Sitting on hold. Listening to that music. Wondering if anyone will ever pick up.
The average patient waits 18 minutes to get through to their GP. What's your record?
(But your clinic's hold music might be lying about how important your call is)
Meanwhile, in a parallel universe... clinics using AI receptionists answer 100% of calls, book appointments 24/7, and patients wait exactly 0 minutes. Wild, right?
Real stories from real patients. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll check your phone.
"I set an alarm for 7:59am. Hit redial at 8:00 on the dot. Got the engaged tone 12 times. Finally got into the queue at 8:07. Then waited 42 minutes to book a 10-minute appointment. My kettle boiled three times."
"I literally counted. 47 calls over two days to book a dental check-up. My phone's call log looked like I was stalking someone. On call 48, a human answered. I nearly cried."
"My entire lunch break. Gone. I sat in the office kitchen on hold, watching my soup go cold. A colleague asked who I was calling. 'My GP,' I said. She replied, 'Oh, good luck.' She wasn't joking."
"Over a week, I spent roughly 3 hours on hold with my dentist. That's more time than I've spent exercising this month. I'm not proud of either statistic. I could have learned the hold music on piano by now."
"8am: 'You are caller number 15.' 8:02am: 'You are caller number 15.' 8:10am: STILL number 15. I started to wonder if they were counting down from a different number. It's giving Squid Game energy."
"I started the call sitting down. By the time someone answered, I'd cleaned the kitchen, done two loads of laundry, and seriously considered learning a new language. I just wanted to rebook my smear test." — Karen, Sheffield
Based on actual patient stories. We couldn't make this up.
There's actually a solution to this. AI receptionists can answer every call, 24/7, in seconds. Politely nudge your clinic to look into it.
We've written a friendly, polite template you can send to your practice manager. No confrontation — just a helpful suggestion.
"Hi, I'm a patient at your practice and I've been finding it difficult to get through on the phone. I recently came across an AI receptionist service that helps clinics answer every call 24/7. I thought it might be worth a look: hihuman.co.uk. Thanks!"
If you're reading these stories and thinking "that might be us" — there's a fix. AI receptionists answer every call, book appointments, and cost less than a part-time hire.
WhyAmIWaiting.com is a project by HiHuman — we're building AI that answers every call so you never have to wait again.
Clinics using AI receptionists don't just answer calls faster. They see patterns that help them run better, too.
AI tracks booking patterns and predicts busy periods six months out. Clinics staff up before the rush, not after patients start complaining.
A five-factor risk model flags patients who might leave. The clinic gets a heads-up weeks early and can reach out before it's too late.
AI calls patients who missed appointments or are due for check-ups. No receptionist chasing. No phone tag. Just a friendly, automatic reminder.
Calls, texts, or emails — AI compares them all and shows what actually gets patients through the door. No more guessing.
Multi-site practices see which branch performs best. Same dashboard, same KPIs, instant comparison. The underperformers get the attention they need.
Automated weekly and monthly reports land in the practice manager's inbox. Custom alerts fire when something needs attention. Benchmarked against other UK clinics.
All of this is possible because the AI handles every patient conversation — it sees sentiment, patterns, and outcomes that traditional systems miss.