"Exhaustion and frustration in the clinical assessment unit"

This unit is super busy. The staff are doing their best, that is clear to see, but it is obvious they are overwhelmed at times.

The 'chairs area' is a disaster. I can see why it is operationally necessary but from a patient point of view it isn’t a good experience. I spent 20 hours in the chairs area. It is very uncomfortable. There is no privacy and when busy it is difficult to negotiate the space for observations to be taken.

Having been in overnight, given a bed at 2am (after arriving at 530pm)  and having had it taken away again at 7am (to return to ‘the chairs’) - literally woken up and told to get up and get out of the bed so they could have the bay back - I was exhausted.

Having been kept awake for drips and obs during the night I felt like an inconvenience. Like left luggage at an airport. 2-4 people in a small bay that would normally house 1 bed. No dignity, no privacy, No space, exhausted, uncomfortable.

During the day I watched several people become so frustrated with the environment and the conditions in this area that (having started as perfectly amiable people) they became ratty and rude to staff and demand cannulas be removed and left before being seen by doctors. One girl left with her cannula still in, as she has asked several times for it to be removed and it wasn’t.