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

Really? I'd feel like I was late if I arrived on the dot, surely being on time to an appointment means being there a couple of minutes early to register or sign in?

That being said, things happen and I think they should have been more flexible with OP's son. If they were really pressed for time they could have just reduced his appointment by a couple of minutes.

Glad you do that, valuing good timekeeping and also considerate for anyone who struggles with sitting for a long time.

Wish it was the standard practice.

I have an appointment with my consultant surgeon at 8pm next Tuesday.
Personally I have nothing but admiration and huge respect for NHS workers.

Seems very inflexible. Poor him. Hopefully you’ll get a new appointment soon.

At the same time most medical appointments ask that you arrive 20-15 minutes early (forms etc.) so it’s never sensible to aim to arrive at the appointment time. If you have a 3pm appointment you need to be planning on arriving at 2.40.

We cant really turn people away here in NHS podiatry because we only see really serious cases. They might have sepsis or a serious bone infection and rescheduling could mean an amputation. We have to hope a colleague can pick some of our work up but lateness does often ruin my day and other patients start kicking off because we're running late.

He’s five mins late, so the next person is held up and at the end of day the consultant goes home late

… and then gets charged an astounding amount for late pick up from the nursery

Just imagine if every patient were 5 minutes late ...

Sounds like a total jobsworth.

I honestly think it's because he's a teenager and they thought he wouldn't kick up a fuss.

Some people in jobs like that, love a little power trip.

"he was 5 mins late. I believe him as he’s very exact about things!"

Seems a little odd that it was exactly 5 minutes, and not 7 minutes or 4 minutes or 9 minutes. I say this because "I was only 5 minutes" is the catch-all claim for people who are late, and it is invariably longer.

Also because your son who is presumably hale and hearty enough to cycle to and from school and onto an appointment with 40mins to comfortably make it could have run or jogged the last bit to make up that "5 minutes" - he was obviously close to the correct place.

But unfortunately late is late. And if his 5 minutes was more like 10, then why should other patients and the medical staff be inconvenienced? It is a hard lesson, but then so is life.

Youre gonna have to call and sort this op

This receptionist is a dick who probably doesn't like teenagers. I mean they're scary, but this is ridiculous.

Yanbu, sorry to your ds. Shes the receptionist the kids on tiktok make skits about 🙄

I once had a dentist try to charge me for being late (when I'd called to say that I was going to be 5 minutes late, and actually made it 3 minutes late).

I pointed out that the previous week (it was an ongoing treatment) I had let someone go in front of me when my appointment was already 15 minutes behind after they'd asked, and that I had never gone into an appointment at their practise on time in the past anyway, and with poor grace, removed the charge (and I moved dentist, as the work they'd done failed within a month)

Person A turns up at 10.05, gets 25 mins instead of 30.
Person B turns up at 10.35, gets 25 mins instead of 30.
By the time you see person F, you think you may as well give them the extra 5 mins at the end if the next hasn't turned up until 5 mins past.

So the whole system would need an extra 5 minutes at most.

The thing OP is questioning is the rule about the entire appointment being cancelled if they are one minute late.
None of what you have suggested has any effect on this.

But if theyd already been held up then they could see him anyway as his appointment would be running late?
This sounds like a case of the receptionist knowing a 17 year old wouldnt know enough to challenge it.

That is ridiculous! Complain via PALS. Five minutes is nonsense! Receptionists need to remember that they are dealing with the public - fallible human beings - and that occasionally small things will go wrong and allowances should be made.

I had something similar happen to me - I was to have a pacemaker fitted and arrived at the hospital in plenty of time. But the information did not tell you that the theatre was way over the other side of the hospital and not to park in the main car park or there would be a long walk. There was a smaller car park by the relevant place but the letter did not say this. Since my heart was not functioning properly that long walk was very slow indeed and I arrived a couple of minutes late to be greeted by unpleasant sarcasm "Hmmm - we thought you weren't coming." I really did not need this, both because I was weak and out of breath by then and understandably a bit nervous about the procedure to come. At least they did do it!!

No physio or medical person would say you're bumped after one minute. He may not be lying but his memory of the time might be off. In any department of any hospital I've ever been to including physio, they say after 15 mins we may not/will not see you.

Just double check it online. It must be on their website, the physio and rehab team. Or ring the receptionist. I'd say I'd be absolutely shocked if it was really one minute!

He was late, should have left earlier surely.

I think both you and your son are being unreasonable.
You are both not taking the appointment seriously. You should arrive 10 minutes early for appointments and allow time if you don’t know the layout of where you are going.
As a parent, I would have gone with a 17 year old.

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!

But if the OP's DS arrived five minutes after his scheduled appointment and the physio is running, say, ten minutes late then that doesn't make the physio run any later than he was already.

This seems to be the norm unfortunately now, my daughter has regular hospital appointments, one time we were late due to building works in the hospital, I was unaware so we had to trek around the whole building to get to where we were going and we were late by 5 mins. If the closures weren't in place we would've been 5 mins early!

And we got told we'd missed our appointment and would need to rebook! Baring in mind, every time (and we've been doing this for 17 years now!) we have to wait 30+ mins for our appointment!!

Thankfully our consultant who again we've had for 17 years, phoned me a few mins after and saw us! Receptionist really are above thier pay grade in some places!

It seems very high-handed for receptionists to send people away like that when they arrive with the majority of the allocated appointment time remaining. And I don't see how it benefits the NHS in any way if it simply means an additional appointment has to be booked.

He’s independent he doesn’t want his mummy there he’s nearly 18 ffs and after 16 they say they can’t share information with me unless he gives written permission which he would But he tells me anyway and he prefers to go on his own plus I’m working and it’s hard to get The time off

Fair enough but he still needs to be on time without excuses.

This is not a blanket rule. I used to work in a healthcare setting with child patients who were very poorly and in a city center. Our families were often late, even though they had the best intentions because wheelchairs and the Tube etc. are a nightmare. We would allow them to wait and see if we could fit them in, or call an early patient on sooner to allow them some grace. We were all happy to do this as it felt like the kind and human thing to do, and actually it was easier on us than letting the whole appointment time go to waste and have to rebook them anyway. Obviously we have a service to run and even if the family did their best and we couldn't see them they setimes had to go home again without being seen. This seems either unnecessarily strict, or poorly communicated or the receptionist went rogue. I would speak to pals for clarity on the policy, I wouldn't go in guns on blazing but just for future reference as the way it was handed seems very strict and your son was upset.