A LONG wait in reception

I just ran across David West's post from quite a while back about long waits after you have been placed in a room. I would like to ask, How many of us have had extremely long waits before we ever crossed into the back, and what were some of the excuses/reasons?

Many years ago, went to a fairly prominent local provider, who was in a larger group than I liked, but it was still a good office.

If memory serves me correctly, it was past the one hour mark, and I was still waiting. I went up, and asked, and they explained that she was chief, and they had an emergency in back and apologized. It made sense, and there wasn't;t that much more of a wait.

I remember once waiting close to 2 hours to see my OBGYN. it was a large practice with shared call duty and while they tried to be efficient part of the reason everyone in town loved them was that they knew THEIR doctor would be there when they needed them, especially during delivery, so sometimes the late afternoon appointments suffered from stacked up delays throughout the day.

The most frustrating was a day I was just in for a quick blood draw and waited almost an hour. The nurse came out several times and called patients back and kept seeing me sitting there (I was in at least once a month so she knew me) and after almost an hour she finally asked if I was there to see her because I wasn’t on her list. I explained that no, it was just labs and she took me right then, marched me back to the lab, and ate the poor substite lab tech for breakfast (she hadn’t bothered to log into her computer to see if she had any patients). That nurse was a FIERCE advocate for her patients and I still love her dearly!

Only about a 10 minute wait in the reception area - but once in the room we waited almost an hour (clothed) waiting for the Doc. When she finally arrived she apologized and said said the guy who was scheduled right after lunch showed up extremely late and they decided to work him in because of his long commute. I think she ended up getting him referred to the hospital for something.

Last spring, I was referred to a specialist due to a possible blood cell irregularity that turned out to be nothing, thankfully. I waited 2 hours. It turns out that my chart was placed in another physician's office. So I was told when in reality I thought that the doctor had left for the day. The doctor who did see me was hardly apologetic. Subsequent visits were less long in terms of waiting but still long 45 min. I have one more visit and will stop. My time is valuable as well.

Due to a computer error, I spent the whole morning in the waiting room before the doctor apologized and suggested I come back in the afternoon with another doctor.

I saw an endocrinologist as a little kid. It was always an all day affair. The clinic waiting room was PACKED, and it was a big waiting room. I was ok with waiting because I didn't want a blood test. Both of my parents seemed kind of annoyed with having to wait forever while their pre-school aged child asked not to be poked with a needle of any kind. (I am fine with shots and blood work now and I thank them at least monthly for being awesome parents)

I have gone to urgent care a few times. Those are REALLY long waits.

The two most annoying recently, went in for really just a blood pressure check, receptionist forgot to check me in when I paid, waited 45 mintues for something that took 2 minutes to do.

The second one, was in the ER for an inflammation on a foot infection I have, had to sit in the waiting area almost 7 hours before they took me back.

A few years ago I was due an asthma check up my appointment was 10.00. However as I was relying on a lift from hubby I had arrived in surgery at about 9 I registered and sat down with a book.

At 11.00 I went to reception and asked if I would still be seen. She asked what time my appointment was so I said 10 o'clock. Mrs rude replied, well you are more than 15 minutes late. Our policy is to cancel your appointment if you are 15 minutes late.

“ I have been here since 9 o'clock!” I said.

Oh well, in that case, you will be seen when dr is ready !!!!!

Was seen eventually about 11.10

At my GP's there is a notice saying if you have waited more than 20 minutes then inform reception. On one occasion I had to wait 40 minutes but mostly you get seen within the first 15 minutes or so but some of the GP's are more timely than the others. Outpatients at the hospital can be worse as the doctor might be called to a ward for an emergency, or they are just running late after their ward round. In my younger teen days you didn't have appointments at the GP you just went in and waited you turn, bit like the barbers back then…