"Seemingly easily fixable things seem to be failing. "

I had an appointment in late August which had taken ages to be available following from my GP appointment - I chose to attend the local clinic following a recommendation from another consultant rather than attend the private clinic which had appointments available within 2 weeks so I was already annoyed about the delays in getting an appointment.

Obviously I had rearranged my work schedule to be available for the appointment but then at 5pm the night before the appointment I was called by the clinic to say the appointment had been cancelled - no reason given and no alternative appointment provided. So I went into work the day of the planned appointment only to be called on the phone to say that the clinic was now happening. I had to rearrange my day again, which thankfully I was able to do, and just made the clinic.

At the clinic, I was advised I needed another appointment and one was booked for me in September so I organised my work diary to accommodate it. However, a few days later I received a letter to say that the appointment was now being moved to a different week which I am unable to make. I phoned to reorganise the appointment and was advised that the next available appointment was not until December (during the Christmas holidays when I am away) so I am now not going to get to see the consultant until 24 January.

I am attending the appointment at the request of the Registrar who felt he could learn from my case and wanted to sit alongside the consultant during the examination but feel I have been truly messed around.

I am completely on board with the provision of services close to home, i.e. I believe that the Market Harborough facility is essential to provide local services but I am very disappointed with the (lack of) administration controls in place. How can you run a service which never knows from one day to the next what is happening?

I work in the NHS and whilst I would not normally complain, I feel it is essential to the future of the NHS to give feedback on services in which seemingly easily fixable things seem to be failing. I as the patient have not had a good experience of the NHS in this case but the factors here could have been easily avoided.