Your call is unimportant to us...

Yesterday I had my third...and last...appointment with a specialist about some health issues I have experienced in the past few months. At his request I underwent two MRI scans; one of the neck and the other of the brain, five vials worth of blood tests and a rather fiddly twenty four hours long urine collection test.

One of the MRIs revealed some arthritis and spinal compression. As for the rest, they showed a few 'abnormalities' all of which are typical of ageing and none of which, according to the specialist, is of concern. Not much to show for all that testing other than a degree of reassurance that I am in reasonable health. So what caused those issues? I'm none the wiser.

So no more appointments with that specialist. Even had he discovered anything that required follow up I would have not have pursued it with him.

Why? Because I am pissed off with his time keeping.

I was kept waiting forty-five minutes beyond my first appointment time even though there was not another patient in the surgery.

For my second appointment I was kept waiting one hour and ten minutes even though the only other patient in attendance spent less than ten minutes with the specialist and was long gone before I eventually was summoned.

And yesterday the delay was one hour and thirty minutes with only two other patients present who between them spent less than fifteen minutes with the specialist and were also long gone before I was called in.

A total of three hours and twenty five minutes delay for three appointments.

That is rude, inconsiderate and unprofessional.