To be annoyed at the GP receptionist for being arsey about this?

[SneakyGremlin]

Had a GP phone appointment booked for 13:10 today, for something that needs sorting today (think medication review/replacement). Took my break at work from 13:00-13:30. 13:35 came, still no call, so I went back to work.

Finished work at 4:00 p.m, checked my phone and saw a missed call at 13:41 - so I rang back asking could I possibly get the GP to call me now as I'm not longer in work.

GP receptionist huffs, says she'll try but I should have kept an eye on my phone as they can't always help when it's the patients who missed the appointments. When I then point out to her that actually they rang half an hour after my scheduled appointment, which is why I missed it, she said that that shouldn't be relevant and I should always be by the phone because it's known that GPs run late sometimes.

AIBU to want to complain, or at least mention to the GP who I'm still waiting to call that some of us can't stop doing our jobs and wait for a call just because THEY are running late? If they'd sent a text or something that they were running behind I could have taken my break later and probably kept the appointment.

It feels like I'm being told off like a naughty child because THEY were late.

Please, stop whining on here, have a think, take some adult responsibility for your own situation and work with them!

Please stop using that kind of language and being so patronising about patients. It’s really unnecessary, especially in terms of finding a solution here.

How can you keep your phone handy if you're working in a job where you can't have your phone on you?
I have had one job where I could keep my phone on me that's it. Working in retail and childcare means you can't just answer your phone (or even have it with you in childcare).
YABU to think everyone can answer the phone at work.
OP is not unreasonable to expect a call at the right time and is not unreasonable to expect the receptionist to be polite when it's not even OPs fault she couldn't attend the appointment.

Good that you got sorted eventually, sometimes receptionists really test you. I honestly don't think many people understand that not everyone has or is allowed a phone attached to them all day. Imagine if you worked on the tills in Tesco.... Hold on a minute Mrs I'll check your shopping through after I discuss my medical needs on the shop floor 😞

I agree with you. I’m a teacher-I can’t answer my phone in the building, so I have to request a call between 12.30-1.20 and sit in my car! Not everyone can be on hand all the time.

While waiting in Outpatients for an appointment I had an epileptic seizure and was taken down to A&E. The hospital duly sent my GP a letter saying I had missed my appointment - except they accidentally sent the same letter twice so I was recorded as having missed TWO appointments. That was a fun conversation with the GP's receptionist.

I am offering solutions. In the message you criticise. And in a previous one too.

Are you genuinely telling me that you missed that?

The fact is that the OP can choose to do something proactive and useful to prevent a repeat of today, or she can continue to go round in circles complaining endlessly. Entirely up to her!

Same at my GPs. You're expected to just wait by your phone all day (no time slot) and answer it instantly. Any hesitation and the call drops and you get a message that you have missed your appointment.

It's an outrageous way to behave, massively rude and unprofessional!

Difficult, but its not practical to have someone contact all customers to advise they are running behind. You’d be better off booking an appointment for start or end of the day, face to face as telephone appointments rarely run to time.

This is not acceptable. Why do we put up with this crap. We aren’t waiting around for the GP to call us. I get that sometimes they do run late but if we all have this attitude to a role that we are doing the country would grind to a stand still. Why even both to make an appointment if it’s just a best guess.

This.
NHS appointments(telephone and f2f/hospital /GP) rarely run on time due to patient requirements /service needs.
I work in the NHS and I believe that the majority of people have no understanding of the enormity of the demands on the services, including the numbers of patients

The NHS will be able to model how long to give each appointment based on historical data. Clearly they are very important and we should be grateful to have it for ‘free’.

Except we don’t have it for free - we pay shedloads for a broken on its knees service and are expected to be grateful.

I'm absolutely going to bring it up with the practice manager, but I also think I'm entitled to complain about it.

You have obviously never had a day with more than one appointment in it. Or a job.

I had the same (minus the ‘double’ DNA - I only received the one) in Gastroenterology, even after the running-very-late Consultant’s nurses spoke to him twice about me being unconscious and taken down to A&E.

There’s got to be a better way.

@QuinqueremeofNiveneh I entirely disagree with your post. All professionals work outside their contracted hours. Almost all professionals have diaries like jenga and if they kept clients/stakeholders waiting woukd be regarded as unprofessional.

My GP practice has zero tolerance for patients who might be unavoidably late and the practice is peppered with notices about it. If there is zero tolerance for patient lateness, on what basis should the patient have tolerance for GP lateness. If there was a bill to be paid directly, it wouldn't happen.

Respect should always be mutual. It rarely is where doctors are concerned in my experience.

Apologies to the person I quoted. The response was for @QuinqueremeofNiveneh.

It's not difficult, it's a pretty easy function that could be added to the appointment system. It would just keep track of scheduled appointments Vs actuals and send out texts with updated times. It's basically what the delivery companies do to tell you when your parcel's going to arrive.

It’s the false ‘DNA’ numbers being touted around that annoy me.

Yes i know they are.

I would call this a ‘basic’ level of service rather than ‘high’.

If they are running so late that i wonder if they have forgotten me, then they can expect me to check with them. Maybe they need to create a text service.

It’s not just about their level of service, it’s quite clearly causing an issue of ‘missed appointments’ for themselves.

And yes i have also had to go private multiple times when they have failed my young kids.

It's not that running late is unacceptable (or even unexpected). It's the
"I'm going call at a random time and you only have one chance to answer"
that is so rude and unprofessional.

They should try again, or arrange a time to catch up with you ... like any other professional would

Lol no chance with NHS technology!!

Oh yes, this thread is positively brimming with respect for healthcare professionals!

You are and you certainly have!

I've had similar issues with my GP practice and they seem to behave like patients have nothing else to do but sit around a wait for them. For a while there was only a GP in my practice on a Wednesday, and that's my office day. I had a call booked for 3pm, arranged to drive home at lunchtime so I could talk about the personal issue in private and they called me at about 1pm whilst I was driving on the motorway so I missed it. I called back when I got home, and they did manage to arrange for the GP to call back, but the receptionist made out like they were doing me a huge favour. I've had issues on other occassions where they've called at completely the wrong time again. I now insist on an in-person appointment, because the timing of the phone appointments is so unpredictable and I can't block out my whole day to be ready to pick up the phone whenever is convenient to them each time I need to speak to my GP.

I had one booked last week, I asked for a time and was told it could be anytime from 8.30am - 1pm. Re-scheduled teams calls to the afternoon. Got a text message at 9am, unforeseen emergency and it would now be sometime 2-6pm. Rang and asked if it could be after 3pm as very important unavoidable call at 1.30pm -2.30pm. Dr rang at 2pm 😩

A lot of workplaces won't let you have your personal phone on you for security reasons. I've just left a job in a bank - there were hundreds of people in the building who have to leave their phones outside their work areas, no exceptions. They now provide a private GP on site - it's cheaper than having staff keep taking half-days 'sick' because they can't get an appointment with their own doctor for a fixed time.