"Breast clinic - front line care great; back office..."

I was referred to the breast clinic by my GP as a 2ww. After 13 days I hadn't heard anything so called my GP practice who followed up the referral. That night at 03:45am I received a txt saying my appt would be in 4 weeks time. I thought nothing of it and took it on face value they must be busy. I didn't receive a letter confirming this just a txt. 5 days later a very rude person (I've no idea who they were because they never gain me their name) told me as I'd missed my appt they would like to book me in again. I tried to explain my appt was in a months time and she told me I was wrong and asked me to come to hospital the following week. Any time I tried to explain or even just query how I could have missed an appt that hadn't taken place yet, I was told I was wrong! It was only till I mentioned I was staff that she put her supervisor on the phone who promptly made me an appt for that weekend. The rest of my experience was wonderful. Aty actual appt the reception staff, nurses, radiologist, consultant and sonographers were great. A real example of how the NHS can work well. My comment would be to any managers who happen to read this. Your appt service is terrible. Fair enough send a text to people to tell them about their appt but at least make sure its the correct time and date. In my case the months had been mixed up. If that wasn't bad enough, the day that my original appt was supposed to be (if the correct month had been sent) was the day after I received the text message. A lot of people work and need more than 24hours to book time off work. Its a shame to let down the sevice like this with shoddy appt service.