"NHS could take a leaf out of London Underground"

No, this is not about leaves on the line, but leaves out of someone's book: good practice and better practice!

From my experience, I believe patients would feel much better if :

1. When the doctor's/consultants' appointments are running late, as they often do, the NHS could behave with more courtesy - like London Underground. They should come round to the waiting area and apologise for keeping people waiting, giving a reason.

If it is one particular doctor who has 'been called away to an emergency', it would be reassuring if he/she could quickly announce that regrettably they must leave their out-patients waiting for that reason, and will return as soon as possible. Otherwise one tends to suspect that this is a standard excuse produced by admin staff to cover for all sorts of inefficiencies that keep people with fixed-time appointments waiting for an hour, or 2 or 3.

2. NHS Doctors should identify themselves by a name tag that is visible on their upper chest or shoulder area, instead of a security pass hanging on a long tape so that it looks rude if one bends down to read it. It is quite important to know who one is talking to, especially as we tend to see a different doctor every time.