"answer the phone"

my mother had an emergency appointment last tuesday at the eye clinic. She was told she had a bleed behind the eye and needed a repair done to a cataract operation. the consultant said this was urgent because of the bleed (he scanned her eye) and she would have this done within a week. This is now 8 days and we havent even had a letter for the appointment. I telephoned today to find out what was happening and was on hold for over 20 minutes with the phone just ringing and then going back to the operator. if I do not get a response within the next hour, i will be reporting this to the papers. No wonder Queens Hospital has a terrible reputation no-one seems to know what they are doing. My mother is 81 years old and because of this problem she is unable to go out of the house and has been marooned in for about six weeks.