Out of Hours: The GP waiting room under examination

Waiting comes with the territory when visiting the doctor, with the GP surgery waiting room being the most common area to wait for medical attention. Yet GP waiting rooms and the public’s experience of and in them is a neglected topic.

The little we do know indicates that, although patients may arrive anxious, time in a waiting room can calm nerves and ready them for a productive exchange — or it can increase anxiety. This brief article reports on a unique inquiry that took place in 2015 into GP surgery waiting rooms in the UK