"Uncaring doctor"

I took an elderly friend to an outpatient appointment at the Thoracic Clinic on 8 June.

Firstly the location of the clinic was wrong on the letter, meaning that when we arrived at the correct location my friend was 5 minutes late.

The man who took us to the correct place told the nurse that we had arrived and pointed out the room that the doctor would be in.

Another nurse arrived and spoke to my friend very pleasantly.

Having waited 40 minutes beyond the appointment time, I queried why nobody had been in or left the doctor's room and pointed out that we were still waiting.

I was told that this can happen.

My friend was then taken by the nurse for weught and blood pressure to be done and returned to the waiting area.

A patient was then called in and left after his appointment.

I queried again that we were still waiting.

The nurse went into the doctor and asked to speak to us privately.

We were told that because my friend had arrived late he had missed his appointment.

The doctor was running her clinic on time and would not see him ahead of other patients.

The nurse then asked if we knew why my friend had the appointment, which we did not as there was no detail on the letter.

He said it was for TB, which my firend and I were surprised about.

Approximately 3 weeks earlier he had been told he had lung cancer but there had been no mention of TB. My friend was offfered the opportunity to wait until the end of the clinic which could be 6pm, almost another two hours' wait.

My friend was already quite agitated at waiting an hour and a half already and I felt would not cope well with another two hours wait (he had a stroke some years ago and has not deal with things outside routine very well).

We followed the nurse up to the office to book another appointment.

We were told that this fortnightly clinic was not running the next two sessions so there would be a 6 week wait.

I cannot believe that for all the time that we were waiting the doctor did not contact the nurse to see that the patiend had arrived or that the nurse did not let the doctor know.

Whether my friend has TB, cancer or both he deserved to be seen and I feel the doctor was totally uncaring in not giving him any time.

I understand that the planned appointment might have been long, but the doctor herself through lack of common sense at the very least, wasted the NHS time, caused distress to my friend who now has a further wait at this difficult time.

Why on earth did the doctor not consider seeing him for a shorter time and referring him for a shorter follow up appointment to complete the consultation and advice?

Added to this the reason he was 5 minutes late was that the letter from the hospital gave the wrong floor for the appointment.

Please, please Hemel Hempstead Hospital think about your patients, encourage your staff, including your doctors, to use a bit of common sense and initiative.

Think about how you would feel if it was you or a loved one.