"Appointment Management"

I attended my appointment with the Orthopaedic Consultant at 10.30am yesterday as notified. I sat in the waiting room until 11.30 and was then invited to the X-Ray waiting room. At 12.00 I actually had an X-Ray and finally saw the Consultant at 12.15pm. From my enquiries I understand that I was required to have this X-Ray but there was only one X-Ray nurse available yesterday as the others were attending a training course. The X-Ray department was somewhat crowded! The outcome was that I needed another MRI scan of my knee as the previous one targeted the wrong area. I accept that these things happen and I have no complaints about the nurses, consultants or admin staff I saw. But why on earth can’t the NHS manage their appointments like anyone else. If you arrange a training course for a given function then you must know that will have an effect on the appointments and should notify patients accordingly. If informed I would have attended and hour or so later. I know your time is important but so is mine! The final insult was £4 parking charge.