"My elderly mother's poor treatment"

My mother is 83. Like most 83 year olds she no longer drives, and like most 83 year olds she now has a number of physical ailments - one of which, in her case, is a weak chest.

Her GP suggested last week that she have a chest X-Ray at her local hospital - Whiehills Hospital in Forfar, Angus. This hospital is several miles from my mother's house, and she had to get a bus which has one service per hour to Whitehills, which apparently has no patient appointment system.

When she got there, she was informed that she couldn't be seen. The weather was very bad - and the hourly bus had left the hospital just as she arrived, so she had no alternative but to wait in the hospital for an hour before getting home. She asked whether she would be seen on Monday, but was informed that there is no guarantee of this, due to the 'no appointments' system. She was also however informed that her GP ought to have phoned the hospital - which suggests to me that there is a de facto appointment system. She has phoned me, in some distress, to say that she is setting her alarm clock for early tomorrow morning, and has booked a taxi in the hope that she will be seen.

I'm very angry that any elderly person should be subjected to this treatment by a hospital which appears to be run wholly for the benefit of the staff, and wish to complain.