Fun anecdote:

My friend had to take his kid to the local ER the same time as we took our kid to the childrens hospital 3 hours away. They got to the ER in 15 min. We had already been given the "don't know what's wrong" from that ER the previous week.

We arrive, get taken immediately back, get a presumed diagnosis by the nurse 10 minutes later, and a referral in 3 days to an orthopedic surgeon. We leave, call our friend to check on his kid (broken arm). Still in the waiting room. 3 hours later, still waiting.

We call again just as we are pulling in home. His kid is now getting a cast.

Unless my kid is near death, we travel 3 hours for ER trips because the local hospital is unorganized as hell (and also assumes every patient, child or not, must have a drug screen)

I know this is a popular notion, but have you guys thought about:

1. If the doctor sees someone who is 30 minutes late, their entire schedule slips. So y'all complain if they don't see you if you are 15 minutes late (usually that's the policy), but also complain if you have to wait.
2. Have you guys thought about that primary care appts are in 15-20min increments (30min tends to be generous), which means, they either don't address your issues if they are complicated. Or they'll tend to run late?

Many people have no transportation, and it's even harder to make it on time if one's sick, so it's just the right thing to try to squeeze in those who are late, but y'all can't have it both ways.

source: am MD. And yeah I rather run late but see everybody and address everything I can, than finish on time and help nobody/few.

The waiting room. I hate when they make you wait in the room. 'Cause it says "Waiting Room." There's no chance of not waiting. 'Cause they call it the waiting room, they're gonna use it. They've got it. It's all set up for you to wait.

• Famous quote from the Fediverse's favorite frenemy entertainer, I guess.

It was great during covid because they could do online/phone appointments for lesser needs

Then the provincial government said they wouldn’t be paid for them

But if you're just 5 minutes late to your appointment, you'll have to reschedule and the next available date is in 3 months.

This is generally going to be less a doctor problem and more a hospital admin problem.

Hospitals try and employ the fewest doctors possible to save money, they schedule doctors so they have 5 minutes per patient, and they pack the schedules as dense as possible to maximize the number of cases a doctor is handling.

Any disruption here causes a delay. A patient showing up late, having questions, or the doctor needing to shit. It all adds up to the fail system.

There are simple fixes here like extending the doctors appointments beyond the average required time and hiring now doctors, but that costs money and doesn't optimize profit for the shareholders.

Sorry no, my doctor is almost always on time. Have been amazingly lucky with that.

The other day my doctor apologised for being late because his last patient ran over by 3 minutes.

Air travel industry has joined the chat

I've been burned by the US healthcare system countless times. It's really far beyond unacceptable. Recently I have had to deal with a chronically late dentist. I feel like 1 in 25 doctors gives a single shit about patients.

And yet my only experience with healthcare in a "shit hole" country was infinitely better and cheaper even despite a language barrier. Literally one minute wait time.

And it would be an even longer wait when the doctor is waiting on patients.

When I have to go my doctor when sick, I have to come at 11am to be among the first 5 people, for the doctor that comes and start's working at 1pm.

Edit: last time I wen't at the start of the year, I came at 11:30am, was 6th. By the time the doc came around 12:30am there were over 30 people waiting.

Depends on the doctor and type of problem. If there are complications, the period of time spent can increase variably or it can decrease if the problem is more easily resolved.