"Always next, never actually seen"

Having been referred to a specialist, my mother was booked an appointment for a sent the following week. It was arranged for 8am and she arrived in good time and was supposed to be first on the list to be seen that day.

Ten minutes after her appointment she was told there had been an emergency and she would be seen after the emergency in about an hour and a half, which was understandable.

She continued to wait in a small sectioned off area of the corridor and I was allowed in to wait with her as she was very worried about the procedure.

Three hours later she was told that they were just finishing up with the emergency case and would be seen soon.

A few minutes later we could overhear the nurses discussing having messed up the rota and that my mother should have been seen first. Shortly afterwards, one of the nurses came to tell my mother they're had been another "emergency" and she would need to wait longer.

My mother continued to wait with no food and highly stressed. As the day wore on she continued to be told there were emergencies ahead of her and kept saying she was next. Eventually I had to leave her.

At around three o'clock, having waited for seven hours, she was told she would be seen any minute. Then a few minutes later she was told someone else had been put in front of her again. At this point, still highly stressed, alone, fed up with waiting in a small area with little natural light and no food, and with a diminishing prospect of being admitted at all, she spoke to a nurse to discharge herself.

She was told her operation would be rescheduled for within two weeks, but nearly two weeks on she had heard nothing.