"A problem with the system"

I accompanied a friend to an emergency appointment at the Health Village recently. We arrived approx 8.15pm and let the receptionist know and the reason for the visit. We were told to take a seat in the waiting area which we did. Time was going on and people were getting seen to and left and more people came in. My friend was getting a bit anxious when 9:00 pm had come and he had not been seen by medical staff and people who had come in after us had been seen. I calmed him down a bit and told him they were probably busy.

At about 9;10pm a person came through and shouted out someone's name who had only been waiting about 10 minutes. My friend spoke up and told them that he had been waiting a lot longer. They went away to find out the problem and came back and told him that he hadn't booked in at the reception. I spoke up and told them that he had and that i was there as a witness. We waited until 9:30pm and again they weren't dealing with him. He decided to go back to the reception and find out what was going on.

Whilst he was at the reception the person that went out to find out what had happened appeared again and asked if he'd been seen. I said no, and that he'd gone to the reception. They again said that it was because he hadn't booked in on arrival. Again I told her that he had and there's clearly a problem with the system.

He finally did get seen well after his appointment time. I personally thought it was a terrible service and hope that I never need to use it. Imagine having to wait in a waiting room feeling ill and being ignored. I'd like some sort of response to find out what went wrong with the system and maybe you could put something in place so that it doesn't happen again. I don't want to hear back that he didn't book into reception on arrival because he did.