"Bad reception policies"

My appointment was at 14.15 on 29 August Clinic 3 for an Echocardiogram..

I arrived at car park very early as am disabled and had not attended Lincoln clinics before. No spaces so rang hospital to ask what to do and was told to keep looking. Finally found car space near A & E and rang reception to request assistance to get into clinic. I usually attend Grantham hospital who are brilliant at helping me get from car to appointment without making me feel a burden as I cannot walk very far without considerable pain.

I rang Lincoln reception only to be told that I was not allowed to talk to porters or ask for any help until I was inside the hospital at the main reception desk. I managed to get from the car to the entrance to a clinic which had a bench outside. One of the staff members working in the next office tried to ring for me for help but couldn't get any answers and as time for my appointment was rapidly approaching I tried to get there myself. I was spotted by a helper in the outpatients I was walking through, who took me to the lift and up to the reception desk, by which time I could not walk any further and was late for my appointment.

Thus far my experience of Lincoln Hospital is a nightmare. I felt totally humiliated at being unable to get there on time and still cannot understand why telephone reception was so dismissive of my problems.

The internal receptionist had booked me in, but I was stranded at her desk and the porters couldn't say how long they would be before they could come to help me. Not their fault obviously.

Then the only good part of my review relates to the technician who was carrying out my echocardiogram. He saw I had been checked in but couldn't find me so came looking. He went to find a wheelchair and took me to his room where he carried out the echo in a very reassuring manner, explaining everything to me and making sure I was feeling okay. When it was finished he took me back to the internal reception desk who called a porter to take me back to the exit. I tried to contact the technician's boss the next day to pass on my thanks but was unable to find out who he was. Please see if you can identify him so he can get the appropriate praise for being my rescuer and making sure I was better before I left.

It would have been a physical impossibility for me to get from the reception desk to the clinic without him and as I arrived at the hospital at quarter to 1 I should have been able to be at the clinic by 14.15 instead of making the clinics run late.

I am left refusing any appointment which involves Lincoln Hospital as opposed to Grantham because I am frightened of being stranded again but don't know what to do going forwards. Surely this is not hospital policy regarding disabled patients, or even very poorly patients. The added stress I felt must have affected the test results.