AIBU to think the hospital is wrong?

[mmmmkakshch]

I had an appointment today at 8 30 am for a scan ive been waiting for for quite a while. It was at 8 30 am. I arrived at the hospital at 8 13 am. There was a giant queue waiting for the receptionist. It appeared they were down staff. I waited for over 30 minutes to get to the front to be told I was late and the appointment was now cancelled and id have to get a new referral via the gp. Ive been waiting over 4 months for this scan. I explained that i arrived in plenty of time and she said there was nothing she could do.
I dont really think im being unreasonable

Were you queuing at the right place as per the letter? If yes, in the right department, that's ridiculous, the staff should have asked if anyone waiting had an appointment at 8:30 and skipped you to the front - obvs after doing the same for the 8:15 appointments etc.

Yes there was only a single queue for one receptionist.

When it got to 8.29 I would have gone to the front and said sorry but you’re here for an 8.30 appointment and don’t want to miss it. Yes the staff should have done this but it doesn’t sound like there was anyone except the overwhelmed receptionist.

To be honest, I wouldn't consider 15 minutes early to be in plenty of time. Any hospital appointment I've had has said to be there at least 30 minutes early to register, confirm details etc. There's often forms to be filled in e.g. for radiology to confirm any medications/contraindications/pregnancy etc.

It didnt say on the letter to arrive early. Funnily enough it said to avoid congestion in a small department please try not to arrive more than 10 minutes early to your appointment. The receptionist was clarifying the name, date of birth, doctors surgery and emergency contact

I’d have been making a complaint at the time. Surely you weren’t the only one who had their appointment cancelled in that queue? What was everyone else saying?

If it says arrive 30 mins ahead of the appointment then fine but if it doesn’t then arriving at 830 should be ok - they said 830

it’s like trains that lock the does a minute before they leave - then just state the earlier time

There was another 2 people with me who had to leave. I do feel for the receptionist. There were another 2 seats/computers next to her so I assume either down staff or sickness. All she said was she couldn't allow the appointment to go ahead as it was now marked as late and it would have a knock on effect for the rest of the day. I explained id arrived before 8 30 and she said her hands were tied and there was nothing she could do. And to ask for a referral from the gp again.

In my local hospital they ask you to not show up too early for appointments to avoid congestion/overcrowding so I think 15/20 mins before is perfectly reasonable. It's fairly standard for appointments to run behind for a variety of reasons so i wouldn't have necessarily gone forward at half past to insist i was seen either. I'd very frustrated in your position OP and would certainly consider a complaint given you've already waited so long for an appointment.

Yes I think I will be raising a complaint. It has been over 4 months for this appointment. And i understand if id have just shown up at 8 45 but I was queuing with everyone else and im not the only one in this situation. The thought of having to wait another 4 months makes me feel quite annoyed

I'd contact PALS at the hospital and complain, it's bad enough that you missed the appointment but it was their fault if the letter said arrive ten minutes before, so they shouldn't be requiring you to start the whole process again with your GP.

I think I would consider letting my MP know as well. This will go down as a no show appointment, as well as anyone else the hospital did that to. Which makes it into the stats of no shows costing the NHS, which adds to the argument to charge for that etc.

I’d let me MP know what was going on, how the hospital actually refused to provide access to the appointment and the knock on effect of increasing the workload for the GP. They didn’t even let you just rebook; they’ve added a huge amount of cost by insisting you go back to your GP, start another referral and wait etc.

I’d be furious!

You arrived early it’s not your fault that they were unorganised and incapable of signing everyone in 15 minutes early for a hospital appointment is plenty time.

id be making a complaint.

Ridiculous, if the reception is already behind with a backlog then every patient for the whole day could be ‘late’ and the doctor would be sitting in an empty room all day waiting for patients.

Definitely lodge a complaint with PALS. It is important to log so that the service have evidence of the impact of being understaffed (or whatever was going on) and highlights the poor performance to hospital management so that it can be dealt with. And it may help you to get seen sooner than waiting another 4 months.

I’d be furious, but if I was in a queue for that long I’d have gone to the front, excused myself and checked that this was the right queue. I wouldn’t have stood there and missed my slot.

It’s rubbish from the hospital but you could have done something @mmmmkakshchrather than just standing there . I would have been like ‘ excuse me, sorry I know there is a line but my appointment is at 8.30 and I’m conscious of the time now’

you stood in line and did nothing?

Put in a complaint today, don’t wait. And actually I wouldn’t have left the department, I would have politely but firmly insisted on staying and asked for the outpatients manager to come and speak to me. You weren’t late for your appointment and therefore they have lied.

This unfortunately will be a recurring thing due to the redundancies in admin staff that are going through.

Ditto no one to book transport, change appointments etc

Go straight to PALS

I would have insisted on going to the appointment, Op.
The doctor could not have been seeing anyone else afterall.
The poor doctor / scanner would have had no one sent to them due to congestion in the queue.

I love how so many people on here are pretending they would have barged in and got that receptionist told. 🤣 I’m as impatient and confident at speaking up as they come, and even I know that if someone else is at the front of a queue, you are likely to be thrown out of the queue and refused an appointment if you try to queuejump. Presumably those people imagining they would ‘speak up’ (try to get through a big queue at a medical appointment) have never actually done so in their lives or they’d know that too.

I’d have given them merry hell then and there- it’s ridiculous. Surely if they are that busy they should have a screen you can check in on. And why wouldn’t the radiographer or whoever come out and see what’s going on anyway. It’s this sort of thing that really grinds my gears about the NHS- all that expensive equipment and a trained specialist there but it all falls down because a receptionist doesn’t have the common sense she was born with (like shouting out, is anyone here for an appointment before 8.45 if so come to the front).

I don’t think you did anything wrong but also next time I would walk to the front once it got to my appointment time and sweetly ask the person in line if I could have a word next and then tell the receptionist that I arrived at y time, my appointment is at x time, can I just check that it’s not going to be cancelled?

But yes, make a complaint and see if you can avoid having to be re-referred, just say what happened and ask to have the appointment rescheduled instead.

Ah, the NHS which is the pride of Britain. 🙄

This is completely unacceptable and I can't believe posters trying to blame the OP for not arriving early enough to accommodate their incompetence.

This.

Have you got your time of arrival on your parking ticket as proof? Outrageous situation. But also, it seems we might have to give up the British tradition of politely queueing and just push to the front in certain situations now. Sad.