"Diabetic retinopathy screening outpatient appointment"

I arrived in good time for my appointment on 28 March & was directed to the waiting area; there was one gentleman already waiting.

About 20mins after my due time another lady arrived, asked me whether someone would call us at our respective times - I assumed that would be the case and around 10mins later another patient joined us.

Quickly thereafter a male nurse appeared and to my surprise immediately called the lady who had just arrived. Next he called the gentleman who'd been there before me, and then in due course the other lady.

At this point I interrupted and flagged that my appointment time had been 35mins previously. His response was firstly that he'd thought I had been with and acting as an interpreter for the lady who had just been seen - (strange then that I'd not gone in with her, nor indeed left with her).

Once in the room he went on to tell me that he had called my name and in the absence of a reply had marked me as a DNA! I was disappointed and very upset by this, and am convinced that actually, my name had not been called.

I had been watching every move and listening to every sound the whole time while I waited; in fact, the particular nurse had not even made an appearance until he called the first patient. To add insult to injury, in the post this week came a letter from the DRS service telling me to ring a hotline number to make another appointment since I'd failed to attend the one on 28th!

Unfortunately there was no address on the letter for me to write to give my thoughts. I attend numerous medical appointments for a variety of conditions and count myself very fortunate for the care which I receive from the NHS. All the more reason why I found this nurse's behaviour towards me unacceptable.