"Communication and waiting times"

I was having chest pains that concerned me, I suffer with high blood pressure and worried that this may be something more sinister.

I went to the A&E department.  I was seen very quickly by the nurse practitioner who was very nice. They took mys obs, bloods and ran an ECG.  The department was very busy and I was told there was an average of a 10-hour wait to be seen by a doctor.  I took a seat and began the wait.  Over the next couple of hours lots of people began to walk out, the receptionist couldn't tell how long the wait was going to be and there was no noticeboard supplying this information - there used to be a board that would give estimated waiting times.

I waited for 5 hours and asked again when I would be seen - I was told it could be anything from another 5 to 10 hours.  At this point except from the original obs, blood test and ECG I had been offered no other treatment or pain relief.  

They still could not give me a time and by this time the pains had dissipated and I had residual pain only.  I spoke with the receptionist who told me that my GP would be informed of my visit and blood results would automatically be sent to the practice.  With this information I decided to leave with the intention of contacting my GP for an update and further treatment options should they be required.

I have contacted my doctor, and although they were made aware I had visited the hospital there are no test results with them.  I have tried and tried to get through to the hospital but to no avail.

While sat in A&E I noticed several thing:

Lack of communication - no notice boards with expected waiting times to keep people in the loop

Bank Staff - there appeared to be a shift change of staff - many of the incoming staff looked to be from agency and did not appear to know where they were going or what they were supposed to be doing

Lack of empathy - the patient at the side of me had had an operation the previous day and came to A&E as they were in pain - I felt the nurse that dealt with them was quite dismissive - as if they did not believe the patient had been sent home without pain relief - they showed no understanding and were in fact abrupt - so much so that the patient ended up in tears!

The communication was so poor, the waiting so long that people became fed up and ended up signing disclosure and self discharges.  People were leaving untreated and I find that quite shocking.