Doctors "appointments"

What the hell is up with them?

"Your appointment is at 9:15am"

*Shows up at that time on the allotted day*

*Sees doctor at 11:30am*

Even with private or public healthcare it seems to be the same.

What are they doing? Why are they giving appointments that appear to meaningless other than being on the right day? Are doctors a bunch of sex addicts having orgies all the time (which might explain why there are doors to each adjacent room, so they move about easily with each other) and subsequently take fecking ages to actually see their patients at the right time? They don't even have the common courtesy to invite us!

So the real question is, why do doctors not invite the general public to their super secret doctor orgy parties?

hondasam

have to agree this is very annoying. If you are late it a big ordeal for them.

dark crystal

Ha, this has always bugged me!

Why make appointments 5 or 10 minutes apart, when you're always left waiting for at least 45 minutes??

I know when there are a few 'older' people in front of me, I'm in for a long wait.....

Saila

its not so much an appointment as a queue number :rolleyes:

mikemac

You're on your lunchbreak and know your teamleader will be giving out if you come back late.

You get called and then a mother & her crying baby are there too and the receptionist asks if you mind can they skip ahead.

Refuse and you look a ****.
Allow them and you come back late

Happened me twice!
Dilemma

chin_grin

Because of all the old people that take AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGES with their list of ailments.

hdowney

really fupping annoys me, altho is not as bad in the doctors i go now.

the one i went to before was just diabolical. say you had a 9am apt, you could still be sitting there at lunchtime (and you'd be like y? my apt was first surely!!!)

also ring for an apt and they say sure, monday two weeks away is the first available!!! WTF!?!?!? seriously. i need to see a doctor ffs, not sit at home and stew.

they have 'emergency doctors' on - the ones who also do call outs, and you used to just go down and sit and be called in. now you ring up to see the emergency doc and they are like is it an emergency! like DUH, not the er emergency but... and now they give you an appointment to see the emergency doc!!

seriously a shambles of a place.

my new doctors i think the longest i have waited is half hour ish, when some old dithery yoke has gone in before me for a 'chat' as well as her ailment. much better place.

Kojak

chin_grin wrote: »

Because of all the old people that take AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGES with their list of ailments.

Sure I suppose they might as well milk the system for all its worth. They have free health, don't they?

I knew of 2 women who only went to the doctor to get themselves weighed - pure waste of time and it was always holding up other, more legitimate "appointments"

everyday taxi

what annoys me most abt this is, your delay is as bad wether you arrive at 9.30am or 3.30pm. If they only open up at 8.30am, how can they be runnin 30 minutes fuggin late an hour later!!!!!!!!!!!!

finbarrk

It's terrible. Appointments mean nothing sometimes. Sitting there for an hour after your appointed time seems to be the norm in West Clare anyway. It would put you off visiting your doctor.
Is it this way all over the country?

finbarrk

Is it how there aren't enough doctors in the country?

policarp

Kojak wrote: »

Sure I suppose they might as well milk the system for all its worth. They have free health, don't they?

I knew of 2 women who only went to the doctor to get themselves weighed - pure waste of time and it was always holding up other, more legitimate "appointments"

Who said the other patients were more "legitimate"?
If you're sick you're sick. In the head or in the body...

msg11

Doctor?

You mean a person to tell you that everything will be ok and that your body is going to do most of the work if you just let it.

Ain't been the doctors in over 9 years now. My body can handle most of what is throw at me. In fact I would be worst if I went down the waiting room and waited there for the doc to tell me I am not going to die.

I think I had some serious Flus and even that Swine flu , just let my body do it's thing. In fairness, any virus ain't going to be pleasant or nice, well I am still here to tell my story. Which is, I wouldnt go near a doctors unless I really needed to or if Google suggested. Worst case I would end up in A&E which is where I would end up even if the Doctor sent me.

Chuck Stone

Simple supply and demand problem imho. If GP's had to compete for service users then it would be the other way around.

The GP I attend is at the top of a steep flight of stairs. Yep, people with bad injuries, very infirm, very old, hardly able to breathe have to climb a steep set of stairs to be ripped off for a GP's autograph.

****em.

Ihaveanopinion

msg11 wrote: »

Doctor?

You mean a person to tell you that everything will be ok and that your body is going to do most of the work if you just let it.

Ain't been the doctors in over 9 years now. My body can handle most of what is throw at me. In fact I would be worst if I went down the waiting room and waited there for the doc to tell me I am not going to die.

I think I had some serious Flus and even that Swine flu , just let my body do it's thing. In fairness, any virus ain't going to be pleasant or nice, well I am still here to tell my story. Which is, I wouldnt go near a doctors unless I really needed to or if Google suggested. Worst case I would end up in A&E which is where I would end up even if the Doctor sent me.

hmmm... methinks you have never been sick then....

if you are a healthy person in your teens 20s 30s even 40s, great - you dont need a doctor....

when you get older, then wheels come off - if you go to the doctor now, youll find your blood pressure is a bit up... you probably need to lose a little weight. Your cholesterol is a bit up too....

suddenly your GP consultation goes from unnecessary to the 5-10 mins allocated... but then you get a bit older, and you develop heart disease maybe a touch of the diabetes... perhaps you need 15 mins...

and on it goes....

Suck it up and be thankful you are healthy.....things aren't that bad. A flu doesn't need drugs and most of the time doesn't need a GP. If the doctor has to spend more time with someone with a serious illness, be glad it is not you

Karona

I only see my GP of i really really need it, i dont get hypercondriacs who run to them over something stupid. They are wasting appointments other people may need.

I know one such person who runs to the doctor over hilariously stupid things. He had a headache one day so he went to the doctor thinking he had a brain tumour. He was told that it was a headache take 2 paracetamol and he'd be grand.

I'd love to see what would happen if his medical card was taken away from him. :rolleyes:

Agricola

Ihaveanopinion wrote: »

hmmm... methinks you have never been sick then....

if you are a healthy person in your teens 20s 30s even 40s, great - you dont need a doctor....

when you get older, then wheels come off - if you go to the doctor now, youll find your blood pressure is a bit up... you probably need to lose a little weight. Your cholesterol is a bit up too....

suddenly your GP consultation goes from unnecessary to the 5-10 mins allocated... but then you get a bit older, and you develop heart disease maybe a touch of the diabetes... perhaps you need 15 mins...

and on it goes....

Suck it up and be thankful you are healthy.....things aren't that bad. A flu doesn't need drugs and most of the time doesn't need a GP. If the doctor has to spend more time with someone with a serious illness, be glad it is not you

Good advice. Ill try to remember all this the next time im tearing my hair out in the waiting room!

Mike 1972

Karona wrote: »

I know one such person who runs to the doctor over hilariously stupid things. He had a headache one day so he went to the doctor thinking he had a brain tumour. He was told that it was a headache take 2 paracetamol and he'd be grand.

You didnt finish the story.

Does he actually have a brain tumour ?

El_Dangeroso

I'm never waiting more than 10 mins for my doctor. Maybe it's different in Galway?

phasers

What wrecks my head is when old ladies think they can skip the queue. I was waiting to see the doctor for about an hour and a half a while ago when some bitch tried to skip me (and about 6 other people behind me). I was about to tell her to go fcuk herself when another auld fella did it for me. Her face was priceless!

PrincessLola

if you are a healthy person in your teens 20s 30s even 40s, great - you dont need a doctor....

Except many women take the pill, which you need a doctor's prescription for.

Amalgam

Kojak wrote: »

I knew of 2 women who only went to the doctor to get themselves weighed - pure waste of time and it was always holding up other, more legitimate "appointments"

A few clinics get a good share of their bread and butter from the 'trivial stuff', my local seems to catch a lot of patients for blood pre$$ure monitoring, oh.. and weighing too..

phasers

Maybe the people who go to the GP for trivial stuff actually have medical issues they're embarassed to talk about?

El Horseboxo

A part of it is because people turn up way earlier than their appointments. I recently went the doctors with an appointment for 10:30. There were 2 aul ones yapping to each other complaining about the delay and that they had been waiting over half an hour. During this conversation they asked each other what time their appointments were for. One said 10:45. The other said 11:00. Both got seen to before me. At 10:25 they were moaning bout waiting 30 minutes. What the fúck where they doing turning up almost an hour before their assigned time? Said it to the doctor when i went in and he blamed the receptionist. I then said it to the receptionist and she blamed the doctor.

xoxyx

PrincessLola wrote: »

Except many women take the pill, which you need a doctor's prescription for.

This is true, but my doc lets me see the nurse every second visit for this which cuts down on waiting time - and it's cheaper! Although, in fairness, this particular practice (in Dublin city centre) is very good and I have never had to wait more than 15 mins.

Not saying which one in case ye all start going there and clogging up the waiting room!!

(Seriously though, PM me if want the name.)

MagicMarker

This is why I don't go to the doctor.

123balltv

If you make an appointment for 10 o'clock then it should be on time most people have to go straight back to work or look after kids.

I hardly ever go to the doctor cant afford it 50 euro :eek: far too high I
ask my friends/family with medical cards to go to the doctor complain you
have infections etc thats how I get my antibiotics never would I pay 50e for 2 mins hello/goodbye heres your prescription

chompchomp

I can understand people's annoyance at this but imagine if you made an appointment with the doctor because you felt there was something seriously wrong. You were explaining your problem in fine detail (EVERYONE does this) but the doctor interrupts you in order to tell you to hurry up because his next patient is due in ten minutes.

Fortunatly, all my doctors will take the time to listen to me (I've had to drag my dad to the doctor, explain his symptoms and it turned out to be colon cancer).

If our health problems could be properly discussed and treated in a certain time frame, then the health service all over the world would run a lot more smoothly.

phasers

chompchomp wrote: »

I can understand people's annoyance at this but imagine if you made an appointment with the doctor because you felt there was something seriously wrong. You were explaining your problem in fine detail (EVERYONE does this) but the doctor interrupts you in order to tell you to hurry up because his next patient is due in ten minutes.

Fortunatly, all my doctors will take the time to listen to me (I've had to drag my dad to the doctor, explain his symptoms and it turned out to be colon cancer).

If our health problems could be properly discussed and treated in a certain time frame, then the health service all over the world would run a lot more smoothly.

That's fine, but why do they schedule appointments so closely together? i agree that every patient should get the doctor's full atention, but in that case, appointments should be a half an hour apart, not ten minutes! I wouldn't mind waiting an extra fifteen minutes in that instance

whydoibother?

I think there are two main reasons.

First the receptionist doesn't always know how long stuff will take especially if it's a new patient and so some appointments run over.

Secondly, there are "emergencies" that need to be squeezed in. I'm not talking about the kind of drama that goes to A & E but people who didn't realise they'd need to be seen that day and nonetheless have to be.

Karona

Mike 1972 wrote: »

You didnt finish the story.

Does he actually have a brain tumour ?

Nope he didnt, Doctor checked him out and everything. He does have a sore back at the moment, Im sure he will make up some disease or something that he can go running to the doctors for next. :rolleyes:

drkpower

phasers wrote: »

That's fine, but why do they schedule appointments so closely together? i agree that every patient should get the doctor's full atention, but in that case, appointments should be a half an hour apart, not ten minutes! I wouldn't mind waiting an extra fifteen minutes in that instance

If the appointments were every half hour, that might result in less occasions where people have to wait, but it would halve the capacity of a GP and result in a considerable waiting time to get an appointment. A GP is one of the few professional services where someone can usually get a same day appointment. Compare that to the UK, where an appointment within 48 hours is a relative rarity, and where many patients can wait for 5 or more days. Be careful of what you wish for.

Unfortunately, consultation times are unpredictable. Patients who require urgent attention are unpredictable. When a GP might need to go on a house call or visit a patient in a nursing home is unpredictable. That all leads to unpredictable waiting times when you go to the GP.

RichieC

I've never understood it...

also: everyone going in ahead of me would be in there a bloody hour, I'd go in and I'd be heading back out before the door closed...

Same with bank machines... everyone takes fking ages at the things :mad:

SugarHigh

You can't expect a Dr. know how long each patient will take before he see's them. It could be 5 mins or it could be an hours it's hardly his fault.

Naikon

Avoid doctors where possible is my mantra.

sollar

Karona wrote: »

I only see my GP of i really really need it, i dont get hypercondriacs who run to them over something stupid. They are wasting appointments other people may need.

I know one such person who runs to the doctor over hilariously stupid things. He had a headache one day so he went to the doctor thinking he had a brain tumour. He was told that it was a headache take 2 paracetamol and he'd be grand.

I'd love to see what would happen if his medical card was taken away from him. :rolleyes:

He would just pay if he really is a hypochondriac. You may laugh at hypochondriacs but its a from of anxiety and is debilitating for those that truly suffer from it.

He is not going to the doctors for the fun. He is genuinely worried.

loike

my granny usually makes something up because she loves talking to the doctor......

Cunning Stunt

Karona wrote: »

I only see my GP of i really really need it, i dont get hypercondriacs who run to them over something stupid. They are wasting appointments other people may need.

I know one such person who runs to the doctor over hilariously stupid things. He had a headache one day so he went to the doctor thinking he had a brain tumour. He was told that it was a headache take 2 paracetamol and he'd be grand.

I'd love to see what would happen if his medical card was taken away from him. :rolleyes:

I was about to ask if the guy had a medical card...I had a friend who was the very same. Her family had the medical card and if any of them so much as sneezed, they were straight down to the doctors waiting room. The way they abused the medical card was a joke! I wonder just how many of those people there are..

whatlliwear

Cunning Stunt wrote: »

I was about to ask if the guy had a medical card...I had a friend who was the very same. Her family had the medical card and if any of them so much as sneezed, they were straight down to the doctors waiting room. The way they abused the medical card was a joke! I wonder just how many of those people there are..

This really pi@@es me off!! I have to pay €50 every time I need to go to the doctor. I only go when I really really have to but some people just take the pi@@ out of the system..

Solnskaya

sollar wrote: »

He would just pay if he really is a hypochondriac. You may laugh at hypochondriacs but its a from of anxiety and is debilitating for those that truly suffer from it.

He is not going to the doctors for the fun. He is genuinely worried.

So Sollar, how long have you been a hypochondriac? The constant worrying couldn't be good for your health.:D

strokemyclover

If GP waiting times piss you off you're a pussy! Try waiting on a public consultant or A&E

You'd be lucky to see a consultant within 3 hours of an appointment time - I think my record is 5 hours. In A&E you won't get out the same day!

cbyrd

My first port of call is usually the Pharmacist. . i tell the symptoms and she'll either give me an over the counter medicine or tell me to go to the doc for a prescription. I did have what seemed to be flu before christmas, so i loaded up on the nurofen and took to my bed.. only to get worse and end up in hospital for a week with an auto-immune infection that took 8 weeks to clear.
So even if you don't want to waste the Doc's time sometimes it's just better to be sure.
although i never understand how can get the first appointment of the day and still have to wait for a half hour when there's no-one ahead of me... AND those bloody reps that swan in and sit for an hour. . . . :eek: damn bastages .. .

drkpower

cbyrd wrote: »

although i never understand how can get the first appointment of the day and still have to wait for a half hour when

It might be that someone who needed to be seen urgently came in just before you.
It might be that the doctor had to do an urgent house call/nursing home before arriving at the surgery.
It might be that the coreespondence/test results he was reviewing before seeing patients raised an issu of urgency and he had to call a patient/other doctor/arrange an urgent referral etc etc.

It may be quite a few things. Of course, it might be that the doctor slept it out.

Karona

strokemyclover wrote: »

If GP waiting times piss you off you're a pussy! Try waiting on a public consultant or A&E

You'd be lucky to see a consultant within 3 hours of an appointment time - I think my record is 5 hours. In A&E you won't get out the same day!

In A&E my record is 9 and a half hours. Went in at 3 came out at half 12.

Wasnt a very nice way to spend my day.

Tayla

Whenever I went to the doc when I was pregnant it was good because you get seen straight away, I suppose they don't want you sitting in a waiting room with people with bugs etc...

In the maternity hospital they used to always give around 10 of us the same appointment time.......why the hell they think it makes sense to get everyone in at 9:15 I do not know!!

My name is URL

Damn selfish sick people.. can they not just hurry up and die? I've got plans in the afternoon

hdowney

Tayla wrote: »

Whenever I went to the doc when I was pregnant it was good because you get seen straight away, I suppose they don't want you sitting in a waiting room with people with bugs etc...

In the maternity hospital they used to always give around 10 of us the same appointment time.......why the hell they think it makes sense to get everyone in at 9:15 I do not know!!

it ain't just the maternity hosp. any clinic apt i have been to, half the people there got the same apt time as me. bloody joke

saa

The only way I've gotten around that is by getting the first appointment after lunch if its a small practice, if not first appointment of the morning but that's unlikely so suck it up at least you're able to see a doctor!

sollar

Solnskaya wrote: »

So Sollar, how long have you been a hypochondriac? The constant worrying couldn't be good for your health.:D

Jokes aside, off and on for about 15 years. When i get a bout of it its terrible because it always comes with actual symptoms, the problem is that i think the worst.

I don't have a medical card and when i'm really worried money is no issue... i'd sell my granny for an answer and to get rid of the worry.

I agree though the Dr.'s surgeries are always filled with medical card holders, but why not they get it free. I think everyone should be charged something be it 5 or 10 euro.

byhookorbycrook

My dr asks that people who need a longer thsan usual appt (15 mins the norm) lets the receptionist know at the time you make the appt.She is sometimes called away for an emergency and this may cause delays, but generally works to time.

chompchomp

phasers wrote: »

That's fine, but why do they schedule appointments so closely together? i agree that every patient should get the doctor's full atention, but in that case, appointments should be a half an hour apart, not ten minutes! I wouldn't mind waiting an extra fifteen minutes in that instance

I was only using ten mins as an example. I don't know how long appointments generally are as I rarely go to the doctor.