"An appointment missed"

I tried to make an appointment with my doctor and was told they would not be back for two weeks so I was given an appointment for two weeks. The week before, my doctor had rung me to tell me to stop taking one of my tablets as they were incompatible with another tablet that I am taking. (This after approx. 3 years! ! ) They said if there were any problems as a result of ceasing to take this particular tablet I was to go to see him straight away! !

When I arrived at the Health centre for my appointment I was told I had missed it by over ten minutes as the appointment had been made for 20 minutes earlier than I had been told so I had to make another for the following week.

Two points: I had made the original appointment on the telephone and written down the time straight away. Who got it wrong? Not me.

The second point is that I actually arrived earlier for my appointment than was necessary. When I arrived I tried to register my arrival in the usual way via the computer. It was not working so I had to join the queue at the reception desk to register my arrival with the receptionist. The queue was 5 persons waiting to be seen. Each took a minute or more to complete their process making my registration at least five minutes later than it should have been. Had I been able to self register I would have still been in the late comers time allowance of ten minutes and able to see my Doctor. On both counts the missed appointment was not my fault. This has made me so angry. I am not a person who misses Doctors' appointments and can only remember one occasion when I have had to cancel an appointment. This was done in good time for a necessary reason. I would never not turn up without phoning in. The systems efficiency, as always, is only as good as the people operating it. I think it would be helpful if there were at least two on the desk at busy times plus one dealing with non-UK citizens who need longer due to language problems, of which there are many in this area.