ASAP: Always Someone After Priority

Modern healthcare has a speed problem — everyone wants it now. But where did that expectation come from?

It used to be that people didn’t run to the doctor for every cough or twinge. Now? We’re in an age where if a GP doesn't call you back within an hour, you're halfway through composing a strongly worded complaint to PALS.

So where did this obsession with immediacy in healthcare come from?

Here’s my take — backed by a bit of logic, a bit of cynicism, and a whole lot of reality.

1. Tech Has Trained Us to Be Impatient

We live in a world where you can FaceTime your dog, get your blood pressure via a watch, and ask a chatbot if you’re dying (spoiler: it’s probably “just stress”). The same tech that lets us order food and furniture in one click has crept into healthcare — and with it, the expectation that medical care should also arrive in 24 hours or less.

Studies like this one show how telehealth and digital tools have reshaped patient expectations — replacing slow, relational care with instant, transactional satisfaction. Patients now expect medical feedback with the same speed they expect pizza.

2. Convenience Is King

Nobody wants to miss work, juggle childcare, or rearrange their lives for an appointment that may or may not run 40 minutes late. The modern patient is a time-poor, logistics-maxed machine. And fair enough — life’s busy.

What we hear as “wait and see,” many patients hear as “suffer until it’s my problem.” This study found that patients overwhelmingly valued digital immediacy not just for convenience, but for emotional reassurance.

3. Health Literacy (Kind Of)

We’ve made people more aware of health risks — good. But we’ve also made them believe everything is urgent — less good.

People know the red flags for sepsis, strokes, cancer. But they’re also seeing red flags in tension headaches and toddler earaches because Dr. Google said so. This information flood leads to “hyper-vigilant urgency” — a side effect of partial health literacy.

4. Chronic Conditions and the Long Game

Let’s be clear: chronic diseases like diabetes, COPD, or heart failure do need responsive care. Older patients make up a large slice of our work — and they’re living longer, not necessarily better.

In this analysis, patients with long-term conditions reported needing faster access to keep health deterioration at bay — and saw delays as active neglect.

5. The “We Can See You Today!” Business Model

Walk-ins, urgent care apps, same-day teleconsults — they’ve reshaped the market. These models promise immediacy and train users to expect it. As Issakainen’s research shows, convenience-first platforms increase demand even when clinical necessity doesn’t change.

Traditional GP services built around continuity now look, well, slow. And that pressure to perform on-demand? Exhausting.

6. Mental Health Can’t Wait (And Shouldn’t)

Here’s the bit where urgency is more than fair. Mental health crises don’t wait, and six-week waits for first-line care are both cruel and unsafe.

According to Rosário et al., patients accessing mental health support via telemedicine rated immediacy as the single most important factor for feeling seen and supported — even above clinical outcome.

So What’s the Diagnosis?

We’ve trained society to expect fast, easy, immediate care — but the system isn’t built to deliver it universally. And more importantly… should it?

Not everything needs fixing now. Some things need time, space, watching. But that doesn't fit the digital age. We're in a mismatch — and it's only getting wider.

If you're a patient: we’re not slow to spite you. We're careful.

If you're a clinician: they’re not being demanding for fun. They're scared, overwhelmed, and navigating a broken system the best way they know how.

Meet in the middle. Be honest. Be human.

And remember: faster isn’t always better — except for resus, and maybe pizza.

Stay positive

-DW