"I know they're busy but..."

I have decided this is an unacceptable excuse. I have used it a lot with regards to medics previously when I've been waiting on phone calls that have never come, letters that have not arrived and appointments that have left me sitting in the waiting room for over an hour. Most previously, I used it on Thursday and Friday just gone, for the biopsy results that I was told would be delivered to me in a phone call. Whenever the phone rang on those two days, my stomach would lurch and my heart would beat faster. The first time it rang, it was my mum. The second time, the bank. The third time, a friend. By the fourth time, I felt a pang of disappointment before I even looked at the phone's screen to see who was calling.

"Was it the hospital?" asked my boss each time.

"No. I know they're busy but..."

But they should ring nonetheless. But they should not keep me on tenterhooks when I'm waiting to find out about my prognosis. But they should be professional and sodding well ring me when they said they would, even if it's to say there's no news yet.

This is one of the problems with the NHS. They deal with such a quantity of patients that we all become a diagnosis and a treatment plan. They forget that each of us has emotions and fears. It's easy to use being busy as an excuse but it really isn't an excuse. Why should it be? What if I didn't phone people when I said I would, on the premise of being busy? What if I had arranged to meet somone and then turned up 80 minutes late because I was busy? Would they smile and say "no problem"? No, they'd quite rightly be angry and upset. Why, then, do I keep telling medics it's okay to keep me waiting, that I know they're busy? What are they busy with that is more important than letting me know whether I have even more cancer or not, whether my expected lifespan diminishes yet again, whether I will need to go for yet more scans or whether I can get on with life for now?

No, being busy is not an acceptable excuse. If a doctor says they will phone with results at a particular time, then they should put aside five minutes to make that phone call. What are they there for, if not the patients?