to think doctors surgery "appointment" times might have the slightest relevance

[blithedance]

... to real life

I have had to take nearly a morning off work to get a smear test. 20 mins travel. Arrived exactly on time. 45mins wait to see nurse. 5 mins for procedure. 20 mins back.

Every single time we make an appointment at this practice, we are waiting for minimum of 45 minutes and often an hour past the appointment time. By this time the DC's, if present, are climbing the walls, any other plans for the day in tatters. Is this normal? Can anyone shed any light on why?

I'm considering registering us all with another doctor but what would be the point if it's just the same there?

I'm working in a hospital, not a GP practice, but I would guess that unexpected things crop up and a number of unexpected things has a knock on effect.

For example, some ladies get in a dreadful emotional state about smear tests and take much longer than you would think to calm down and relax enough to take the examintion. It is kind to not rush people. Or perhaps someone earlier had complications and needed to talk to the nurse... these sort of talks can go on for half an hour or more and you can't just tell someone to shut up and leave coz you are running late.

See what I mean....?

Oh don't get me started!!!

Ours have a wonderful system whereby the earliest you can ring for an appointment is 8.30 am. Ring then, and you'll get engaged tone for at least half an hour solid. If by some miracle you eventually get through, you will be offered an appt at a TOTALLY inconvenient time ie between the hours of 9 and about 4.30. If you ask for an after work appt, you get told that these appointments are 'held back' and you must ring again after midday. So, if you are fortunate enough to be able to grab a bit of time off around midday you repeat the whole procedure again.

There is absolutely no chance of booking an appt for the next day, as apparently that's 'not allowed'.

When you eventually arrive at the surgery, you will be kept waiting for at least 45 minutes. However, on the rare occasion that you turn up two minutes late (easily done as it's impossible to find a parking space at the surgery) then you can guarantee a ticking off from the receptionist who will tell you loudly that you are two minutes late for your appointment as if it's a hanging offence.

(Tip: last time I was two minutes late and the receptionist loudly berated me:' You're late you know!' I replied 'Oops terribly sorry I'd better go straight on in then!'to which the receptionist admitted, 'Well, no actually we're running late and there are still two patients before you!!')

The whole thing is a fecking joke and designed to stop you ever feeling ill enough to attend the surgery!

I know its annoying , especially if you have to work and arrange your day around the appointment but I always try to think that the reason they are running late is because they have had to deal with something unexpected . I am pretty sure it isn't becuase they are all hiding and drinking cups of tea .

ftr do you live by me! We have the exact same system! It's good in a way though because you dont forget your appointment and only go if still ill that day.

If you start the day feeling bad you can be guaranteed to have rapidly rising blood pressure and a splitting headache after doing battle with the receptionists!

Very often delays are caused by other patients turning up late for their appointments, or the doctor having to go out on an emergency home visit, with no-one available to cover his or her list in the surgery. The nurse will often be dealing with babies, small children and the elderly and these can take time for the reasons themoon666 says.

It's annoying yes, but probably the best thing you can do is ask the receptionist if the doctor/nurse is running late when you arrive, how long they think you'll have to wait, and if you can't wait rebook your appointment. Or see if a practice near you is open outside the usual 9-5 and you could go before or after work?

Message withdrawn

All jobs have their pressures, deadlines and targets to meet - and any job involving people and government targets will have the additional pressures described.

My problem is not so much with the GP (who yes, is the one having to deal with all these issues, but on the other hand is pretty handsomely rewarded for it!) but with the receptionists who seem to go out of their way to be aggressive and confrontational with patients.

findtheriver that's a joke of a system! Our doctor has the 'old fashioned' system - you phone up, ask for an appointment with the doctor of your choice and day of your choice - days or weeks in advance - and 9 times out of 10 they can fit you in. They have an emergency spot after daily surgery so if you need to be seen that day they will tell you to come along to that, although you might have a bit of a wait. The receptionists are friendly and considerate.....all in all, sounds like we're very lucky! But why can't all surgeries be run like this?!

I had an appointment with a GP earlier this week for a very boring and routine thing; last patient of the day, should have been 4:50pm. I arrived at 4:40pm and was finally called in at 5:20pm! But as several people have mentioned - with some matters you just can't rush people, and it only takes one run-on appointment to affect everyone else down the line. My mum is the practice manager of a GP's surgery and I know she's always inundated by complaints about surgery running late. But then dozens of people every month also fail to show for their appointments and don't ring to cancel, wasting even more of people's time.

Thanks! My blood pressure is down a bit now and I feel sympathetic for all those people who needed a bit extra time. And I know there are lots of you caring professionals out there and you do a great job.

My mum was a medical receptionist for years (the kind face of her practice I hope!) so I have no illusions about the ridiculous systems and targets they are held to. Maybe they just need to have longer appointment slots, if they can be running 50% behind by 10.30 it should be 15 minutes not 10. But then they wouldn't fit so many people in...

I was particularly frustrated because I've been trying for months to book in on my day off but the clinic is always full, cancelled or not-yet-released, I had just given up.

My gp now offer appointments at 7am to beat missing work when you need to get checked out for something none life shattering but important.

They also do a comuter surgery in the eve as well after 7pm so you can stop off on your way home from work.

my dentist do the same

doctors need to scap targets and treat people and have longer appointment times. this way people are less stressed and whole days are not wasted in waiting rooms. i hate it when i have kids with me. people who don't have kids with them seem to always give you dirty looks when they lose intrest in being still and quite for more than 10 minutes.

I must be the only one out there with a good GP practice...Occassionally we have to wait for our appointment but not more than 20 minutes (except once when Dr forgot about us)
Of course that could be because it is an appointment for a child...I can phone them any time and they always find me a slot that day.

They overbook in case someone cancels or doesn't turn up. On the basis not just that your time is less important than yours, but that your time has no importance whatsoever.

I had to make a series of visits to an outpatient clinic. The clinic was only open one afternoon from 1pm to 5pm. I'd have a 1pm appointment, but I'd sit there and sit there for up to 4 hours as the overcrowded waiting room slowly emptied. After the first two hours I'd generally get a chair to sit in.

Eventually I made a complaint and discovered that all appointments were made for 1pm intentionally to make sure everyone was lined up ready and not to waste a moment of the consultants time.

I work in an outpatients clinic. Generally, we run to time but if you have a patient who faints/vomits etc after a procedure, they take priority over waiting patients.

It makes me laugh as patients will always berate me (the nurse) when the clinic is late, but as soon as they get into the docs room, and the doc will say 'sorry I am running late' the standard 'oh, thats ok doc' will come out of the patients mouth.

If you are going to moan, please be consistant about it, and give the doc as much verbal abuse as you gave me in the waiting room.

Mine is fab in this respect - never have to wait at all. The GP's prime objective, is to get you out of his office in the minimum time possible (ideally under a minute). I can't believe anyone is ever allowed the full 7 minutes with him.

My old GP (in a large and busy surgery) always kept people waiting because she'd talk the hind legs off a donkey. 30 min appointments were the norm.

onager I run hospital outpatient clinics and I have NEVER overbooked a clinic and I don't know anyone who has. The system (computerised) does not let you do this. It is not possible.

I have some sympathy with Cheshirekitty here. There seems no reason why the receptionist should be to blame if a patient faints, throws up, bursts into tears, threatens suicide or simply fails to understand the doctor's explanations. Yet somehow it does seem easier to grumble at somebody lower down the pecking order...

onager, and themoon66, I have also been to a clinic that runs this way. Everyone got told to arrive at 9.15 am and then you all sat and waited till you were called in. No staggering, it was evidently easier to get everyone else waiting around for hours than to work out a schedule. This isn't overbooking as such, I guess, but it is blatantly disrespectful of the patient's time. I don't think it was a coincidence that this clinic catered mainly to the elderly (I always brought the average age in the waiting room down about 25 years) and the assumption was that they would have nothing better to do than wait around all morning.

Cheshirekitty, sorry you feel unfairly berated. I am always happy to treat doctors with the same frankness as other medical staff. However, I've never had the chance to do so in the way you describe as I've never had a doctor apologise to me for an appointment starting late! On that day (when hell will also be freezing over, I imagine) I will not hold back from telling them I've been inconvenienced.

All my ante-natal appointments were done on the one-time basis - we were all booked in for 2.00, so everyone arrived at 1.30 (which was the earliest they would let you in) & you sat there until you were seen.

As for the only time I saw the consultant with DS, I saw him for about 4 minutes, during three of which he did nothing but complain about having lost his pen. The nurse offered him a pen, the receptionist offered him a pen & I was just about to offer him mine when a junior nurse arrived panting from the maternity ward & restored the sacred object to him. He gave me a cursory poke, scribbled something with the sodding pen & walked off. I don't remember that he actually spoke directly to me at all....