"Test not done"

ENT appt arranged, patient referred by UTC after high school rugby incident. Patient had another person fall onto side of head. Ear pain & unable to hear since. Inner ear couldn't be seen due to blockage - referred to ENT to clear, review & action as required. Patient history with ENT & recurring family issues with ears.

On arrival early morning one person at reception, waiting room empty, 2 patients at Reception as arrived. Receptionist left to address query. Within 5 minutes further 3 patients arrived & waiting. No reception staff.  Three reception staff then appeared all with empty coffee cups, centre open less than an hour, staff distracted, no acknowledgement of waiting patients/no staff present. Quickly asked for name, no input to anything so memorised & directed to wait. Invited in after 5 mins.

Consultant intro, summary requested, other questions then promptly set to reviewing inner ear., Quick review, clearance & further review. Scarring seen from previous gromit insert, no obvious new damage but patient stated hearing not as before incident despite clearing. Consultant requested hearing test via assistant, to measure whether further potential issue not apparent. Assistant returned  presenting test results from 2021 (prior to gromit insertion, from routine test, 4 years out of date) Clearly not relevant, fit for purpose or as requested, & ignoring patient feedback.

Consultant clearly frustrated, firmly but politely stated not useful/relevant, current test needed to adequately review, tools available must be accessible when required, to do the job on the day without patient revisit as patient school age, machine in situ, test needed on request, no reason not to action or for patient revisit. No response from Assistant who left again, returned suspiciously quickly & advised sorry no availability. There wasn't time to have liaised & checked as asked before return.

Machine in building, waiting room almost empty, test takes approx 10 minutes. It was obvious & apparent there was no valid reason to avoid test same day & that intentions/approach from Assistant conflicted with Consultant & that patient needs (or their presence even) were not a priority & were of little concern to the assistant generally.

Consultant apologised, explained tests could be done, but a Manager had taken decision & quoted I'm not doing them as the reason. Clearly some staff support decision, reasons unknown, no regard for patients whatsoever, no care for behaviour,  treatment or care itself. Shocking state of affairs.

Now awaiting further appt for test that could & should have been done requiring more time out of school, parent time & cost. Who are the faceless managers taking these decisions, why and how can they overrule a Consultant? Only Consultant took issue, rest seem disaffected with no shame. Thanks to Consultant for honesty.