"Outpatient book in"

I had an appointment for an echocardiogram yesterday, the appointment time was 3.30pm so we arrived at 3.00pm to be in good time. We booked in at outpatient reception and were told to go to the purple waiting area and take a seat which we duly did. We waited until 4.00 pm, the requested 30 minutes after appointment time, and spoke to the receptionist in the purple area who said we should have put my appointment letter through the letterbox of the echocardiogram suite. We had not been told to do this, there were no signs to say we should, although there were for patients having an ECG. I wasn’t the only patient to be in this position as a lady overheard our conversation and said she was in the same position.

Shorty after putting the letter in the letter box I was called in, I was asked if I had gone to the wrong area and the lady was surprised when I told her we had been waiting in the correct area since 3.00pm and also had not been told to post the letter.

We have no complaints with County hospital and find all the staff extremely friendly but, on this occasion, a little more information from the outpatient receptionist would have been very helpful.