5 minute rule does not apply here

There are times that I really wish I was back in the UK, oh yes there sure are. After waiting over an hour and  a half in the waiting room at the clinic...today was one of those moments.

Now, I understand why there are such long waits, I know it's a business and it's more profitable to line up a bunch of patients in little rooms so the doctor can zip in and out of them so there is no wasted time, on the doctor's end anyways....lots of wasted time on my end.

But man....I sure like the National Health Care's way better. Since it wasn't a business they didn't have to try to cram as many visits in each day as they could. They only scheduled what they could reasonably handle and there was never any waiting. Instead of a bunch of tiny little rooms, the doctor just had his one office and you walked into the clinic 1 minute before your appointment, sat down for 1 minute, and then the doctor came out and invited you into his office. I never saw a nurse in my time there at the clinics, I think they mostly worked in the hospitals. And one time, my visit went a lot quicker than anyone thought so when we left I saw that the doctor had 15 minutes before his next appointment....as I was leaving I saw him settling down in his chair with a cup of hot tea and a smile. lol
In fact in all the waiting rooms there were signs all over that said "If it is 5 minutes past your appointment PLEASE inform the desk so we can accommodate you." This never happened to us, as we were ALWAYS seen right on time, but it was a nice feeling to know that if something had happened it would be taken care of.

The first time I went to the doctor in the UK I was so confused...I arrived early becuase I thought there would be paperwork. I walked in and the clerk was so flustered and said "Love, your appointment isn't for 15 minutes, would you like to take a wee walk around outside."
Um, isn't there some papers I need to fill out? Do I need to sign anything?
"Uh, noooo. All we need is your National Insurance Number so you are good to go."
Is was such a weird feeling...but I guesss if there are no bills...there's much less paperwork.

So anyway, today Rebecca and I were waiting for her appointment...and it was so funny because Rebecca came up to me and said "Mom, it's 5 past! You better go tell someone!"  Hah, she soon learned that it's different here in the US....an hour later and she was begging to go back to the UK too.