"Care of the elderly"

My 88 year old mother has been unwell for a week or so and rang for a doctor to visit. After lunch a doctor telephoned to give her some advice. Mother is hard of hearing in one ear and totally deaf in the other so answered the questions he asked the best she could. There was some confusion as he thought she required telephone advise when she had actually asked for a visit. She does not walk well and doesn't drive so could not get down to the centre under her own steam, hence a home visit was requested. She rang me at work somewhat upset and I rang on her behalf to arrange a visit or an appointment that I could take her to a sap. I obtained an appointment for her that evening, rang mum and told her we would be seeing a doctor as soon as I finished work. I then had a callback from the recption staff to say that the doctor was not prepared to see her as she had already had a telephone conversation that afternoon. If, he suggested, she felt too poorly she was to ring 999. I was somewhat surprised about the suggestion of ringing the emergency services in preference to a ten minute appointment. I thought the medical charter states that all patients will be treated with dignity, patience and respect, unfortunately it seems that once you reach a certain you are assigned to the scrap heap and not treated as a priority. My mother was left feeling upset and bewildered. This is not the first time she has been treated in this way. We decided to change practices the same day and got an appointment within 15 mins of registering. I can appreciate that telephone messages - particularly with the hard of hearing - can get misconstrued but I find it shameful that a member of staff can create an appointment for you but the doctor is not willing to honour it. Might I just say this has no reflection on the reception staff who have always been professional - unfortunately, it's not reflected higher up.