My RT clinic chronically late with appointments—your experience?

I believe that out of my 35 sessions, a few of them were late by 10-20 minutes, but no more than a few. I worked with the scheduling group to either have early morning appointments or later in the day when there were not as many consecutive men that were more likely to have bladder control challenges - the scheduling group knew which patients were having challenges resulting in delays and/or redos. The facility was full scheduled 8am-7pm.

@jsh327 Just finished 20 sessions on Monday. Twice during the month, they asked if I was ready enough because they were running early. I did not wait past my appointment time once.

@melvinw
I went to UFHPTI for 30 rounds of RT.

What UFHPTI asked patients to do was to come 30 minutes early and check the status of their gantry and team. That was easy to do as it was up on a huge screen to see if it was delayed or on time. If on time I would drink my water. If delayed, I would delay drinking my water for the time delay.

The individual RT techs would come out prior to asking you to come back and brief you on any issues or delays and if on time asked if you have drunk your water. If a delay were expected it would give your time frame to drink your water.

I think out of 30 rounds I only ran into a delay from my posted appointment time was only twice. Had to do with issue with gantry equipment. For me UFHPTI was outstanding in their ability to treat patients on time and if any delays notify you immediately.

But I follow the recommendation they gave me to come early and then drink my water (they supplied it) as could check my team's gantry for if on time or a delay (and post how long) to adjust my drinking water time.

A poster mentioned calling them early. I had this once saying they were ahead of time and could take me but asked when I took my water. I said just now and said no we cannot take you early as we have to give time for water to move bladder away. I had no issue with that they were looking out for me.

Wow, impressive—professional, efficient, and humane for patients and staff alike. When my therapy is finished (I’m done with 23 of 38 treatments), I am going to have a discussion with the lab manager and mention this system to her. We are on good terms, and I have provided useful feedback to her previously that she used to setup some new protocols.

To compound the situation for me, when I went for my planning CT, they were 30 minutes late, the reason being that the RO had neglected to do the paperwork for the procedure (hence, my discussion with the clinic manager). When we started the CT my bladder was overfull, and I had to get off the table and go pee some. Even after that, my bladder still quite full, so now for my treatments my bladder needs to be in that state. If they are running late by more than ten minutes, the level of discomfort is pretty bad. I would say that on average, they are running late three of the five treatment days every week. Apologies are appreciated, but not sufficient anymore. They need a better system. Glad to hear such a system exists. Thanks for sharing your experience.

Of my 28 proton radiation treatments (during April-May 2021), all were scheduled a week in advance.
> the 1st 3 weeks were all at 2:40PM
> the last 2 weeks were all at 2:00PM

(That helped me schedule my life around the treatments.)

Immediately after each Friday session, I would meet with the RO to discuss my status and to plan out the next week’s sessions.

2 of the sessions had to be rescheduled:
> once due to a machine malfunction;
> the other due to a re-scheduling that I needed to make.

For each session, they were always on time; never more than a couple of minutes wait. Plus, they gave me a temporary handicapped permit so that I could park right next to the proton facility, rather than having to walk from the main parking lot.

I’m a very process-driven person. By having (what I considered to be) a structured process, made it a good experience for me.

@brianjarvis Thanks for sharing, and glad to hear that your RT experience went well. My entire schedule was laid out in advance as well, and like you, I’ve taken a disciplined and regimented approach to my treatment prep, but the clinic's lack of punctuality is working against that.

My husband had 25 treatments and I went with him every time. Only once did we wait more than 5 minutes and the doctor came out to apologize. The whole team was terrific. SMH Jellison Cancer Center

@mjp0512 Exactly my experience. 20 sessions and always bang on time and even a few minutes early.