To have expected an apology from the GP?

[homewardbound2]

I had a face to face appointment with my GP this morning. The appointment was at 10am but they were running late, and I was finally called in at 10.45am. The GP didn't even mention the fact I'd had to sit around for 45 minutes, and barely acknowledged me when I came into the room - she gave me a quick glance, said "What's the issue" and then turned straight back to her screen whilst I explained.

I know doctors are very busy, but AIBU to have expected a simple "Sorry for the wait, how can I help?"

YABU I would say that waiting 45mins for a gp appointment has always been a fairly normal occurrence as far back as I can remember- ie the 80s. Yes a quick apology would be good, but I would not be that bothered.

“ At 8.45, I go to the waiting room to call my first patient, Mrs Smith. She is hard of hearing and I don’t know what she looks like, so it takes a minute for her to acknowledge me. It takes a further two minutes for her to walk to the consultation room, because her ankles are swollen and she walks with a stick. By the time she has managed to sit down in the chair and remove her coat, nearly half of the appointment time has gone.

Mrs Smith starts to talk about the weather. I interrupt and remind her we need to keep on topic. As a medical student, I watched qualified doctors talk over patients in this way and thought naively that I would never be so rude. But it only took a few weeks of working in General Practice to realise that being brusque and firm is essential, unless you have hour-long appointment slots. Mrs Smith looks crushed. I suddenly remember that she recently had an appointment with my colleague following a bereavement, and that I am perhaps the only person she will speak to today. I constantly feel pulled in two different directions — forced to choose between doing the best for the patient in front of me, and doing the best for the patients waiting for me.”

A quote from this article today: unherd.com/2021/10/the-nhs-is-betraying-doctors/

Please can we stop blaming GPs for things which are outside of their control. GPs don’t want to run late and type while talking as much as patients don’t, but your 10 min slot includes walking into the room, sitting down, being examined, reading the notes briefly before you go in, writing the notes, sending any prescription and referrals. It’s just not enough time to do it well.

It would have been nice to offer an acknowledgement that you'd been left waiting but there was likely a very good reason for them being late (not that you are less important of course, just that there may have been a more time critical emergency). I once went to a GP with what turned out to be sepsis and I know that probably made my GP late for the rest of his appointments because my appointment obviously took alot longer than it should have. As for the typing though GPs do tend to write everything down during the appointment because they don't want to miss anything, particularly if it the problem is conplicated/detailed/difficult and they want to be able to clarify anything in their notes while you are there. It does seem a bit disconcerting when they are staring at the screen instead of you but there is a reason for it, especially when they are pressed for time as many are now.

That´s when I say: oh, good morning! in a chirpy voice and then i state the purpose of my visit. No need to say anything else.

Come live where I live , you would be overjoyed to get a face to face appointment 45 minutes late .

@SevenMelon. In your example piece, the doctor could have apologised to the patient on the way to the surgery. No time wasted.

Yes, doctors overrun, doctors forget to apologise. No biggie and not something I'd pay much attention to. But for doctors not to apologise on point of principle, I find that a very superior point of view and that's rude.

Why do GPs get so much leeway no matter how bloody awful they are ?

You could have someone commit gross negligence on here and you'll get the whole " they're overworked and it amounts to nothing"

Bad customer service in another profession would be dealt with appropriately this should be no different.

A quick sorry is fine. However, patients often then end up wanting to discuss how hard it is to get an appointment / how often you’re running late etc, which eats into their own appointment time and makes the entire situation worse!

It's just basic manners to apologise.

Your GP was rude.

I wouldn't mind that they stared at the screen, although mine don't. I usually read what they're typing and I like that, although often they say aloud what they've written. If they send a referral, they dictate that while I'm there and ask me if there's anything I want to add. Hmm, I'm beginning to think my doctors and practice nurses are well above par!

My last gp appointment was like that. She barely said two words to me, printed of a prescription and sent me away. She didn't give me important information so now my condition is much much worse. Pharmacists won't do anything without a new prescription I can't get an appointment with gp again for at least two weeks.

I'm a GP, quite often if I say "sorry to keep you waiting" the patient replies with "I was waiting for blah blah minutes and it was really hard etc etc" and the first couple of minutes get wasted that way making me even later. If I say "thanks for waiting how can I help?", the patient is more likely to get straight to the point and we can move on. I've only learned that with experience though. I do often run late, 10 minutes is not realistic for quite a lot of things.

@SevenMelon

A quick sorry is fine. However, patients often then end up wanting to discuss how hard it is to get an appointment / how often you’re running late etc, which eats into their own appointment time and makes the entire situation worse!

That's people management. Apologise and immediately ask whats the problem without giving them a chance to go off topic. Most people do follow cues. For more difficult complainers, agree an across practice verbal response and then refer them to the practice manager. 15 seconds at most.

@Mercurial123

So is your post. I know someone who died because he couldn't see a doctor. My mother was also waiting a long time.

That's awful, but I don't see the connection with my post. We should not be telling people they are lucky to see a medic for goodness sake.

If I've just had someone crying for ages or a really horrid situation I may not realise I'm running late or remember to acknowledge it. I never mean to be rude. We are all human.

@Mercurial123

YABU. You are lucky to even get an appointment. My oncologist was 4 hours late calling me. I was just happy to speak to him. I didn't get an apology but I wasn't expecting one.

Why on earth would you not expect an apology? Yes, shit happens and they may get delayed and end up running late.However, basic manners would suggest an apology is in order if you are late or keep someone waiting.

Maybe they didn’t know exactly what time your appointment was for and , as far as they were concerned, you were just the next on the list ?

I loathe the fake ‘ sorry to keep you waiting’ that some check out operators have been told to say, even if you haven’t been kept waiting disproportionately long.

My former GP would regularly appear to start the day with a backlog, so even if you had the first appointment of the day, you'd end up sitting there waiting. Waiting 45 minutes and not even getting an apology for having been kept waiting isn't on.

I have had so many bad experiences with GPs who have no manners whatsoever so I am not surprised by this at all. Yanbu though!

I had an appointment on Sunday, she typed pretty much every word I said to describe my symptoms as I was saying it and I didn't think that was rude, just time saving and thorough.

It really wouldn't phase me if my GP was running 45 mins late. They sometimes do, but it's not like they do it on purpose, is it? They always try to fit people in if it's something urgent, and naturally if they've squeeze someone urgent in before you, by its nature it's probably going to be a more involved consultation and run over. That could be me one day, with a worrying condition that needing seeing to there and then, and complicated bloods ordering ASAP. I would hope that the patient after me wouldn't be inwardly tutting and taking to the internet to have a moan on a chat forum.

I'm not bothered about the doctor typing while they're talking to me - they're just typing notes about me, so what exactly is the issue?

As for an apology....yes, it wouldn't have hurt to say a quick "sorry to keep you waiting" but it wouldn't honestly put me off a practice. It may be that they have no idea how long you've been waiting. Perhaps they are covering for another GP and jumped in last minute to help.

I don't know.....I just think that there aren't many people caring for our GPs' wellbeing. It's horrendous for them and all I hear is complaints. Some are warranted, some, like yours, OP, I feel are just nitpicking. A brief wait (and 45 mins is brief in my eyes) is not worth the effort to complain about in the face of all the pressure GPs are under. And quite unfair really.

@SevenMelon

A quick sorry is fine. However, patients often then end up wanting to discuss how hard it is to get an appointment / how often you’re running late etc, which eats into their own appointment time and makes the entire situation worse!

Yes, this! There's not enough time for chitchat with the GP about waiting times. That's what the practice manager is there for.

I think YABU - an apology would have been nice but who know why they were running late. I doubt it was the doctors fault.

I don’t think I wouldnt have noticed the lack of apology.

I wouldn’t like a GP to be rude but I don’t mind if they are quick and business like. I understand they are really busy. My main requirement for GPs is competence.

YANBU, but doctors do their own thing.

In my experience medical professionals never apologise, not even when they have been proven to have missed very large medical errors so, no, I wouldn’t expect an apology for being made to wait for a bit.