Doctors making you wait

Shelflife

had an appointment this morning at 930. arrived on time, 1 other patient there.

finally got into the doc at 10.20 no apology no nothing.

why do they think that their time is more important than everyone elses? fine if there is an emergency but its rude and unprofessional imo.

Lollipops23

that drives me nuts, don't mind 15-20mins but the whole reason for making the appt is to make sure you don't have to wait around so long. and then they charge 55quid for the privilage.

El Guapo!

Here ya go!

Thomas_S_Hunterson

On of the patients before you obviously took a hell of a lot longer than expected. It happens.

sarahlulu

My doctor takes her first appointment for 9.30, but she never arrives at the surgery until almost half ten. Every appointment all day then runs at least an hour late.

Shelflife

Sean_K wrote: »

On of the patients before you obviously took a hell of a lot longer than expected. It happens.

no first patient went in at 9.45 , came out at 10 and then i had to wait another 20mins to be called in.

Mac daddy

Obviously that person didn't agree with his 5mins once over and the usual couple of antibiotics and your fine that will be 55Euro's please treatment.

Dentist are just as bad they leave you sitting for ages.

SoWatchaWant

Listen boys... **** happens.

They should always apologise though, if late.

Kiera

So you think everyone should be in and out in 10 mins just because you think you're sicker than everyone else?

These things happen. If you were too sick to wait you should have gone to a VHI clinic or the hospital!

Turd Ferguson

Shelflife wrote: »

had an appointment this morning at 930. arrived on time, 1 other patient there.

finally got into the doc at 10.20 no apology no nothing.

why do they think that their time is more important than everyone elses? fine if there is an emergency but its rude and unprofessional imo.

You didnt have to go to the doc, I can give you a diagnosis right now...your Capital Letter count is way down. I'll write you a prescription for CAPS LOCK and a bottle of shift keys. Take one per sentance (after the full stop)

Sean.2

Well think if you payin €40-€60 euro for a sometimes 10 min consult you should be entilted to an efficient professional service, its not the public sector.

junkyard

I always book the last appointment of the day, never have to wait longer than 10 minutes.

sarahlulu

It's not always a case of being too sick to wait, but perhaps having to get back to work or pick kids up from school

genericguy

Turd Ferguson wrote: »

You didnt have to go to the doc, I can give you a diagnosis right now...your Capital Letter count is way down. I'll write you a prescription for CAPS LOCK and a bottle of shift keys. Take one per sentance (after the full stop)

Ah, an attempted grammar nazi.

Repeat after me Turd:

Pot.
Kettle.
Black.

jumpguy

That's quick man, my GP you'd be waiting 40 minutes average. One day was waiting an hour and a half.

starbelgrade

I think the fact that they have "waiting rooms" is an indication that you will probably have to wait.

Namlub

Sean_K wrote: »

On of the patients before you obviously took a hell of a lot longer than expected. It happens.

+1.
Though it would be handy, receptionists can't calculate how long the doctor will be with the patient before you to the nearest minute when you make your appointment. And I'm sure it'd be equally annoying if the doctor ushered you out without actually curing anything because Agnes O'Reilly has an appointment at ten and she must not be kept waiting.

smiley girl

Before whenever I would go to my GP the waiting room would be jammers and you would be waiting for about an hour and a half. Now though when I go there would be max two people in the waiting room, waiting time reduced big time. But on the other side of the coin, a friend of mine rang for an appointment first thing tuesday morning and couldn't get one til wednesday evening. When she finally got to see the doctor she was sent straight to A&E.

Wheres the balance?

smiley girl

granted she didn't die or anything because of the wait, but she was very sick

spartan1

1 by the very nature of dcotors are they not trying to help, fundamentally

2 have you ever been late for a doctors appointment and refused ?

3 a doctor arrive late in the morning, how do you know they have not been out at 6am to deal with an over anxious mother or a total false alarm that they dont turn around and tsk about

4 you go to the doctor , pay 55 yoyo and get an antibiotic......fair enough, what about the % of people who go expecting their antibiotic and are faced with the "mr simpson, could you please take a seat theres something i need to tell you "

Any doctor ive ever been to has been great, ya sometimes I got a 55 yoyo perscription but sometimes ............it was nice to have them there to help yaknow

Note : I have no affiliation to any doctor

smiley girl

smiley girl wrote: »

granted she didn't die or anything because of the wait, but she was very sick

Why didn't she go to A&E right away then? Perhaps I'm wrong but I didn't think GP's were meant for emergencies. People still have the right to visit the doctor and spend time in there without being about to drop dead.

Riddle101

Although it does seem pretty unprofessional, I'm giving doctors the benefit of the doubt because they proberly have emergency appointments that just came up. I mean does everyone think the Doctors are taking the p!ss, making their patients wait, while they slip into a pub for a pint. I'm sure they have more important things to worry then keeping patients waiting for ages.

Occam

Shelflife wrote: »

had an appointment this morning at 930. arrived on time, 1 other patient there.

finally got into the doc at 10.20 no apology no nothing.

why do they think that their time is more important than everyone elses? fine if there is an emergency but its rude and unprofessional imo.

Delays can happen for lots of reasons in a surgery, not all of which would be classified as an emergency but would still merit delaying surgery. Such as :

- Pharmacists phoning, needing clarification on prescription.
- bloods etc can come back from the lab requiring the Doctor to act
- Patients may need urgent telephone advice. Yes, people do ring their GP when they should be going to the hospital instead.
- Involuntary admissions may need to be co-ordinated
- Other medics may call regarding a patient. It's unlikely the consultant will call the GP back later, or take a call when it suits the GP
- Some patients will often need to be "squeezed in" to an already full session, if for example they have a potentially serious complaint.
- Unexpected house calls can delay the start of morning surgery.
- Some patients will complete a full consultation, complaining about a headache, and only pluck up the courage to mention that they are worried about a strange lump somewhere just as they put their hand on the door handle to leave.
-Some patients will take longer to examine than others, especially if they are elderly and have mobility problems.


I could go on and on....

Some day you will be the person that delays a mornings surgery. You won't be complaining then. You probably won't even think about how many people you have delayed.

sam34

Shelflife wrote: »

why do they think that their time is more important than everyone elses? fine if there is an emergency but its rude and unprofessional imo.

do you think the doctor was relaxing in a jacuzzi sipping champagne while you were waiting?

if there was a delay between the last patient leaving and you being called in, that could be for a multitude of genuine reasons - maybe the doc was making multiple phonecalls to the hospital looking for an urgent appointment for that patient, maybe they were trying to get through to ahospital team to find out what happened at the patients last hospital review, maybe a colleague rang them abouta patient, or maybe a family menber did, maybe they got blood test resulta back on someone and they urgently needed to contact them.....

the patients in the waiting room are not the only ones the doctor has to deal with.

they may be late for a surgery as they might have been called to a nursing home, or to a patients home.

whatever else they are doing, they are not just twiddling their thumbs.

edit, occam beat me to it!

TequilaMockingBird

I allow an hour waiting time when going to the doctors, I bring a book.

What drives me nuts is knowing it's finally my turn to go in, and I see the receptionist go in with a coffee.

Cue weeping on floor.

AARRRGH

His previous client was probably an 18 year old worried about a lump on her boob, so after she left he obviously needed to have a massive ****...

ejmaztec

AARRRGH wrote: »

His previous client was probably an 18 year old worried about a lump on her boob, so after she left he obviously needed to have a massive ****...

He probably told her to make another 6 appointments so that he could treat it with a series of massages, but didn't let on that it was only a nipple.:eek:

AARRRGH

ejmaztec wrote: »

He probably told her to make another 6 appointments so that he could treat it with a series of massages, but didn't let on that it was only a nipple.:eek:

Haha...

And in the process he notices she might have a problem with her vagina.

Shelflife

Occam wrote: »

Delays can happen for lots of reasons in a surgery, not all of which would be classified as an emergency but would still merit delaying surgery. Such as :

- Pharmacists phoning, needing clarification on prescription.
- bloods etc can come back from the lab requiring the Doctor to act
- Patients may need urgent telephone advice. Yes, people do ring their GP when they should be going to the hospital instead.
- Involuntary admissions may need to be co-ordinated
- Other medics may call regarding a patient. It's unlikely the consultant will call the GP back later, or take a call when it suits the GP
- Some patients will often need to be "squeezed in" to an already full session, if for example they have a potentially serious complaint.
- Unexpected house calls can delay the start of morning surgery.
- Some patients will complete a full consultation, complaining about a headache, and only pluck up the courage to mention that they are worried about a strange lump somewhere just as they put their hand on the door handle to leave.
-Some patients will take longer to examine than others, especially if they are elderly and have mobility problems.


I could go on and on....

Some day you will be the person that delays a mornings surgery. You won't be complaining then. You probably won't even think about how many people you have delayed.

It could well be any of the above and i have no problem with doctors taking their time with patients. But there was only 1 other patient and i had gone to the bother of making an appointment. If they are running late or tied up on the phone would it kill them to let you know that they are running late?

its basic manners and at the end of the day we are paying customers.

ejmaztec

AARRRGH wrote: »

Haha...

And in the process he notices she might have a problem with her vagina.

and then she has to pay him.:pac:

It's a crazy world out there.:eek:

itsnotmyname

This just mirrors how our health system works ....or does'nt !
We'd compalin if our Tesco delivery did'nt arrive on schedule , but yet, not a word will be uttered to the doc when we're in the waiting room for over an hour, and forking out €60 for the pleasure. Our health system needs to be run like a business ......take our money ....but give us the goods !!!!

AARRRGH

itsnotmyname wrote: »

This just mirrors how our health system works ....or does'nt !
We'd compalin if our Tesco delivery did'nt arrive on schedule , but yet, not a word will be uttered to the doc when we're in the waiting room for over an hour, and forking out €60 for the pleasure. Our health system needs to be run like a business ......take our money ....but give us the goods !!!!

The problem is most doctors are deluded and think they're better than everyone else... when in reality they have one of the worst jobs in the world and really should be sympathised.

itsnotmyname

theres no money would pay for the aggro and pressure they endure .......

AARRRGH

itsnotmyname wrote: »

theres no money would pay for the aggro and pressure they endure .......

Yeah, forgetting the fact they have to touch sick people all day and do things like look at old hairy diseased assholes, they also could be sued anytime and could cause someone to die.

Crap job, crap life.

Occam

itsnotmyname wrote: »

This just mirrors how our health system works ....or does'nt !
We'd compalin if our Tesco delivery did'nt arrive on schedule , but yet, not a word will be uttered to the doc when we're in the waiting room for over an hour, and forking out €60 for the pleasure. Our health system needs to be run like a business ......take our money ....but give us the goods !!!!

Almost all GP surgerys are already running as a business. In terms of medical card patients they are independent contractors to the HSE. In terms of private patients they are essentially sole traders.

ejmaztec

itsnotmyname wrote: »

theres no money would pay for the aggro and pressure they endure .......

There is, and it once belonged to us.:(

Occam

Shelflife wrote: »

It could well be any of the above and i have no problem with doctors taking their time with patients. But there was only 1 other patient and i had gone to the bother of making an appointment. If they are running late or tied up on the phone would it kill them to let you know that they are running late?

its basic manners and at the end of the day we are paying customers.

Jesus some people really want to have their cake and eat it.

Its like this you met a Doctor who is likely overworked and very stressed. He is working in a system that is close to collapse, with GP surgerys being about the only part of the health system that even close to works. And it only works because its the part the HSE have least to do with.

While he dealt with another patient you had to wait. Big deal. Perhaps he should have apologised.

But what should he have apologised for? Is it really his fault you were kept waiting? Or do you think there might be a bigger issue in the health system that is the root problem?

marcsignal

Shelflife wrote: »

had an appointment this morning at 930. arrived on time, 1 other patient there.

finally got into the doc at 10.20 no apology no nothing.

maybe this was the other patient ??

tallaght01

AARRRGH wrote: »

Crap job, crap life.

It's a great job, an and average life.

But it's all about communication. I'll usually tell the punters why I'm late, and I'll apologise. I don't give any personal details away (sorry we're running late, but I had to scrub Jim Clearey's mickey for an hour before I could even get near it to examine). But I'll say that we've had some very sick people in earlier and that they took up a lot of time.

I kept a room full of people waiting over an hour late a while back, when a mum brought her kid into my paediatric clinic who was grossly dehydrated and needed some pretty urgent intervention.

I told people the bones of what happened, and they were all fine about it. People are genuinely reasonable if you let them know what's happening.

The problem is docs get crotchety about it, because the same courtesy is rarely afforded to us.

People turn up late ALL the time. 6pm and you're about to go home, and someone is guaranteed to walk in 2 hours late. I always see them. In fact, I hang around after clinics doing my paperwork in the clinic room because I know people will turn up late. A colleague told a patient she couldn't see her a while ago, as they turned up at 5.20, and a written complaint followed to the hospital.

So, it does work both ways. But when one person is sick, an the other is usually snowed under, the niceties do often get left at the door.

Quackles

I don't mind waiting. I have seen first hand what can delay things.. My gp took my son in with little warning after closing time last year (he had seen him earlier in the day, but things went downhill fast), and spent ages with us treating him and making the necessary arrangements to have him admitted. I know he's not just sitting in the office scratching himself.

the_syco

Waiting time for GP: 5 to 10 minutes
Waiting time for dentist, give or take 30 minutes. Usually ontime, or early, though.

Long Onion

It is, methinks, no coincidence that the words 'patients' and 'patience' are so similar.

Robxxx7

i prefer to think of myself as a customer and as a paying customer if i don't get the service i expect then i complain ... don't matter whether its a shop, surgery or wherever... i will complain

Long Onion

Robxxx7 wrote: »

i prefer to think of myself as a customer and as a paying customer if i don't get the service i expect then i complain ... don't matter whether its a shop, surgery or wherever... i will complain

Have you had many prostate examinations this year?

Robxxx7

nope ... but i would still complain if i wasn't happy with the service ..in fact i would use my discretion in choice and go elsewhere

Shelflife

Occam wrote: »

Jesus some people really want to have their cake and eat it.

Its like this you met a Doctor who is likely overworked and very stressed. He is working in a system that is close to collapse, with GP surgerys being about the only part of the health system that even close to works. And it only works because its the part the HSE have least to do with.

While he dealt with another patient you had to wait. Big deal. Perhaps he should have apologised.

But what should he have apologised for? Is it really his fault you were kept waiting? Or do you think there might be a bigger issue in the health system that is the root problem?

If you bothered to read the thread properly you would have noted the following.

I had an appointment for 930. there was only 1 other patient in the room -- no emergency no other patients waiting at the time, the first person was seen and then there was a 20 min gap until i was seen (after the first patient was gone).

Where you get the idea that a doctor in a private practice is more over worked or over stressed than the rest of us is laughable.

Imo if there are appointments arranged then he should keep that time. if he cant for some reason then he should inform the customer that he is running late and apologise. Its basic manners.

drkpower

Robxxx7 wrote: »

nope ... but i would still complain if i wasn't happy with the service ..in fact i would use my discretion in choice and go elsewhere

And you are free to do so.

But perhaps you don't fully understand the peculiarities of medicine. Have a read of Occam's excellent post a page back; there are many reasons why a doctor may be delayed in seeeing you. Most of them are because he is providing such a good service. While you may only need him to see you for a cough or a sprain, you may need him one day to see you or your kid at home, in a relative emergency, and then you may be very happy to have the busy GP who does house calls and sees sick patients out of turn.

And remember, changing doctors is not always straightforward as changing newsagents. The experience of you and your family's medical medical history and personality can often be vital information in coming to a diagnosis or knowing the right way to manage you or your condition. Much of that advantage is lost when you change GPs. If you are a healthy 25 year old, that is not that important but it becomes more important over time.

Thornography

My Doc's great, Arive on time, 2 mins later your seen and mended

drkpower

Shelflife wrote: »

If you bothered to read the thread properly you would have noted the following.

I had an appointment for 930. there was only 1 other patient in the room -- no emergency no other patients waiting at the time, the first person was seen and then there was a 20 min gap until i was seen (after the first patient was gone).

Where you get the idea that a doctor in a private practice is more over worked or over stressed than the rest of us is laughable.

Imo if there are appointments arranged then he should keep that time. if he cant for some reason then he should inform the customer that he is running late and apologise. Its basic manners.

I don't think anyone is arguing with the inform & apologise point.

But do you know what he was doing in that 20 minutes? Was he answering two phonecalls from patients with heart disease who had woken up with chest pains, was he answering a complicatred query from a nursing home about one of his patients, was he discussing a patients multi-drug regime with a pharmacist? Were those things less important than seeing you? And if you were the guy at home with chest pain wondering what to do, what would you have thought if the GP wouldnt take your calll because he had a routine patient to see?

As for 'stressful', the job of a doctor/GP is more stressful than most jobs, perhaps not to ridiculous levels, but it is stressful for a number of reasons, many of which have been elaborated upon already.

Robxxx7

drkpower wrote: »

And you are free to do so.

But perhaps you don't fully understand the peculiarities of medicine. Have a read of Occam's excellent post a page back; there are many reasons why a doctor may be delayed in seeeing you. Most of them are because he is providing such a good service. While you may only need him to see you for a cough or a sprain, you may need him one day to see you or your kid at home, in a relative emergency, and then you may be very happy to have the busy GP who does house calls and sees sick patients out of turn.

And remember, changing doctors is not always straightforward as changing newsagents. The experience of you and your family's medical medical history and personality can often be vital information in coming to a diagnosis or knowing the right way to manage you or your condition. Much of that advantage is lost when you change GPs. If you are a healthy 25 year old, that is not that important but it becomes more important over time.

Well if its an emergency i'll call the emergency services, i have far more faith in paramedics

I wish i was 25 .. but alas i'm far the wrong side of that .. the point being made on this thread is that we as patients/customers deserve a bit of common courtesy when we are being made to wait ..it takes no more than 5 seconds for the practice receptionist to say, by the way the doctor is running 30 minutes late etc ... and then for the doctor to say when he/she see's you 'sorry for the delay but i've had some emergencies or whatever to deal with.'

You know the doctors are not the only ones busy, there are plenty of people out there working long hours for small pay, stressed out and doing important work ... lets have a bit of mutual respect for each other rather than it being one way all the time

drkpower

Robxxx7 wrote: »

Well if its an emergency i'll call the emergency services, i have far more faith in paramedics

I wish i was 25 .. but alas i'm far the wrong side of that .. the point being made on this thread is that we as patients/customers deserve a bit of common courtesy when we are being made to wait ..it takes no more than 5 seconds for the practice receptionist to say, by the way the doctor is running 30 minutes late etc ... and then for the doctor to say when he/she see's you 'sorry for the delay but i've had some emergencies or whatever to deal with.'

You know the doctors are not the only ones busy, there are plenty of people out there working long hours for small pay, stressed out and doing important work ... lets have a bit of mutual respect for each other rather than it being one way all the time

Again, I dont think anyone would argue with the 'common courtesyy' point and, no doubt, a lot of people have stressful jobs. If that is the limit of your compolaint, then it is well founded.

But, again, I think you have a misconception about medical services. If you (and everyone else) calls the emergency services to be brought to A&E everytime you have a relative emergency, you are doing noone, including yourself, a favour. Many "emergencies" do not require anything more than GP directed treatment. And if you have more faith in paramedics than GPs in you or your family's treatment, then I would be really concerned.