Make it make sense - hospital rant

Hospital appointment rant. Turned up for my appointment to be told there's a bit of a wait as there's 4 people booked at the same time and a person for the next time has turned up as well. Well for starters the person who turned up early should be waiting until their booked time, that is just common sense. But how does it make sense to book 4 people in at the same time. Just give them their own individual slots. I will never understand these clinic set ups that hospital appointments are run by. How does giving numerous people the same appointment time help in any way shape or form? It just guarantees longer wait times for patients.

Parents
  • How does giving numerous people the same appointment time help in any way shape or form?

    Because there are more patients than slots as  has pointed out.  (and maybe because waiting list are the priority and what is being measured...)

    I've run clinics myself and regularly over-ran on appointments because I found short cutting them meant I personally wasn't able to do them in the time available - still not sure if this was autism having a delaying cause, being thorough to save time and grief later or  just I was not very good at it!

    Personally were I responsible for arranging them I would suggest this:

    Because appointments with patients cannot be predictably timed for how long they will take.  Different patients different needs.  By placing 4 patients in one slot of 4X the average time for one patient this difference may be accomodated whilst optimising the maximum use of the limited resources.

    Also have a thought for the poor souls having to meet professional and ethical standards and meet increasingly challenging demands.

    Whatever, telling you this first might have made things easier to tolerate, granted.

    Best Wishes

Reply
  • How does giving numerous people the same appointment time help in any way shape or form?

    Because there are more patients than slots as  has pointed out.  (and maybe because waiting list are the priority and what is being measured...)

    I've run clinics myself and regularly over-ran on appointments because I found short cutting them meant I personally wasn't able to do them in the time available - still not sure if this was autism having a delaying cause, being thorough to save time and grief later or  just I was not very good at it!

    Personally were I responsible for arranging them I would suggest this:

    Because appointments with patients cannot be predictably timed for how long they will take.  Different patients different needs.  By placing 4 patients in one slot of 4X the average time for one patient this difference may be accomodated whilst optimising the maximum use of the limited resources.

    Also have a thought for the poor souls having to meet professional and ethical standards and meet increasingly challenging demands.

    Whatever, telling you this first might have made things easier to tolerate, granted.

    Best Wishes

Children