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Dermatology Appt

Posted By LJPF

"Dermatology Appt"

About: Lauriston Building / Dermatology

(as a parent/guardian),

Always attend on time for appt. Every time we sit for 30 to 40 minutes later than our time. Given my child attends school in another local authority, I am keen for him to not miss too much school to attend his appt. Given he is a senior pupil, school attendance is important to support his studies. 

It is frustrating that this continues to be our experience every time we have to attend to see the Pharmacist. Otherwise may be helpful just to attend a little later?? 

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Responses

Response from Patrick Addison, Site Medical Director, St Johns Hospital, NHS Lothian last week
Patrick Addison
Site Medical Director, St Johns Hospital,
NHS Lothian

Submitted on 18/11/2025 at 13:36
Published on Care Opinion at 15:32

Hi,

I am the site medical director with a responsibility for dermatology (which is why your message has been forwarded to me), but not pharmacy.

I completely understand your frustration. It is often difficult to run every clinic on time because some patients take longer than expected. If we were able to have a system where each patient was allocated excess time, we could probably always work to schedule but clearly this would be very inefficient and would reduce the number of patients seen.

With that in mind, can I suggest that you ask the booking office either to book your son into the first or second appointment of the morning / afternoon when things are generally more on time, or else request an appointment at some time of the week when he might miss less important activities? I appreciate this is not an ideal solution but it might help and the outpatient appointments office should be able to arrange that for you.

Best wishes,

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