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

Sorry this has happened to you. Definitely contact PALS. You should not need to waste your and your GP's time with re-referral - the hospital system is the problem. PALS can take some time though, so may be worth asking directly to speak with the manager of the scanning dept, who could quickly sort this out and rebook the appointment for you (and hopefully apologise).

(Work in a hospital, and would sort this for you if it were my hospital)

Agreed - quite often a note to PALS does wonders.

Can also mention about short staff - okay they can't magic up a receptionist but I bet they haven't advertised for a replacement or asked part time staff if they would like to do extra hours

Yes they are. My DD has regular appointments (all set months in advance) and while she’s early she’s never been seen on time. We’ve had to wait up to 45 minutes, which we do without complaint.
Also, she’s at uni five hours away. She has told them repeatedly when she is available (she need regular mri scans and blood tests every six months, and should have meetings with a consultant every year) yet they often schedule her when she’s away and then it’s a nightmare to reschedule. Twice the consultant has been cancelled by them and when she told the receptionist she hadn’t seen one in over a year the receptionist said ‘well you missed two’! As if! She already has appointments set for 2027, but anticipates a late cancellation with those too. She has of course asked why she can’t get the bloods and mris done at a hospital near her uni but they insist they be done in London.
The NHS is an amazing resource but my god their administration is awful. For example my son took a day off to get a small procedure done he was very nervous about. Shows up and ‘oh sorry the surgeon cancelled that’! So another six months wait plus no pay for the day. I have also gone to the hospital for a routine appointment, the receptionist says no one is there to conduct the test, even goes to the ‘back’ to check, I leave, get a phone call later saying I missed my appointment! My DD and I hung around for SIX hours waiting for a test only to be told ‘oh they won’t do that on a Sunday’. Well why the heck did you call us in?!? You can see I’m quite exercised by this!

I've got a hospital appt today, my letter says to arrive 15 minutes beforehand which is reasonable. Sometimes I'm not seen until after the appointment time anyway depending on how busy the clinic is. I think the receptionist was out of order considering you were there well before the time.

I didn’t even realise that they could just create a “no show” situation and cancel the appointment when it should be obvious from the length of the queue they’ve got in front of them that it’s not true. I always assumed that if they were running behind or short staffed that the patients would all be checked in anyway and seen, because they were there. I can’t understand the system. It sounds like one of those classic “computer says no” scenarios.

I’d have complained there and then. Failing that I’d be on to PALS today. How ridiculous of them.

I feel for the member of staff but their staffing issue is not your problem and your health should not suffer because of it. I can't imagine your gp will be too happy when they hear about this. I would personally complain (not about the receptionist but the process)

OP, that is disgusting. The receptionist should have shouted and asked if anyone had an appointment in the next 10 minutes and prioritised those people. Some people will arrive half an hour early.

Definitely complain to PALS and anyone else that you can complain to.

The system is broken if this can happen.

Whenever I have been to hospital in the last few years there have also been monitors to book yourself in as well as receptionist. Is that really not the case here? It’s pretty appalling what happened to you but I said unusual not to also computer monitors to use also.

You’ve never checked you’re in the right queue when it gets close to the time you’d be having the appointment/boarding the plane/whatever? Really? That’s incredibly unassertive. It’s not rude or pushy to clarify.

Definitely complain OP.

I’d ask to see the receptionist’s manager. I wouldn’t leave. This was not your fault.

My GP surgery has a digital check in screen that you use yourself, and they actually have a sign up saying if you queue for reception you may end up missing your appointment slot. Perhaps something they need to roll out to hospitals as well!

Sounds like they are solving their issue of lack of staff by refusing to see patients, blaming it on your 'timekeeping' which was an issue created by them.

Complain. It's not fair when people don't turn up for appointments and it's not fair when you turn up (and follow their instructions on times) and they don't see you.

That is so frustrating.

I’m a former Nursing sister and manager. You have been treated unfairly and it’s very poor customer service by the dept! You need to write a formal complaint to the hospital, setting out exactly what you’ve said here. You’ll find info about how to make a complaint on the hospital website. It will go initially to the complaints team who will investigate with the managers of the relevant department. As it was no fault of your own, you should be reinstated in your original position on the waiting list and given a second appointment very soon. Good luck.

i wonder if any of the doctors got to see anyone at all? or did someone who arrived an hour early get to have OPs appointment?

I've only experienced this kind of thing once, and a woman behind us just shouted out: my appointment is in 10 minutes can i jump the queue, and the queue of about 15 people sorted itself into time order. (not UK though)

I agree that does seem quite unfair really. If a clinician was actually ready to see you/waiting they should have got reception to check you weren't in the queue.

Worth checking there isn't a patient sign in terminal available, quite a few departments use these now to check in on arrival.

That’s one way for hospitals to fudge waiting lists!

That’s appalling, OP, I’m so sorry. Do please speak to PALs asap. And if they won’t help, contact your MP!

If you’ve been given a letter regarding the appt., our local hospital has a screen where you can check in.

The hospital is in the wrong unless your appointment letter advised you to arrive half an hour before your appointment time (they quite often do).

Many general practices have book-in screens where you log in on arrival. It's a pity your hospital's imaging department hasn't caught on to that yet, because then at least the radiographers would have known you were floating around in the waiting room somewhere.

Your GP might be able to get you nudged up the queue in the circumstances, and yes I would contact PALS too.

I'd be fuming, OP!
On screen check in at my local hospitals, so this doesn't happen. I've also been lucky enough never to see a queue of more than a few people (there are always people who can't/won't digitally check in).
Considering the staff knew that there were a lot of people in the queue, they of course knew that some of these people were there for appointments. They need a system like the airport where they call people through security for imminent departure.
I would have done exactly what OP did - but just this time. Now that I know I could miss an appointment, I would go to the front a few mins before and just ask that they don't cancel me, it's not a lot to ask!
So thanks, OP, for raising this and good luck rebooking your scan.

Utterly ridiculous situation and a complete waste of NHS resources.

Surely all that checking in with the receptionist does is confirm that you have arrived. Our hospital has an option to check in on a screen, and the last appointment I took my father to there was no receptionist at all! We were sent straight to the waiting room and the radiographer just called in the patients in turn.

Crap management, piss poor systems that you come up against all the time in the NHS I'm afraid. Definitely complain.

Definitely not wrong.

Also for all those saying they’d jump to the front of the queue ‘to check’ - surely everyone in the queue will have had an appointment either earlier or at the same time.

If everyone jumped forward ‘to check’ it would be chaos - OP has already said she was definitely in the right queue at the right time.

At the point when the receptionist looked at your name on the list and was wondering whether or not to mark you down as a "no show", they really should have tried calling your name out to see if you were in the queue.

I feel for the OP. This was a completely unreasonable cancellation, so much so that it must have been a huge shock. I don't think I would have barged past the entire queue (especially as the majority of people standing waiting were probably in exactly the same position, with booked appointments for the same time as me or earlier) either, as I wouldn't have expected that outcome.

However i suspect that I would have refused to just leave/ accept the cancellation, and tried my damdest to appeal to a more senior person in that department, and complained to PALS, on the same day.

Contact PALS today at the hospital and complain! This is NOT right, not your fault that they’re understaffed and provision could have been made by utilising volunteers or an HCA!

Exactly. How can only OP's appointment need to be bumped, when hers was one of the first of the day? They would've had to mark every single one as late.