"New Victoria Hospital, Glasgow. Impossible to get through on the phone "

I have been offered an outpatients appointment for a biopsy to (hopefully) rule out cancer. I received my appointment letter and it said I was to phone them to confirm my appointment. The letter then went on to advise that people who don't turn up for appointments can be removed from the waiting list etc.

I have tried repeatedly at different times of the day on different days to get through. The phone rings out for ages until an answer machine kicks in, or is engaged (probably with someone else hanging on waiting for their call to be taken).

They have an answer machine which has no message on it to advise that you are through to the hospital. For all I know the phone number on the letter could be a typing error and I am phoning someone's house. I am therefore reluctant to leave a message.

I have today tried the main hospital number and it rang out for ages and cut me off advising that they couldn't accept my call (as happens to any call anywhere eventually if its unanswered).

I see from a previous story you have in 2011 that this was happening then, and it would appear to still be happening now over 4 years later. So something needs to be done with regard to a) ensuring there are sufficient staff on duty to answer main switchboard phones b) ensuring that extensions have enough staff to answer, or for those ones with answer machines, they should have a personalised message on them instead of the standard message which came with the phone.

It could be that a power cut has knocked off the personalised message and kicked it back to the standard message, as that happens on mine and I dont know until someone tells me, but if you can never get through in the first place how do you tell them?

This procedure is stressful enough for me because its to do with cancer. My boyfriend has had to take the day off work (not easy) to take me there and bring me back as I am naturally worried by all this. So if I arrive there and my appointment has been given to someone else, not only is this stressful for me, and potentially dangerous as I have waited months for this biopsy, but my boyfriend will be unlikely to be offered another day of annual leave to take me.