It takes about fourteen years of university and postgraduate medical training to become a specialist. And yet, some days, I sit there with an empty chair.
Not because there aren’t patients who need to see me. There are hundreds. But someone cancelled this morning, and now I have twenty minutes. This is what last-minute cancellations look like from inside a specialist clinic, and why I wanted a better way to fill them.
Hundreds waiting, one empty chair
Some of my patients have been waiting six months or longer. Some are worried that their vision is getting worse. Some have called the office repeatedly asking whether they can be seen sooner.
That’s the strange contradiction of practising medicine in a system with long waitlists: patients can be waiting months at exactly the same time that usable clinical capacity is disappearing. As a physician, that’s incredibly frustrating, because I know I could see someone.
Who could come in today?
There are days when the clinic is moving particularly well and I realize I could squeeze in another patient this afternoon. Or tomorrow’s schedule suddenly has two openings. I know there are people on my waitlist who would happily come. But which ones? Who lives nearby? Who isn’t working today? Who has a ride? Who could actually be here in an hour?
Traditionally, answering those questions meant asking an administrator to start making phone calls, and they’re already busy. So sometimes we fill the opening. Sometimes we don’t. Sometimes it simply isn’t practical to spend 15 minutes of staff time trying to fill a 20-minute gap.
And then the opportunity disappears forever. Tomorrow, I’ll still have the same waitlist.
An empty appointment has a patient attached
An empty appointment isn’t just an empty appointment. There’s a patient attached to the other side of it. Perhaps it’s someone whose cataracts are making it increasingly difficult to drive. Perhaps it’s someone worried about a change in their vision. Perhaps it’s simply someone who has been waiting patiently for months and would be delighted to come today.
Frequently asked questions
Why do specialist appointments go unused when waitlists are so long?
Last-minute cancellations leave gaps that are hard to fill in time. Calling patients one by one takes staff time, and by the time someone who can come is found, the slot has often passed.
How can a specialist clinic fill last-minute cancellations?
With a patient cancellation list. Patients who can come in on short notice join ahead of time. When a slot opens, the clinic posts it and the first patient who can make it accepts.
Physicians and clinic managers: set up a cancellation list for your practice.