"Lack of adequate care"

My adult daughter with cerebral palsy, unshunted hydrocephalus, epilepsy and learning disabilities recently had a seizure fell and hit her head.

We attended A&E at approx 9pm and were triaged quickly. I was concerned as she had a significantly delayed response and had an obvious head injury. She is unable to communicate effectively, however was in pain and behaving out of character. She has recent medication adjustments due to her epilepsy, all explained to the very nice young nurse but minimal neuro observations performed (pupil response with torch). Not even a cold compress offered for the head injury.

Sent back out to waiting room. At approximately 12am I asked to speak to a senior nurse- nobody had checked my daughter in that time, I used a can of coke and wet paper towels from the toilet as a compress. I was advised to go through and look for a nurse myself as staff were so busy. There was no shortage of nurses. All sitting at the nurses station. So many they had to sit on the desks as there were no seats available.

I explained no one had checked my daughter, I was told we had another 7.5-hour wait. It was midnight. I explained my daughter would need a bed. Trying to keep her propped up in her own wheelchair until morning time would be extremely difficult and likely would trigger another seizure. I was told there was no bed. We would have to stay in the waiting room.

At this point I opted to go home. I was informed that would be against medical advice… but what choice did I have? Waiting would likely cause my daughter further injury by allowing her to have another seizure in the waiting room, not to mention the mental distress… there was no reasonable adjustments made for her learning disabilities.

I contacted her GP  the next day who seen her as an emergency and also now have an urgent review with her neurology team.

I believe the lack of adequate care in A&E is shameful. I’m so scared for the future as it is inevitable that my daughter will have further seizure and falls, she could be another statistic who dies in an A&E waiting room just because of her inability to communicate effectively and lack of effective patient care in A&E.