It is disgraceful. I once had to wait for many hours in an orthopaedic clinic as, after I was called in (after several hours wait) they realised that no-one had typed up the notes from my previous clinic visit many weeks previously and the consultant refused to see me without them. I can see his point, but, as you can imagine, it took ages to track down the secretary then she had to find the dictaphone tape, then type them. So more hours of waiting. The poor nurses were very apologetic.
A mere nothing compared with your poor OH, but it does also show how important the back-up services in hospitals are.