"CT Scan Appointment"

An appointment for my elderly (91) uncle to have a CT scan had to be cancelled as it was on a day I was unable to take him. When I spoke to a lady in the department (name not known) and said I would need to change the date I was told, very curtly, that as I was not the person concerned then she couldn't speak to me. My uncle does not live very near and so I was unable to ask him to come to the phone or confirm that I could speak on his behalf. I asked him to telephone himself and hoped that he would be able to change the appointment without problems (he is very hard of hearing). He told me that he spoke to a woman who bluntly told him that an appointment would be sent to him. I can fully understand the fact that I was not the patient and therefore there was a problem in dealing with a third party. I can also understand that maybe in this department appointments cannot be made over the phone. What I cannot understand is the aggressive and rude manner in which this information was conveyed to us. It is very easy to be polite and costs nothing. The person we both spoke to was just rude; no other word for it. Is this acceptable in a hospital? Is this acceptable when the person who is waiting for a CT Scan (my elderly uncle) is already rather frightened about the whole thing, without having an officious and graceless female bark down the phone at him? Not acceptable by me. This person perhaps is very good at her job. However, I am betting her job does not involve much patient interaction. The department will know who she is - and maybe some inter-personal skills training should be suggested for her. Otherwise, ensure she is taken off answering the telephone completely.