Acceptable waiting Time for your appointment

anewme

What would people deem an acceptable waiting time, for example, Dentist, etc.

I had an appointment at 6 tonight for physio on a sports injury and it was my first appointment and assessment and charge was to be 55 per half hour.

Arrived at 5.50, no one on Reception, all in with clients, fair enough....chap came out at about 6.10 and said should not be much longer and would pass on message that i was here. Then at physio 6.25 came out with previous client to the till, etc. Then guy arrived for the half six appointment and he was told, oh we are running a little behind. At that stage I was cheesed off, so said, I'll come back another time. Just got the feeling that I would get a kind of conveyor belt service and not happy paying 55 for the privilege.

What do people deem acceptable waiting times for this type of thing. My dentist can over run sometimes, but usually never more than 10 minutes and I dont have an issue with this, but would be interested to find out what others deem acceptable.

Thanks

PucaMama

anewme wrote: »

What would people deem an acceptable waiting time, for example, Dentist, etc.

I had an appointment at 6 tonight for physio on a sports injury and it was my first appointment and assessment and charge was to be 55 per half hour.

Arrived at 5.50, no one on Reception, all in with clients, fair enough....chap came out at about 6.10 and said should not be much longer and would pass on message that i was here. Then at physio 6.25 came out with previous client to the till, etc. Then guy arrived for the half six appointment and he was told, oh we are running a little behind. At that stage I was cheesed off, so said, I'll come back another time. Just got the feeling that I would get a kind of conveyor belt service and not happy paying 55 for the privilege.

What do people deem acceptable waiting times for this type of thing. My dentist can over run sometimes, but usually never more than 10 minutes and I dont have an issue with this, but would be interested to find out what others deem acceptable.

Thanks

ive waited for my doctor that long plenty of times. 25 minutes isnt very long.

Procrastastudy

Very much depends.

I use a doctor who runs quite an odd mixture of drop in and appointments so I cut him some slack. If I turn up early I get seen early, if I turn up late I still get seen etc.

I almost lost the plot with Smiles one morning when I was kept waiting an hour because the silly woman in front of me had overslept and missed her 8am appointment. I wouldn't have minded so much but she kept gabbing on knowing she was holding everyone up - again only reason I stayed was I was enjoying giving her an evil look.

I guess about half hour but then being from the UK we're used to doctors always running late as its free(ish)

anewme

Thanks for the feedback.........I think in a Doctors surgery it is a bit harder to judge because it is difficult for the doctors to know exactly what is wrong with people coming in and how long to schedule the appointments for. The physio runs in hour or half hour slots, so I dont think should over run that much. What I was thinking was...just say I have to get a few treatments...could picture myself sitting round waiting each time for half an hour each time on the way home from work and just thought ah no I'll leave it.

Maybe I am just impatient, lol!

Procrastastudy

To be fair, and I say this in the full knowledge I would like to be a lawyer, doctors can be <insert colourful adjective> - especially when it comes to keeping people waiting.

davo10

Doctors/dentists/physios/optician treat the client/patient not the clock. People often turn up late for appointments due to difficulty parking/traffic/bus delays/ forgetfulness and this can have a knock on effect. In most cases the practitioner is working every minute and the delay is not because of coffee breaks etc. some people like to talk or treatment may take longer than anticipated so delays occur. Remember these practitioners are dealing with people not machines.

anewme

I disagree....I went to counselling previously which was set in 1 hour sessions. The cousellor reminded you when you were coming up to 10 minutes to go on your hour session so as not to over run into the next clients appointment. It was a case of treat the person, bearing in mind the clock and worked perfectly.

In the case of physio, where appointments are set by time slots, it should make it easier than doctors or opticians where there is no idea sometimes what people are going to come out with.

I know in Beauticians etc they state that if you are late for your appointment it can be taken out of your appointment time, which is fair enough.

Anyway, got a conveyor belt type impression - will have a look for someone else. I must just be narky!

Stark

davo10 wrote: »

Doctors/dentists/physios/optician treat the client/patient not the clock. People often turn up late for appointments due to difficulty parking/traffic/bus delays/ forgetfulness and this can have a knock on effect. In most cases the practitioner is working every minute and the delay is not because of coffee breaks etc. some people like to talk or treatment may take longer than anticipated so delays occur. Remember these practitioners are dealing with people not machines.

And the rest of us end up having to take a half day off work where an hour would have done just so these people can have a lie-in or be forgetful or whatever.

Had to have physio fairly recently and the appointments were bang on the clock. Meant I could schedule the appointments during a lunch break or in the morning before coming into work. Made a massive difference to the "treating the patient" approach I had with a previous practioner where I had to use up holiday time so I could sit in a waiting area for 45 mins after my appointment time before being seen.

pinkypinky

I think up to 30 mins is acceptable. My current doctor runs a drop in clinic and once recently I waited 1 hour 45 mins but my average wait to see him is 45 mins. If I hadn't been very sick, I would have left. He was horrified when he realised how long and didn't charge me for that particular visit. Between coughing, I did register my irritation. No point operating an appointment system if it's going that badly wrong.