"Waiting, waiting and waiting for an outpatient..."

Having been given an outpatient appointment August 2016 my husband had to cancel it due to admission in a different hospital and in depth investigations for a lung problem, which we felt took precedence. In January 2017 his consultant put through another referral. We waited several months and then I phoned the surgeons secretary end June to be told they had not received the 2017 referral. I made phone calls and arranged for the referral to be faxed direct. I phoned a couple of days later, now July, to confirm they had now received it. I was advised that they had. We waited. And waited. Now October I phoned the surgeons secretary who told me that a referral was registered on 9th August. This is not the one they told me they already had but a fresh one sent by our GP. So far I have flattened two phone batteries while holding on to get through to the referrals booking line. Begged the surgeons secretary to intervene and plan to be phoning tomorrow - I fully expect to get nowhere. I assume we are being referred to this hospital because they have excellent elbow surgeons that dont exist in our county. Their admin systems on the other hand....................................................Wondering what the breach period is and how close we came to it before the referral 'dematerialised'.....................