"Excellent treatment let down by poor..."

I attended A&E having broken my shoulder and was referred to the fracture clinic. At my first fracture clinic appointment I was told that I had been referred to the wrong consultant. However I was treated and told to expect another appointment. When this did not materialise I attempted to contact the clinic by phone. It took over 1 1/2 hours in two sessions, through phones that weren't answered or were the wrong extension and ansaphone messages that weren't responded to to get to someone who could sort the situation out. Result: an appointment two weeks after I had been led to expect it. To cut a long story short, every subsequent appointment required chasing up as the consultant's requests to see me after a particular period were apparently not being passed on to the people responsible for making the appointments. Each appointment ended up being two weeks after the consultant had asked for it.

I have been very happy with the treatment received but could really have done without the hassle of chasing up the appointments each time.

Why is it not possible to make the following appointments at the time of consultation, after all the appointment letter asks one to bring a diary but in my case I was told that it could not be done.