A few months ago I was stuck in traffic on my way to give a talk at the Royal College of General Practitioners. I thought of phoning the venue to warn them I’d be late, but decided they’d probably just tell me to call back at 8 a.m. the following morning.
When did that whole thing start? It’s now routine for GPs’ surgeries to make you phone first thing, and to book appointments for that day only. In my view, it overlooks the Law of Unintended Consequences. While it might help the surgery meet some bureaucratic ‘responsivity target’, it may also have the unfortunate psychological side effect of encouraging unnecessary bookings. Let me explain this issue by describing the trajectory of most illnesses.
Day 1. ‘Ooooh, I don’t feel very well. I think I’ll wrap up in a rug in front of the TV and have a Lemsip.’
The scarcity bias makes me phone the doctor a day too soon
Day 2.
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