I had an appointment at the ENT department in February. My dear mum passed away and I could not attend.

I immediately phoned the appointments department to cancel in the hope that someone else would be given an earlier appointment.

It states clearly on the appointments form that if you are unable to keep the appointment, staff need seven clear days notice of a cancellation, otherwise you might not get another appointment. I phoned this department constantly for a week, on one occasion leaving my phone ringing for two hours.

Twice I was told that the other person had hung up. I eventually got to cancel my appointment one hour before it was due.

I am not knocking the NHS or the overworked personnel answering the phones - my heart goes out to them - but I am knocking the management who apparently made most of the staff redundant when this department was moved from the Radcliffe Infirmary.

I would like to know why managers assumed that because a department was moved, only three members of the original staff would be needed to respond to phone calls.

Was there suddenly a fall in the number of people needing ENT? Did the managers see that in their crystal ball?

What is the point of having a state-of-the-art hospital if nothing works in it? What has happened to commonsense and managers who have some semblance of planning and people management?

MARY SMITH, Lobelia Road, Oxford