How long is acceptable to wait for a scheduled doctor's appointment?

I have a new doctor and so far I am not impressed. My appointment was scheduled for 11:30A. I arrived at 11:15A but did not see the doctor until 12:20P.





What is a reasonable wait for a scheduled doctor's appointment (minus any emergencies) in your opinion.





My previous doctor returned to Germany and the average wait in her waiting room was eight minutes!|||I don't really think there is an acceptable waiting time. If so no more than 15 minutes. If you are paying for a service, then they should be on time.|||Appointment schedules at doctor's offices get backed up for many reasons - emergencies, obviously. But also: patients who are seen for a run-of-the-mill issue that turns out to be something more complicated, patients not being specific enough when making their appointment (e.g. not explaining symptoms that could require extra tests) resulting in an appointment time that ends up not being long enough, patients who are late, a full schedule with no wiggle room when appointments run over, the office being understaffed, walk-ins that are deemed to be urgent care and therefore take precedent over non-urgent care. If it gets to the point where you can't wait any longer, politely ask the receptionist if they know the cause of the delay, and if it's possible to reschedule. One visit is not enough to determine how efficient an office is run - if it happens on a consistent basis though, maybe it's time to switch to a new doc.|||At least 30-40 minutes. Usually, people who are older and need urgent care are seen first. This usually would happen to me whenever I would go to my podiatrist with appointments. There was also a sign that read that appointments may be late due to urgent care for priority patients. That was the impression that I got.





The thing is that the majority of people that would see the podiatrist were senior citizens who had diabetes and they would go to the doctor so that they could have their feet examined to see if they have any sores and believe me, I once saw through an open door and saw some sores on a person's foot and it wasn't a pleasant sight. They also have their toe nails trimmed.





The doctor usually spends longer time on people who have well, special foot problems. One time I even had to wait for an entire hour.|||It all depends on the setting. Expect a longer wait if it's flu season, and if its at the peak time of the day, after work. If you don't want to wait, make your appointment the first of the day or right after lunch. The most I have ever waited was 20 minutes. I don't mind waiting too much, it tells me the doctor is being thorough.|||I refuse to wait longer than 30 minutes. My time is valuable too. I will inform the receptionist that the doctor is 30 minutes late for my appointment and that I can not wait any longer. If the doctor can get me in immediately after notifying the receptionist, I would stay and see the doctor. Otherwise, I will fire the doctor and find someone who is interested in treating me.|||Unfortunately that happens.. you just have to bear it.. some people go and see the doctor at this time of the year and the waiting room is filled just with people who have a simple cold and for that they go to the doctor.. only babies and very old people should see the doctor over a cold.. as their immune system is not that good anymore others should just get over it . a normal cold takes 3 days in coming , stays for 3 days and takes 3 days more to disappear.. As stupid as this sounds to you.. you are still lucky.. here in Canada, in the capital of Canada, in Ottawa, there are over thousand of people who have no family physician because we just don'thave enough doctors... so they have to go to a walk in clinic.. so in a way one has to be grateful to have a family physician at all.. In Prince Edward Island in Canada, there is hardly any family physicians. some people have to travel outside of their province to get to see a doctor.. travel for 4 hours perhaps just to see a doctor.. that's even worse than waiting for an hour ... a lot worse especially at minus 22 degrees C