Doctors Running Late

We sometimes receive complaints about doctors running late and patients having to wait for their appointments. We appreciate that this is frustrating for everyone involved so please allow us to inform you what you can do to help us, yourselves and other patients.

Multiple Problems per Appointment

  • This is one of the main reasons for doctors running late.
  • It can cause problems if you bring a long list of problems to a single appointment. We will of course never simply cut you off after 10 minutes, but it is usually difficult for a doctor to adequately deal with more than 1 problem in a 10 minute slot.
  • Please feel free to book more appointments or when you book, inform the receptionist that you have multiple issues you would like to discuss with the doctor (you do not have to reveal any details).
  • And remember, no matter how quick you think the discussion will be, each consultation must be properly recorded, so that also has to be taken into account.

Patients Arriving Late

  • Please try to arrive on time for all appointments. If you are late, every patient seen after you will probably be seen late. Please inform us as soon as possible if you wish to cancel your appointment. If you are going to be late, please ring in to let us know.
  • If you are late for your appointment, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to see you, so may ask you to re-book for another time.

Multiple Patients per Appointment

  • The appointment is only for the person who is booked in for the appointment.  If you ask for other family members, who are not booked in, to be seen at the same time, it will cause everyone after you in the queue to be seen late. Please book a separate appointment for every person who you wish the doctor to see.
  • Booking one patient per appointment will reduce the likelihood of doctors running late.
  • If appointments are booked in good time you will probably be able to get 2 or 3 appointments one after the other.

Emergencies

  • Due to the nature of our work, occasionally we have unpredictable emergencies which we must deal with urgently. We ask for your patience in these matters and apologise for any inconvenience caused. One day the person with the emergency could be you!