"once i was put through to the department a good..."

What could be improved

this is not so much as a complaint but a comment, today i called the hospital at about 9.10 to find out about an appointment i have at the royal free, i was answered very quickly by the switchboard lady, she was ever so helpful but at the same time i found her very intrusive, i asked for the EMG department to check an appointment, I was not prepared to be asked by her why i needed the appointment, i told her it was a long standing back issue to which she told me "i know, i suffer from the same thing" she then asked me what the symptoms were, stupidly i answered her, this led to a five minute conversation, in the end i had to stop her and politely say can you please just put me through i am sorry but i find this totally unacceptable when i am sure the staff who answer the telephone only need to know what department i need to speak to with that she did and the gentleman who answered my call in EMG dealt with the call in less then 1 minute, so having been on the telephone for 6 minutes i only needed to spend 1 minutes worth of call costs.