"I attended with my wife at the ..."

What could be improved

I attended with my wife at the eye hospital who had an appointment to see one of the consultants. We had been called the previous evening by a member of staff to ensure that she had remembered the appointment and that she was attending. I informed this person that we had both taken the day off work and would indeed be attending. I informed her that I would be driving as my wife obviously would take time time to recover and would not be able to see.. We attended in plenty of time for our appointment. Booked in at reception and took a seat. An hour later we could not help overhearing a gentleman complaining to staff about the length of time he had been waiting. It turned out that he was waiting for the same consultant and had an appointment time an hour before my wife. He was informed that the consultant had been called away to perform an emergency operation and the reception staff did not know when he would be back to attend his clinic.The gentleman was also informed that other consultants were taking the overload on where they could fit patients in to their own clinics. Whilst I applaud the efforts to cover for this emergency situation and understand that this takes precedence,why couldn't the staff on reception informed us of this. Why were we not given the option to make a new appointment or to wait for the consultant. I am sure most people would appreciate being treated like adults. In view of what we had heard, and it was obvious to all in the waiting area, we were still not approached by staff. My wife then approached the staff and politely asked if it was correct the information we had heard. When this was confirmed, my wife informed them that if she stayed, it was going to be late evening before she was seen as she had one of the later appointments, if the clinic continued that late.So we opted leave, informing the staff before doing so.