The Picard ManeuverHow many other businesses would we be fine with operating like this?
TheAlbatrossI feel a lot of appointment-based businesses are like this. They’re trying to slot in as many services into one day as they can. Them making you wait is acceptable because they’re with another customer (Though I’m sure they wanna wrap it up with them quickly too). You making them wait is unacceptable because that’ll throw off their carefully timed appointment schedule.
It ain’t great but that’s the bitch of this damned money world huh
Them making you wait is also often a consequence of earlier patients showing up late or an appointment requiring more time than expected.
The options to solve it are less patients per day, but that leads to even longer delays before you even get to your appointment date, OR more professional staff in the office…but that would cut into profits of the people in charge so is immediately off the table in this damned money world.
amniotic druidIn an ER, that’s understandable, but in a general doctor’s office there’s no reason that Docs should extend one patient’s appointment time just because they ended up late:
“Oh, you scheduled a 30 minute consultation because of a sore knee but now you’re asking for an ENT referral and blood work? You’ll have to schedule another appointment to go over that, we’re only covering what you told us the other day.”
You think someone should be penalised by having their diabetes review cut short because the traffic from their minimum wage job was unexpectedly slow?
Hyperbole indeed.
What about the 25 other patients who do not have a really, really important diabetes consultation, but a head cold or are just alone and need to talk?*
What about that one person who had their really, really important diabetes consultation at 6pm but was told to come back another day two hours later at 8pm once the other appointments were all stretched out ad infinitum, but can’t return anytime soon due to their boss not giving them any time off in their minimum wage job, who then DIES of diabetes? Come on, let’s not resort to hyperbole and made up scenarios - improvements are possible, and we should aim for those.
*Loneliness, in particular in elderly patients, is a real problem which I’m not trying to downplay. This needs to be solved, too.
It’s a hypothetical scenario. Penalising people for being late or for missing appointments has a higher adverse effect for people in poverty or with disabilities without actually addressing the cause. It’s why doctors in the UK are generally against introducing fines for missed appointments.
We need more capacity, yes.