"Waiting time in the ENT dept."

I had an appointment with the ENT team on the 7th December after my previous appointment had been rescheduled from the 31 of Oct. I arrived ten minutes early and on check-in was told that appointments were running an hour late (“it’s always bad on Thursday”). At my previous appointment I had waited at least an hour and on that occasion, I was only inconvenienced.

On this occasion however as I was recently bereaved and with another family member dying (I heard he died later that day), I wanted to see my brother as his text messages suggested he needed support, I was keen not to be waiting for long.

The people around me were vocal about their feelings and exasperated about the situation and I learned from them that the delay was nearer to two hours. With my mental state then I could not bear to be in the waiting room with that atmosphere. I went back to reception and booked another appointment, the first available at the end of February. I left to be with back with my family.

On any other day, this would have been a minor annoyance, I’m usually stoic, I don’t mind waiting if there’s a good reason for the delay. I’m fairly tolerant and accepting of the limitations of a service.

However, on Thursday I felt the upset that many other people must feel when a system appears to be designed to keep them waiting for hours and was close to tears on my return to reception. I did not complain I just said I needed to be elsewhere.

I’m not giving this feedback just on my account...

I’m also writing for the Man who had lost three hours of work he was losing money and was angrily explaining this to a nurse.

The women who had been there for 2 hours and complaining that this was a repeated experience.

The reception staff who have to constantly explain the situation to everyone.

I wonder Is there anything that could be done to stop this happening?