How important do you think it is to be on time for a GP appt

[Ireolu]

Just that really.

Do you think it is important to turn up on time or early for a GP appt? Do you think you shd still be seen when you are 10 mins or more late for a 10 minute appt.

This is just for adults over 18 not for children. TIA for thoughts.

Ha, so that's interesting because I think you should always be early as per my first post.
But I once turned up at GP surgery for an 8.30 appointment and they didn't unlock the door till 8.30 exactly (could see team sat watching the clock)
Which meant 3 of us all trying to check in on a single touch screen system for an 8.30 appointment and obviously that took a few minutes, none of us called through till 8.40.....is this deliberate?

Appointments work both ways in my book, and I don't mind so much if you're running over....but if you start the day 10 minutes late???
If surgery is known for running late I can understand why patients start to factor that into their arrival time.

People are desperately waiting for GP appointments. If you’re late you don’t get seen. End of.

I think it should be possible to book double slots.

It's not always possible to bring 'just one issue' to a GP appointment. It can be downright clinically unsafe for a GP to treat you based on one thing if you have a complex medical history - they may need to consider how it interacts with different conditions.

Only allocating 10 minutes per person is what causes the delays. Even if everyone turns up on time, not everyone can stick to 10 minutes.

Very important, otherwise they can’t keep you waiting for an hour to be seen!

Please don't attempt to patronise me. I actually work in a GP surgery (no I'm not a Receptionist) and have a much better idea of why GPs tend to run late than you do.

The vast majority are emergencies yes. We are a large practice & each day we, on average, call 2 ambulances. Some days this is 0 some days it's 4. On top of this each day there will be patients who the GP arranges emergency hospital assessment/admission for not via ambulance. This obviously takes a lot of time phoning through to the Registrar/Consultant to put the necessary arrangements in place. There are also complex patients who have a 10 minute appointment but need 30 minutes. If they are before you you're going to be late in.

Why on earth shouldn't a GP take a quick phone call from their wife? Or speak to a colleague. Do you never speak to your colleagues? I'm guessing this wasn't during your appointment? Was it even the GP you were waiting to see? Our GPs are in surgery for between 10 & 12 hours a day. They are entitled to statutory breaks the same as everyone else, although several rarely take them.

The NHS are already on its knees and so much resources are being wasted by people not showing up for their appointments.

You know that they 'DNA' patients who do actually turn up and check in for their appointments, right? But who don't get seen?

Extremely important. And good manners. It's very rude to be late for any appointment. I wouldn't expect to be seen if I was 10 minutes late.

Of course you need to be on time. But irritating when you sit and wait for ages.

I think it's very important to be on time given how under pressure the service is at the moment and also just because its the respectful thing to do. I do think sometimes life happens and you might be 5 or 10 minutes late, I think if you ring ahead and let them know what's happening it's nice if they can accommodate you but I wouldn't expect to be accommodated.

But ‘we’ will see ‘you’ even if you’re an hour and a half late!

And a lot of missed apts are the NHS own admin/system errors as you describe.
My DD had some orthodontic treatment at hospital. If we couldn't make the apt I called the number as instructed on the letter, with usually at least a weeks notice. On more than one occassion we were berated at the subsequent apt by both the receptionist and the dentist and put down as a no show. I had followed the instructions on the letter for cancelling, and either spoken to a receptionist or left a message. I wouldn't have been willing to pay a fine for that.

Where do these anti NHS conspiracy theorists keep popping up from? Most of us are sick of them now. They are often incredibly entitled, despite knowing how busy even the government acknowledges the NHS is currently. Just go away and cause trouble elsewhere, will you? (Back to Tory HQ, in some cases, we hear. And especially on strike days?).

Definitely important. One late patient still being seen can make others who got there on time late too.

OP, I understand your frustration (I really go, I used to work in a GP health centre), however, it would be good to know what you think about the consensus here that being 5 minutes late is clearly not ok, but it is perhaps unreasonable to be pulled up on it if the GP is running 20 minutes late and it doesn't really make a difference?

I do get that the public underestimate the level of lateness and cancellation though. A friend of mine recently trained to be a clinical psychologist and says there is a 25% no show rate for therapy sessions at the high profile London NHS clinic she works at. I think a lot of people on waiting lists for mental health treatment would be appalled if they knew this.

I’ve never been late for a gp in my life. Even if I know it’s the gp who always runs at least an hour behind ‘ because she’s amazing and always gives people enough time to speak and feel’ I’m still never late.

Just be on time. We all have the same amount of hours in the day - why should you be special?
or alternatively rock up whenever you can be bothered and don’t be seen.

I usually arrive early for GP or hospital appointments; I'm a bit paranoid about being late.

Obviously there are times when people are late because of circumstances out of their control, especially for people (like me) who are relying on public transport or a taxi - once in a blue moon, even if you leave loads of time, your cab might not turn up or there's an accident on the bus route or something. But in general I'd be there at least ten minutes early.

I hardly ever get seen at the time I've booked for, but that's understandable because obviously some people's appointments are going to take longer than the 10 minutes allocated to them and the GP can't control that.

I'm always bang on time, arriving 5 minutes before my scheduled appointment time. This gives me an excuse to spend lovely 45 minutes to myself to listen to a podcast and staring into space as they are always rnning late.

Yeah the guy who posted about his wasted trip and wasted money got the same attitude Someone replied with "cool story bro" under his post. Its like a cult.

So people are conspiracy theorists if they dont swallow a £76 wasted taxi fare and just put up with any old crap Does that make us right wing and Nazi too

Go on Go for the usual hat trick You know you want to!

My gp gives you 5-10min grace. I always try to be early. Iv been waiting 2* hours before.
then again ive been the patient that collapsed and needed oxygen before so I'm betting people were delayed that day!
ive also been there when a child was taken away by ambulance.
sometimes there’s a reason for delays!
i never moan.

Essential. I've never been late for an appt but if it were unavoidable for some reason, I would ring the surgery and let them know. If I couldn't be seen I would understand

I always turn up 5 minutes early then get told they are running 30 minutes late. Every time. I still turn up early though.

Always early.

Depends.

If you're a patient, being on time is of paramount importance, to the extent that you will be denied medical treatment if you're late, which is a pretty big consequence.

If you're a doctor, it's fine to have folk hanging around for half a day waiting to see you.

I once got told of by my manager at work when the doc was running late and asked where id really been