"Long wait for antenatal consultant"

My pregnant wife and I were left waiting for 2 and a half hours for our appointment.

Multiple other women were also waiting for ~2 hours without a single apology - it was clear the entire clinic was running behind. According to those we spoke to, this is a very common occurrence.

While the clinic running behind is understandable and even to be expected, not informing your pregnant patients beforehand of the long wait is,  in my opinion, completely neglecting your duty of care of their physical and emotional needs. There were women with back pain, women that had to sit alone for their appointment as their partners. Not a single word from staff on the long wait time or an apology.

My dentist has a notification system to inform of overrunning appointments which advises patients to arrive a bit later. This results in less frustration from patients and less stress on staff.

How is it that a hospital has zero similar facilities in place to cope with something like this? A simple text message or a I’m would suffice.

Instead, you expect pregnant women and their families to sit waiting for hours while you catch up and your stressed out staff to deal with irate patients.

It is completely unacceptable both from a patient and a staff point of view.

I want to make this clear, I am not complaining about the wait, I am complaining about the lack of notification of that wait, either before our appointment, or shortly after we arrived - it’s a very low bar of competence to achieve something like this.