"Answer the phone!"

My husband was referred here for a gastroscopy due to a worrying change in his symptoms. He was phoned (while in a meeting) by the clinic who asked him to phone them for an appointment. He has, without exaggeration, phoned the clinic (on the number they gave him) over 150 times in the last few weeks. The phone was almost always engaged, and on the one occasion when he did manage to get through, it was to the answering machine, and his message was never responded to,

This is, quite simply, disgraceful.

Today he finally managed to speak to a person.... when he asked about all the attempts to call them he got a cursory "sorry". This is not good enough. Worried, ill people should not have to phone hundreds of times to get an appointment. Nor should they be subject to weeks of delay while trying to get through.

I would be very reluctant to accept a referral to this unit and would not recommend it. I will be discussing it with our GP next time I'm at the surgery.