"Late for my appointment"

I unexpectedly had to go to the ED at Sydney Eye Hospital. I'm visually impaired and had to make an appointment with the Eye Clinic for the following day. Unfortunately I wasn't aware that my mum had a coinciding appointment time elsewhere. I needed to walk her to her appointment because she too is visually impaired. This meant that I was late for my appointment at the Eye Clinic. When I explained this at reception after arriving, the staff understood and I was willing to wait to be seen.

But then a nurse came out and asked why I was 4 1/2 hours late. She had her hands on her hips and appeared quite cross. She told me I was unable to have an appointment that day because I had missed mine and that I needed to go and make an appointment for another day.

When I went to make the new appointment, the receptionist said, why can't you wait - surely they can help you. The receptionist then went to speak to the nurse. The nurse responded to me with - why did you say this? I told you I would ask the doctor.

I repeated what the nurse had really said and she adamantly denied that she had said this and continued to say, so everyone in the clinic could hear, that she had told me to wait and she would speak to the doctor. This made me feel very stressed because I know what she really said.

I did end up getting to see the doctor that day. I had always been prepared to wait because I knew I had missed my scheduled appointment. The only reason I ended up being able to see a doctor was because of the receptionist.