Waiting times in an ophthalmic outpatient clinic

BMJ 1994;309:1231 (5 November)

Letters

Waiting times in an ophthalmic outpatient clinic

EDITOR, - The problems facing ophthalmologists in busy unitstrying to meet the patient's charter have recently been highlighted.¹²It seems that the blame must lie with the hospital if the conditionsof the charter cannot be met, but this may not always be justified.

Around the time that the charter was introduced I conducteda survey of three general ophthalmological outpatient clinicsover three weeks. These were representative morning clinicsfor a busy, specialised teaching hospital. Overall, 216 elderlypatients attended; the most notable finding was that 84 arrivedan average of 46 minutes late for their booked appointment time.Trying to fit these patients into the clinics resulted in longdelays, with the allotted schedule being overrun. Although asmall proportion of the patients were late as a result of ambulancedelays, many were late because they were unable to use theirreduced fare passes on public transport . . . [Full text of this article]