"Urgent appointment left waiting for too long"

My partner was referred to see an ENT specialist on Tuesday afternoon at the JR. Our appointment was at 3pm. We were taken to a room and we waited for about an hour before an SHO came in. They did not introduce themselves by name and asked my partner to describe the issue. They asked what treatment my partner had had to date. I said that information was on the letter that they had in their hand from our GP! Clearly they had not read it! They did a brief examination then said he needed to go and fetch a microscope. 45 minutes later (!!) they returned with a microscope and a trainee GP colleague. Do these professional people not realise that it is very unnerving being left for such long periods of time when they have just voiced such concern!? They both examined using the microscope and muttered serious concerns again over the lump in the throat. They said that they would like a Registrar to look so we waited... and waited... and waited another hour. By this time we were extremely worried, especially me as I have had cancer... I could only think the worst. These Dr's need to learn that these are peoples lives that they are dealing with and we had explained that I had had cancer. Just a little bit of empathy would go a very long way. Perhaps some words such as "while we are little concerned we would like to carry out some further tests to be sure". The Registrar was professional but after examining with the microscope they were also very alarmist and said that an MRI would be needed. By now I was in tears. This whole 3.5 hours of examination was a nightmare and left us thinking the very worst. Turns out having paid to go privately today that my partner has an infection! I thought at this stage of a Registrar's training they would know a little more than they clearly do? All in all dreadful. I will always pay to go privately even if I have to run up debt!