Cancelled appointment. Is this common?

greenwich

wobbley wrote:

greenwich wrote:

NHS staff are not our personal servants. They have a difficult job to do, trying to treat lots of people in too little time.

Oh yes they are !!! They are there to do a 'public service' and as such are paid by all of us who pay taxes and national insurance.

Let's just nail this "I pay your wages" nonsense. If the NHS people whom you regard as your servants did not help you remain healthy, how would you be able to work and earn a living? If the police and courts did not try to keep law and order would you not have had all your possessions snatched from you by criminals by now? If the teachers hadn't taught you stuff, how much would you be earning now?

The idea that people in the private sector pay the wages of public sector people who therefore become their servants is imbecilic. The fact is that we are a society in which different people do different work which, taken as whole, allows us to have the things we need to live. Whether a service is privately or publicly provided is a reflection of our society's judgment as to the best way to manage and pay for it, not a reflection of a master-servant relationship.

Backbiter

daveboy wrote:

It seems to me that the OP finds work more important than health and when the two cross over, the poor people in the NHS get shot at.

If people are not prepared to do the decent thing and inform someone they will be late, they get whatever is coming to them.



In my opinion people who can't keep appointments should have their right to use the NHS withdrawn.



Whilst you appear not to, I have a great deal of respect for all those who work in the NHS, and that includes the receptionists too.

If you reread my posts you might find that your last statement is totally wrong:

Quote from post #13:
This isn't a whinge about the NHS, which has given my entire family all the care I could ever have wished for, and I'm genuinely proud of what it stands for and delivers.


As for striking me off the list of NHS patients becuase I got held up at a meeting.........words fail me.

(But the phrase 'holier than thou' springs to mind)

Gingham_Ribbon

Seems that the original problem was that the appointment was dished out without considering when it would be convenient for you. And bullying patients to turn up when it is not convenient for them is bad practice.

It is true that missed appointments cost the NHS a lot of money, but in this case it seems that the receptionist is at least partly to blame. I wouldn't turn up half an hour late expecting to be seen though. Maybe standing your ground more firmly if it happens again and explaining that you will not be able to make that time MAY help in future. If not, then a word with the practice manager seems in order.

Hope you get it sorted out.

krisskross

greenwich wrote:

OK, let's ease up on backbiter. She sounds like a nice, reasonable person who had a bad experience and gave vent here. I expect that having slept on it, she knows that she was far more to blame than the NHS. The wider point here is that people never really think about the cost of their NHS treatment. If someone had paid £100 to easyJet for a flight, they would make sure they get to the airport on time, even if it means having to miss a union meeting. But because people never think that NHS appointments - including missed ones - cost money, they don't care about missing them.

Couldn't agree more, money certainly talks in our ever increasingly materialistic society. People simply do not appreciate what they do not pay for...apparently no charge at point of delivery equates to something not worth having or at the least something to be denigrated.
I know people will instantly say that they pay their NI so are entitled and yes they are. BUT it is an insurance like any other which relies on most of us never claiming on it, a fairly routine hip replacement operation costs about £6000, thus wiping out a huge chunk of one person's lifetime contributions. Appreciate what you have, I cannot imagine that it can be sustained for much longer as a totally free service.

daveboy

The 'holier than thou' certainly does come across.

But it's from you having posted on MSE about something which is ultimately your fault because you put work first.

I suppose having people talk about something which relates to you is a way of making yourself feel better, unless, of course, people don't say what you want to hear.

On another matter, this has no money saving aspect that I can think of. So even being on the Vent Board is pushing it.

Come on mods, move it to Discussion Time.

Backbiter

Agreed - this isn't really a money saving issue (although the issue of time wasters costing the NHS money has been raised). I'm grateful for ALL replies whether they make me feel better or not. I enjoyed greenwich's observation:
"let's ease up on backbiter. She sounds like a nice, reasonable person ". I hope my wife agrees.

I never disputed my own failings in not getting there on time. I wasn't rude or abusive to the receptionist. If what happened to me is standard practice I am happy to abide by it. I'm not having a go at the NHS, which I couldn't live without. My dealings with all the staff who work in it have always been fantastic. It wasn't the surgery's fault I was late.

All I wanted to find out from other posters was whether I was being treated normally. If so, fine.

All debates about whether the appointments system can be improved do belong in another forum.

Now I am sure you can come up with some other human failing that merits being struck off the NHS patients list. That could free up a few appointment times.

We could start with aggressive drivers who break the law, use abusive hand gestures and are tempted to commit to violence towards women:

Quote daveboy
Yesterday, 3:26 PM
Reply No 25 : Do you suffer from Road Rage? Would you admit to it?


I admit to making the odd mistake whilst driving, but I always find that it is the driving of others that affects my behaviour. For example:

Middle lane hoggers - I just pass on the inside and say stuff the no undertaking law

Tail-gaters - drop my speed right down to under the speed limit to really annoy the vehicle behind. They're always getting a quite visible middle finger from me. Nearly every journey I make someone gets the middle finger!

I never toot anyone, I find it easier to hand gesture instead.

I have been prepared to use my steering wheel lock as a weapon before and would happily use it if the situation arose. Most likely at 8.45am on a weekday when dumb housewives take their kids to school in a Land Rover they don't need and can't drive properly.

Backbiter

Backbiter wrote:

Agreed - this isn't really a money saving issue (although the issue of time wasters costing the NHS money has been raised). I'm grateful for ALL replies whether they make me feel better or not. I enjoyed greenwich's observation:
"let's ease up on backbiter. She sounds like a nice, reasonable person ". I hope my wife agrees.

I never disputed my own failings in not getting there on time. I wasn't rude or abusive to the receptionist. If what happened to me is standard practice I am happy to abide by it. I'm not having a go at the NHS, which I couldn't live without. My dealings with all the staff who work in it have always been fantastic. It wasn't the surgery's fault I was late.

All I wanted to find out from other posters was whether I was being treated normally. If so, fine.

All debates about whether the appointments system can be improved do belong in another forum.

Now I am sure you can come up with some other human failing that merits being struck off the NHS patients list. That could free up a few appointment times.

We could start with aggressive drivers who break the law, use abusive hand gestures and are tempted to commit to violence towards women:

Quote daveboy
Yesterday, 3:26 PM
Reply No 25 : Do you suffer from Road Rage? Would you admit to it?


"I admit to making the odd mistake whilst driving, but I always find that it is the driving of others that affects my behaviour. For example:

Middle lane hoggers - I just pass on the inside and say stuff the no undertaking law

Tail-gaters - drop my speed right down to under the speed limit to really annoy the vehicle behind. They're always getting a quite visible middle finger from me. Nearly every journey I make someone gets the middle finger!

I never toot anyone, I find it easier to hand gesture instead.

I have been prepared to use my steering wheel lock as a weapon before and would happily use it if the situation arose. Most likely at 8.45am on a weekday when dumb housewives take their kids to school in a Land Rover they don't need and can't drive properly."

AND A FEW WEEKS AGO:

"I'm sure most of us have, strictly speaking, broken a law at some point. I certainly have.

I travel down the M69 from Coventry to Leicester quite often, and touch 100mph most times I do the journey."

AND I SEE YOU'RE ALREADY WISHING HYPOTHERMIA AND PREMATURE DEATH ON THE OLD AND INFIRM:

23-10-2005, 8:48 AM
Replies: 33 There's A Harsh Winter Coming
Posted By daveboy

"All I will say is that anything that keeps the population of the UK down can only be a good thing.

Therefore, I welcome bitterly cold winters."

note to moderators: how does this kind of stuff get through?

[Deleted User]

The OP KNEW they were going to be late for the appointment the moment they left work late.

An apologetic phone call ahead of arrival may well have mitigated the situation and saved their appointment, or saved them a wasted journey if the appointment could not be saved.

Waiting seven weeks for an NHS appointment does not give anyone special rights. Doubtless there are others who have waited as long and who would be doubly frustrated knowing they could have had the OPs space at short notice.

SammyD_2

But hang on...the NHS is dealing with PEOPLE, and people have things go wrong in their lives at the last minute. If you have an appointment at a set time, how much allowance are you expected to give for "unanticipated" events...

My local surgery refused to see me when I was five minutes late for my appointment...I had left work with plenty of spare time to make it on time. The Tube then added an extra 30 minutes to my journey due to a train being taken out of service. Should I have left work an hour early, three hours early, or had the whole day off work (my boss would love that) just to ensure I was not five minutes late?

Similarly, had to grovel to the receptionist last week to keep my two month old daughter's appointment - I was three minutes late. Why? Because all the carparks outside the surgery were full, it was pouring with rain, and the nearest alternative parking is twenty minutes walk away. I had left myself fifteen minutes to spare when I calculated my journey thinking that a carpark would come free in that time. It did not. I then chose to wait for a carpark to come free rather than drag an ill baby through the rain for 20 minutes, making me three minutes late.

I normally turn up early for doctors appointments. I have never been kept waiting less than half an hour. I appreciate that receptionists have a tough job sometimes. But equally, being a patient isn't that easy either! I think just a little bit of realism would do the world of good...surely the priority is people's health not their timetables.

BFG_2

Easyjet - miss the flight you pay anyway
Pre-bought theatre tickets - miss the play, pay anyway
Cinema - miss the movie pay anyway,
Some restaurants - don't turn up or late, lose deposit
Some hairdressers - don't turn up or late, pay anyway


If you (ie anyone reading this), are at work and for some reason your boss has no 'work' to give you (coz the 'work/person' hasn't turned up yet), you would still expect your employer to pay you wouldn't you?