NHS rule about being late?

[Ceci693]

So my son had a physio appointment at the local hospital yesterday - he’s been waiting about 12 weeks: he’s 17 so he went by himself - cycled down after school. He had 40 mins to get there. But he went in the wrong wntrance and anyway long story short he was 5 mins late. I believe him as he’s very exact about things! But receptionist wouldn’t let him through: she said if you were more than 1 minute late the appointment was cancelled . He tried to reason with her and explained he came
atraight from school etc but she was adamant and he had to leave. Is this a new thing in the nhs? Bearing in mind that appointments don’t run on time any time I’ve been called for one - which is fine of course. He was quite upset and now has to wait at least 4 weeks - the woman said he would hear something in 4 weeks. What do you think? Is it a thing? And I do believe him as he’s very responsible - and time conscious

We used to give 20 minutes grace and would slot the patient in between others.

that seems very unfair

I don’t understand the logic of that, usually you get a 30 min appointment so surely they could have seen him and he would have 5 min less? I’d ring and complain.

I wouldn't even categorise 1 min as being late. Sometimes you just can't reason with stupid. But I'd send in feedback - I don't believe it's a policy but even if it is - it's stupid!

That seems very illogical of them. I would question it on his behalf (as he's under 18 you can do that, you're not asking for medical info) and lodge a complaint against the policy.

Has he got a new appointment date?

It seems counter productive for them to be so strict, they now need to reschedule a further appointment.

That seems very unfair and I wonder if he was treated differently because he is a teenager. Last time I had a routine appointment I turned up about 5 -10 minutes late and they slotted me in. Unlike my (non-NHS) dentist who refuses to see you if you are late. Which really annoys me because I'm paying for his time.

That’s unusual. We also tend to give some leeway ( 15- 20 mins) but it depends on how busy the clinic is etc. not all slots last the same time so there is more flexibility

physio slots are clear 30 min blocks so I can see why they might cancel. Cancelling a 17 year old for being 5 mins late is tough but it is a lesson for him to leave extra time for appointments when you don’t know where you are going.

Yet they're always 30 mins late anyway… Deeply unfair.

There is no absolute rule though- it’s at the discretion of the practitioner

Very upsetting for your son too, the NHS is supposed to support. Some of those who work for the NHS are beginning to undermine the existence of the service by being obstructive.

Could you afford a private physio appointment to tide him over?

That’s silly. I was 25 minutes late once as I went to the wrong hospital 🤦‍♀️ Anyway, they’d just called the next person through and I went in afterwards.

I work in a physio department. Our appointments are 30 mins; we allow a 10 min grace period. Any longer than that and we have to rebook or our entire diary will then run late for the rest of the day, because 20 mins for a new patient just isn’t long enough to do an effective assessment and offer advice.

generally we run on time, unless someone comes in and we find something concerning like new neurological symptoms or an unaddressed trauma or a domestic abuse disclosure. Those things all have to be dealt with on the spot and will often mean your other patients end up waiting and your clinic runs late. I often try to slot late patients in if I have any space at all, but sometimes it’s not possible.

it seems very harsh to not allow him 5 mins, but if the physio had already been held up several times that day for different things it might be that they just couldn’t allow any more grace. Not necessarily fair!

We usually say 20 minutes, 1 is absurd!

I work in radiotherapy and you can't turn patients away if they are late for a fraction of radiotherapy as there are radiobiological conseeinces. The patients are often elderly and have made long journeys. Radiogrpahers stay behind to treat these patients and I sometimes wonder if the rest of the NH S should treat patients with such respect?

If it looks like you will complain of argue the trust has acted to the detriment of a patient you sometimes find slots will magically open.......

I find that some receptionists can be rude, very unhelpful and on some kind of power trip especially those working at GP practices. Maybe it’s just the way they’re trained in the NHS. Ask if the ‘one minute late rule’ is printed in one of their policies. I doubt it is. Your son was allocated an appointment of X amount of minutes so if he was only 5 minutes late I’m sure there was still enough time left for him to be seen.

That’s definitely what’s lacking in the NHS.
RESPECT

This is absolutely not my experience.

My daughter has very regular hospital appointments and although we aren’t late often the rate occasion we have been 5 mins late it was fine. You can call the hospital to let them know you are running late if you know the extension although I appreciate you might not for a one off type of appointment.

A lot of my daughters appointments are with the physio. One time we accidentally went to the wrong building and they called us and directed us to the right way. This was Great Ormond Street though so I don’t know if they are more sympathetic than other hospitals.

I had a hospital appointment. As it was in the school half term and there were not the usual SUVs travelling half a mile badly driven, the bus journey was much quicker than usual so I arrived early. I was the first appointment of the day.

Medical practitioner arrived ten minutes after my start time. Colleague came and spoke to me to let me know, and at least there is no need for a follow up.

Given that this tardiness is not a unique example, indeed you can read many threads about being kept waiting ages, it should not be one way. Even if you are told in advance about a lateness policy of one minute, which the OP was not.

I had an appointment yesterday for 1pm, got there at 12.50 and checked in all fine. At 1.30 I asked reception how late they were running, she said they were not running late and would go see the consultant. She came back and said they were trying to slot me in? Which I thought was weird as I had a letter stating an appointment time of 1pm. At 2 pm the consultant comes and calls another name, the receptionist has a word with her and the consultant tells me she thought she seen me as there was someone with the same surname and I wasn’t on the system? She said she would see me next which she did but my 1pm appointment ended up with me being seen ay 2.30! So the fact they refused to see your son in ridiculous!

I always slot people in as you frequently get people coming early, so it’s not hard to do.

Always write to whoever you need to communicate with as phone calls are a waste of time. OP, email PALS and copy in whoever referred your son for this appointment. I always wait at least 30 minutes for any and all hospital appointments. It seems to be the norm.

I'm going against the grain here. The appointment time is the time the appointment is meant to start not the time you're meant to arrive. Just like when you get a 10am train. The train leaves at 10am you don't rock up at the station at 10am, you certainly don't rock up at 10:05.

That said it does seem a bit harsh to a teenager who had got a bit lost trying to find the clinic.

NHS worker here. It's 10 mins half of the appointment time we give before having to rebook a patient. However if next patient is in the waiting room I'll try and get that one in if the late patient phones to saying running late. Having to rebook a patient who is late has always been the case in the 30 years I've worked for the NHS.

I think that’s way too rigid. I’m usually really early so not sure what they’d do if I was 5 minutes late, but considering I’m usually waiting at least ten minutes past my appointment time I’d be really annoyed if they made me reschedule for being 5 mins late.

That said I don’t think it was wise to rely on him cycling to the appointment given it was a tight time frame between school ending and the appointment. I feel you should’ve given him money for an uber or taxi if that’s possible. The cycle should’ve been left at home that day.

If your dentist sees you late then they either won't be able to give you the service you pay for, or they'll then run late and all the other patients (who are also paying for the service) will have to wait also.