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?"

I'd cut her some slack. It may be that the reason she was running late was that she'd had to deal with some particularly awful or difficult case or cases before you.

I think it would be easier to cut them some slack if the messaging to patients were a little less officious and they took down the big signs saying "you will not be seen if you are late".

@Fluffypastelslippers

You are lucky to even get an appointment.

Can we stop this? It's unhelpful bollocks.

We should not be counted as lucky to be able to get a doctors appointment. We should not be accepting the decline in the NHS standards caused by our government.

Everyone has bad days.

A thousand things can and do get in the way of staying on track and keeping on time. BUT that isn’t the patients problem and it shouldn’t mean we can’t expect an apology for having to wait or to be looked in the eye and feel we are being listened to.

The NHS is in a mess no doubt about it. That doesn’t give doctors a pass to not even look at a patient or say a quick sorry if they’ve had a long wait.

Our medical centre is also a covid vaccination hub so in addition to the usual stuff they are also managing and running that. The receptionists and medical staff are unfailingly friendly, polite and go out of their way to do their best. They’re amazing.

Mine would always say sorry. Yes it's very rude.

Urgh as a hospital receptionist I’m constantly having to inform patients that the clinic is running late and apologise for the long waiting times.

All the while, when (this one specific) doctor does finally turn up, he’s swanning around making himself a cup of tea and grabbing biscuits in full sight of the waiting room. I know for a fact he never apologises. It really winds me up that I essentially apologise on his behalf! Some people are just plain rude.

@SnottyLottie those biscuits are probably the only thing he eats in a 14 hour day. Why don’t you ask him next time if he has managed a break all day before you judge?

@Hottubtimemachine What? At 10:00am? When he should have been here at 8:30am to start his clinic and is already running an hour and a half late? When the only reason he’s running behind is because he couldn’t organise himself to get to the hospital on time (every friggin week)? I’ll save my sympathy for the poor nurses who have to run from an over run AM clinic to their on time PM clinic and don’t have time to grab a proper lunch. They have to live off a chocolate bar and energy drinks all day to keep them going because the doctor doesn’t have the forethought to organise his morning, nor bring a hot drink and snacks in with him like the rest of us do. Instead he faffs about in the kitchen for an additional 15 minutes when he’s an hour and a half behind, which irritates the already irate patients and guess who they take it out on? The nurses and reception staff!

I dont think a GP has to appologise for delay.All my GP appointments have been as you described.A quick glance at me and then his/her head was "burried" in the computer and only emerged with writing a prescription.thats it.Luckily I am healthy and very very rarely have to see GP and now it is actually impossible to get to see any GP.I am considering going private.

For our family who use GPs and hospitals alot, I agree that some warmth makes the world of difference.

I'm in Ireland so we're back to face to face appointments for a good while, however, one particular GP is so rude that I refuse to see her or allow my youngest to see her, a doctor who rolls her eyes, mutters sarcastic things that I can clearly hear gets a serious thumbs down.

I've had awful encounters in hospitals, dd attends 3, I attend 2 and I always come away feeling like a sack of shit. There's only one department in neurology for dd that they are lovely, the rest are arses. Rude, no warmth, no nothing, making you feel like an interruption. One doctor actually used a stop watch on me at one of my appointments and when it reached 3 minutes he stood up and walked out of the room leaving me sitting there wondering what to do, whether to follow him, sit, leave....

I agree a small recognition that you've been left waiting is nice and makes you feel comfortable to speak up as for the typing, I always thought they were in your file typing what you were saying?

"When the only reason he’s running behind is because he couldn’t organise himself to get to the hospital on time (every friggin week)?"

This is utter bollocks. No doctor walks into a hospital and goes straight to run an outpatient clinic. There are always inpatients that are handed over, messages to respond to, results to assess and chase. bleep calls from a&e and the wards etc.

There is a huge problem with outpatient clinic scheduling, they are often set at times that just don't work in the scheme of a clinical day at work and are administrated very poorly, largely due to antiquated snail mail based processes.

If the clinic is not starting on time every week then the service director needs to have a grown up conversation with the consultant and his team and adjust time timings of the clinic. This probably won't happen because these things just get left to drift and the service manager won't want to have the follow in conversation about length of clinic slots (usually too short) and the amount of overbooking - multiple patients given the same slot time and/or added to end end of the clinic.

Most of the time there is zero chance of an outpatient clinic running anything like on time. It needs unpicking but it is nowhere near as simple as the clinician can't be arsed to get there on time.

I'm amazed at the lack of understanding about the job doctors do. Again, it's healthcare with all the responsibilities and decision making that implies,

I have been waiting for some annual checks for two years now. I'm sorry but if I could get an appointment at all (instead of my health actually gradually deteriorating) I wouldn't care if they were late

@SnottyLottie- genuinely where do you think he is until 10am? I put money on it he’s been seeing patients/on a ward round since before you even started work.

@Hottubtimemachine this particular doctor is still at home until half 9ish and then is commuting to work. I know this because we have to phone him and ask him where he is or query his list, and he tells us as much. The nurses will come out and tell us “he’s not even left home yet” and has to make an announcement to the waiting room about significant delays. If a doctor is on the ward or has an emergency they will send someone else down to do the clinic or cancel the clinic all together. They don’t just let people sit there for an hour and a half because he’s on an emergency (at least at this hospital).

Most other doctors at this hospital manage to be on time to their clinics. People understand if there is a little delay because one appointment over ran or there’s an emergency and the doctor came down half an hour later/another doctor comes in late to run the clinic. Just the other day we had to have an AM and PM clinic covered by two different doctors because the scheduled doctor was on a ward emergency all day. I think there was a 30-40 minute delay in all.

And no I don’t know what time he came in from work the night before, what time he went to sleep or what his childcare arrangements are etc. As I’ve said before, no other doctor is consistently late for their clinic. If he has work/life balance issues then that’s up to him to speak to his supervisor about.

It all depends if the patient before had a longer time in the office with the doctor as once I had to wait for nearly an hour but when I arrived there was an ambulance on the surgery's parking area and someone had collapsed - before covid times - and so 3 doctors were in attendance I could see so just kept quiet and out of the way until my name was called. But know that there is only supposed to be a 10 minute consultation these days per patients "apparently".

@ChequerBoard. On the whole it's not doctors that people generally are irritated about. It's the organisation which just seems to be useless. In my experience with my elderly parents, the doctors were great, and what they can do for them is fantastic, the nurse are friendly and kind, but the organisation that holds it together seems old-fashioned and not fit for purpose. My dad is under 3 specialists and he can't get treated for two disorders at anytime because they'll only treat him if they have his physical notes. And each specialist, when they have his notes, don't want to let them go because then they won't be able to carry on treating him. I've known secretaries physically walk round the hospital to try and wrangle notes off another department. How does any of this make any sense? How is my dads best interests being served by this?

May not be relevant to this particular question - but I have just returned from north wales trying to get more help from my fathers doctors and social services and its pay for services when its different in Cheshire, England as know of friends parents who get it all for free - 4 carers coming in each day, when they have 2 brilliant private pensions + the state pension when my father doesn't have a private pension but attendance allowance, and have spoken to his doctors surgery 3 times in last 3 weeks and on friday from his flat to request his flu jab and diabetic bloods to be done by a District Nurse coming into him, and finally they have put down/documented on his notes that he's "housebound" due to mobility issues as hasn't left his flat in over 18 months - NOT due to covid19. I, my husband, and my 2 children had all had our first covid19 jab/vacinne before he did and hes the age of 95. As much as love North Wales - coming from the north before moving south, we did think of retiring back up there - But THINK NOT anymore.

I remember before Covid I had to wait over an hour with a 3 year old for the 3 year old appointment, I was pulling my hair out by the time I went in. It is annoying but waiting is part and parcel of going to the gp's, all the people that go in and take forever in with the gp and the gp can't turn round and say get out to them, they can o ly watch themselves getting more and more behind.