Appointments

Why is it so difficult to know when to call and make an appointment with a doctor. I understand that with specialists that appointments are normally made months ahead. I am talking about making appointments with family physicians.

My father called his doctor two weeks ahead of when he wanted, only to be told, “that's too early to call to make an appointment.” To me if he called then it shouldn't be a problem. He was able to make an appointment but was told “next time just call a week ahead.”

For me, I normally have to call at least a week, if not more, prior to when I want an appointment with my doctor. It is very difficult to make an appointment for the same day. How do you know when you are going to get sick and need to see a doctor.

My husband is the luckiest because if he calls for an appointment, he normally can get an appointment either the same day or the next. He is the luckiest because he has the most flexibility when making an appointment.

I am not saying that you should always be able to get same day appointments for non-urgent appoints. What I am trying to say is, it would be nice if there was a standard for when calling to make normal appointments with family physicians. There should always be a few available if someone needs same day appointments, but it is the follow-up or planned visits I am talking about.

For people that work, it is sometimes important for them to make appointments a couple of weeks in advance, so meetings aren't scheduled and prevent them from getting to see their family physicians. For other people, even just a couple of days in advance is good enough. I think if people have a wider time frame for booking appointments, it would be the best of all worlds.

So, if I want to make my appointment two weeks in advance, please let me also know that there are people that will call within the last couple of days wanting appointments.