On why it’s so difficult to get a doctor’s appointment
Common comments I hear from my patients :
“It’s getting so hard to get an appointment with you”
“I had to wait a week for an appointment”
“I phoned five different medical centers to get an appointment”
The usual answer to this is that we have a doctor shortage - not enough doctors to service our population. And while this is definitely true let me give you some statistics that point to another major reason why people can’t get appointments :
This morning I have had 15 appointment slots thus far - 6 of these patients have not turned up.
Now to be fair one of those 6 actually had a baby at 8am this morning and I saw her then in the hospital, so we’ll let her off the hook. But even so that’s 5/14 that didn’t turn up, didn’t call, didn’t apologise - nearly one third! Deprives people who need an appointment of that opportunity, and it deprives me of income. Maybe I’ll start quoting that when people complain they can’t get an appointment.
Anyhow it’s not all bad - I’ve been consoling myself by eating some nice chocolates given to me by a grateful patient earlier this morning - the job does have it’s good points at times 
Categories : General Practice, Personal | 3 Comments
months riding motorcycles across Europe, Asia, and America. They went well and truly off the beaten track, visiting places such as Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Siberia, enduring innumerable difficulties but ultimately succeeding in an interesting and fulfilling journey. Along the way they also made a TV series about their travels and I simply must get my hands on the DVD of it.
