"Outpatient wait times"

I race out of work and take children out of school so I’m not late for my appointments and each time wait more than an hour to be seen, both in dermatology and paediatrics. At Perth Children’s Hospital PCH) the wait times for outpatients have been much, much less. Not long ago I had a GP appointment and they texted me to let me know he was running an hour late, which I was so appreciative of.

I sat for 1.5 hours at the Fiona Stanley Hospital (FSH) outpatients clinic for dermatology, which is a common occurrence. The specialists are brilliant when you finally get to see them, but I think the hospital can easily introduce an SMS system to notify patients if they are running late. There are a lot of pensioners waiting and I have heard them anxiously talking about the cost to them in parking with such long delays (not to mention they can’t afford food at the cafes). Isn’t it simple to book less patients into each clinic when there are consistently delays? Or notify patients of long delays as suggested so people aren’t leaving work and school unnecessarily.

My comparison was with PCH which we also attend with my child and we never wait there longer than 10 minutes. I think it would be worth the FSH clinics finding out how they do it there.

We really do appreciate the brilliant care we receive, but people have commitments and jobs and in my opinion, the hospital should ensure it thinks about those things. Particularly for the many pensioners at the hospital who can't afford the extra parking costs when they are delayed and are reliant often on public transport.