"Aspiration of ear wax"

I took my mother, who is 98 years old, blind and very hard of hearing, to attend a clinic today for a 9.45 am appointment. We arrived 10 minutes early and were greeted by very friendly nursing staff. At 10.20 am I enquired as to whether we would be kept waiting much longer and was told that there was another patient ahead of us. At 10.50, by which time my mother was getting very stressed and disturbed, we were called to see the doctor. I'm not sure who the doctor was, because they didn't give a name and didn't apologise for keeping us waiting and just indicated with his hand, without speaking, to my mother to sit down, which of course being blind, didn't register. I have to say that the treatment was fine and the sympathetic nurses were very helpful and supportive. However, I can't see any point in having an appointment system if it is totally non-functional and I don't think it is fair to a patient of that age, or any age for that matter, to be treated with total disregard to the appointment time given. At the very least there should have been some communication as to what the problem was, if there was one, and why it had occurred. I lecture to students at Warwick Medical School on communication skills and its importance in the relationship between the patient and the clinician and I would be very disappointed if any of our students cared for patients in the manner my mother experienced. p.s. re communication skills, I was very impressed with a registrar in the department who shook hands and introduced themself to each patient and immediately put the patient at ease.