"Lack of care, compassion and understanding from triage nurse."

I arrived in the Accident and Emergency department of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh with my friend/colleague after being collected from a bar in town and brought to Accident and Emergency by Street Assist as a result of her potentially being spiked.

After being checked in to the department by Street Assist, we sat in the crowded waiting room and waited to be called to triage. We were called and my friend, who couldn't walk without assistance from myself, and was struggling to gather her words and keep her eyes open, was sat on a chair at a bed space with curtains (left open, as a member of the public faced us whilst she vomited into a sick bowl and I was holding her up to support her vomiting and therefore couldn't close the curtains myself).

A student paramedic arrived to obtain vital signs from my friend then left, my friend was still vomiting with no offer of anti emetics for symptom relief.

The triage nurse for that shift came to the bed space, did not introduce herself but instead persisted to smirk and ask if -someone had had too much to drink-, I explained that in fact, we had barely had anything to drink and that I believed my friend had been spiked as 20 minutes prior to me finding her covered in her own sick verging on being unresponsive in the toilets, she had been completely fine and responding as normal.

The nurse then asked my friend to confirm her personal details and although she did manage to do this, there was delays in her responses as she tried to find her words. The nurse then looked up at me and asked -what do you expect us to do here because we wouldn't do anything for a spiking unless she was medically unwell and her obs are fine-.

I explained again, that we weren't drunk, and that she was fine 20 mins before I found her. I went on to explain that I had children at home and therefore couldn't look after my friend overnight and she had no family in Lothian.

I continued to explain my friends circumstances. The nurse  continued by saying that if we were worried she could phone the police to report the spiking but there was nothing else they could do for us and discharged us from the department. For the duration of our engagement with this staff nurse we were met with the same smirk and sarcastic tone that she first embraced us with.  

I feel unbelievably let down and frustrated by this experience and as stated above we both work for the health board and are aware how stretched resources are at the moment, but I had genuine concerns regarding my friends safety and these were disregarded and the presumption was made that we were in fact, just drunk, when that was not the case.

There was no consult by medics, or even a set of neurological observations obtained. I felt we were rushed out of the department having been met by judgement and a ridiculous lack of care, compassion and understanding from individuals who are supposedly doing this role in healthcare to care for the public.

Since this evening we have seemed support from the police who have stated that in fact A&E should have obtained blood tests and contacted the police on my friends behalf. They also confirmed that the bar in which we attended has a reputation for this type of incident occurring, and now that these bloods have not been obtained at the time we raised the concern there is nothing that can be done. 

I am astounded at the treatment we received and as much as I have strong passion for nursing, it showed me exactly why members of the public have such a negative view on the NHS and why they feel failed by it, because I certainly did.