My son badly damaged his knee recently and the treatment we got at Kings was excellent, but the last appointment there really didn't seem necessary. The clinic was so busy, we waited nearly an hour - only for the doctor to give a cursory check of his knee, asked him to walk about and we were out in no more than 5 mins. I can see sometimes that follow up needed but honestly my GP would have been able to do the same simple check - and the appointment was probably costly and a fairly grim afternoon that we didn't need to be waiting around in hospital. Now I've seen how much outpatient appointments actually cost I think maybe more common sense needed for follow up procedures - I wish now I'd phoned to cancel but I felt that we had to go back somehow to 'check out'.
