"Rheumatology telephone appointment"

My urgent appointment should have taken place over the phone. I waited 4 months. I organised everything to be available.

After waiting half an hour past the arranged time, I decided to call them to find out what happened. Please believe that it is not easy to reach them. The people who answering phones didn't say their names so I was not able to tell who I was speaking with. I also was disconnected twice when I started to ask questions!

Finally I spoke to the right person (I naively think) who said to me that the doctor called me but I did not answer the phone. Literally that is not true! I chased them to remind them about appointment! There was no such phone call! They said that maybe a doctor called the wrong number? If a hospital is calling a wrong number, that shows how unprofessional and unreliable they are and if this was the case, further action should be taken.

However the hospital sent a message to my number as a reminder, so it is preposterous to me that they supposedly tried to contact me on a different number. I was also told that they can arrange the next appointment at the beginning of December. When I asked what happened because there must be something wrong with their system or the NHS system, the answer was that I need to complain to the government.

It seems like the sick patient need to be very strong and healthy physically and mentally to deal with contact with the hospital, according to this.

Such a farce and real disappointment! As a patient, you are told that you will be fined if you do not attend your appointment; should that work the other way around, then, when you are ignored and you constantly wait for a phone call, cancelling other responsibilities only to be met with alienation?

By the way, this is not the first time that this has happened so maybe that’s why this time I expressed myself as politely as I could.