"Outpatient dept"

I had an appointment in outpatients dept being the first after lunch and there was nobody there. We had to wait an hour before seeing a Consultant and we realised that the person 3rd on the list on the screen went in first. I am sure that there was probably a good reason for that and if someone had just communicated the situation I would have gladly let them jump the queue. NHS really need to learn how to communicate with their patients as this is not the first time communication has been missing. Having said that my experience with NHS which has been extensive has generally been very good.