I can book an appointment to see my GP either the same day, or if he’s not on that day, within 3 days max. If it’s urgent and I can’t wait 3 days, I can see another doc at the same clinic, same day. No out of pocket expense.
Specialists are a bit more tricky. If I want to see a private specialist eg, ophthalmologist, gynaecologist, dermatologist etc, the wait can be a couple of months. But again, if urgent, I can ask to be referred to my local public (teaching) hospital clinic, and will get an appointment (depending upon the urgency) within a few days to max of a month. Again, no out of pocket expense.
Yeah, this socialized medicine model really REALLY sucks.
I’ve never experienced any of the kinds of problems you posters are talking about. Because I lived in a smaller medical market (60,000 people). I could call my primary care doc and probably get in in the next day or two, after explaining the need to his receptionist.
As a guess, I’d say that the wait time is probably directly proportional to the size of your metro.
I couldn’t help wondering, does the OP’s doctor have a phone, you can talk to somebody in his office who has an appointment book in front of her? Or say “If you’re not running behind today, maybe I could come in and wait and see if there’s a cancellation”.
I’ve noticed that the automated systems at my NHS GP practice (phone-tree, online and phone app) don’t tap into the full appointments database and almost always offer dates at least a week away, and it’s obvious they’re reserving those for routine and non-urgent business, often for the assistant GPs in training. But if I ring up and speak to a receptionist, there’s usually something within the target 48-hour period. Once I was in there for something that required a follow-up blood test, and the receptionist seemed curiously apologetic at asking me if I minded waiting for the slot in 20 minutes’ time (but that is very rare).
For specialist clinics, though, one might well have to wait a few weeks for a non-urgent appointment - if it is urgent, the GP may well put the thumbscrews on them to speed things up. But it all depends on things like variability of demand and general staff availability. We currently have a lot of fuss about the problems of recruiting and retaining staff in a variety of areas.
My primary care generally will take my wife and I as a walk in, unless they are truly busy. In that case, or if they are closed (holiday, weekend) we go across the parking lot to the Urgent care. All part of the same group, generally less than thirty minutes for a walk in, less than 15 if we have an appointment.
This is GP only, specialists are another matter /sigh.
The long wait stories above really surprised me! I set my annual physical appointment a year in advance, while in the office for the current one. Same thing with the dermatologist, set the next appt. while finishing the current one. I don’t go back to the doctor in the interim unless I am sick or injured. If I have a minor injury/illness I go to an urgent care clinic. If it’s a bit more urgent/serious my PCP will work me in. More serious/urgent means a trip to the ER. In each case it’s same day.
In the case where I’ve needed a follow up with an Orthopedist after the initial care, it’s never taken more than a couple of days to get in - and only that because we have to wait for the swelling to diminish. Of course, I’m not really particular about which doctor or PA I see in any of those cases, either. Might take longer if I were.
I need to schedule my annual physical several months out. Stuff like a routine screening colonoscopy take several weeks. Urgent stuff generally gets fit in.
Oh, and I work near the facility where I get most of my healthcare. I’ve often benefited from “please call me if there’s a cancellation.”
My primary doc always gets me in same day or next day if it’s time-sensitive. I can typically book an annual exam within a couple of weeks. My gyno generally books a bit further out, but that’s generally because I want the first appointment of the day in order to miss a minimum of work.
When I needed an orthopedist, the one I see currently was booking several weeks out, but it wasn’t urgent (and he came highly recommended by several different people, including multiple physical therapists that my previous ortho had referred me to) so I didn’t mind.
My dentist? I book each appointment while I am at the last appointment. I haven’t needed anything other than a routine cleaning in many years, and I’ve gone to that practice ever since I had teeth (I saw his dad until his dad retired, and my current dentist is probably now in his 50s). They aren’t the cheapest or most convenient, but they have always done well by me (and my teeth, thankfully, haven’t given me trouble except for impacted wisdom teeth, but you really can’t blame the dentist for that!), so I stick with them.
For a GP less than a week. Many times I can call for an appointment and see the doctor the same day, if it is one of the two days each week the doctor is in clinic.
But a specialist appointment might take several months to get in, depending on the type of specialty.
I went to the Doctor today. Ten minutes in the waiting room, brusque but efficient visit of two minutes, scheduled a walk-in pathology blood test for whenever I like, which in this case will be tomorrow morning, which should be even faster.
oh I feel spoiled, I can almost always see my primary care provider within a day and my gynecologist within a week. But I live less than 10 miles from 2 medical schools, so there is probably a glut of doctors here.
And it was very fast. Walked into the clinic, was seen immediately, had my blood test done, had an ECG, out again in about 15 minutes tops. Results should be back by Monday at the latest.
I’ve never had to wait for more than a couple of days for my PCP. No waiting at all for diagnostic equipment like an MRI. There’s one on every corner in my area.
Not sure how to answer for specialists. I give my PCP my preferences of time of day so sometimes that extends it out a week or so for a new doctor. If it’s longer than I want then I change the request to any time slot. That usually gets me right in. When I needed heart surgery I asked the Cardiologist for a list of good heart surgeons and and was immediately accepted by the one I chose.
If I couldn’t get an appointment in a reasonable time I’d go to a walk-in.
When I call my doctors office, I can specify if it is urgent or emergency. I’ve never had to book either. They are required to set asides some time each day for emergencies and urgent issues. I say it is not urgent, and I get offered a spot within a week normally. Normally I just book it myself online, because my work calendar is normally booked solid for longer than a week. Once I needed to see a specialist and was offered a same-day appointment. Not an urgent matter. I do understand that this is not necessarily representative and can vary a lot from speciality to speciality.
I did have an urgent matter once, but as I work in health care myself, it was much quicker to poke my leg into the boss’ office and ask if it looked broken, rather than limp across town.
I live in Norway. People who live in remote places can have more complications in getting appointments involving travel time, ferries etc. The Northern Exposure problem.