually be a mark of a good GP.

But hairdressers etc I just think it's bad management. And I'd vote with my feet but they're all the same!

As for NHS vs private, private appointments often run equally late. I've had procedures done in the past where the private consultants have turned up at least an hour late (more than a little problematic when I'm nil by mouth and diabetic....)

And dentist today was a private appointment as what I needed isn't available on the NHS - that was 20 mins late too.

Bloody hell the maternity clinics though. They would triple or quadruple book us and I'd be there for hours, every fucking week (thanks to the diabetes) while at least one child would be watching Peppa fucking Pig at top volume for 90 minutes.

Ah, the diabetes antenatal clinic. Mine was a morning one, and I’d had an early appointment... but some complications came up etc etc and before I knew it I was still there waiting to see the doctor again as the afternoon clinic was beginning!

But I was so grateful for all the time that multiple consultants spent with me - that’s why clinical appointments can run so late.

The hairdresser is far less excusable - I get that some people’s hair takes longer than others, but surely it’s never like a medical situation where was should have been 10 minutes ends up being 3 hours?

NHS Consultant for DH: had to ask for preferential treatment after 2.5hrs as school pickup time was approaching with still no sign of being seen.

NHS Consultant for DS: first appointment of the day, I'm used to the Paed consultants being late due to hospital rounds first. But when other people are then taken in before us ... because Reception hadn't moved our file from one desk to the other.

Dentist: one hour late because she'd been to a seminar in the morning and had parked in a pay-to-exit car park but brought no means of payment, so a dental assistant had to drive out with money ... I had to go back to work without being seen.

The first appointment at our GP is 8.40am (pre covid they aren't doing face to face again yet) but the GP never arrives into the building before 8.50/9am.

All sorts of services are having to book in fewer people every day to leave longer between patients/clients, to do all the cleaning, change PPE etc.
If you’ve only got half as many people booked in as usual, you margins are already very tight, or maybe you’re already not making money at all.
Turning someone away because they are 10-15 mins late is the best thing to do to make your day run smoothly for everyone, but the loss of that client could be the difference between covering your costs for the day and making a loss.