"Long wait in full, overheated, stuffy waiting rooms."

I took my sister to CAH on as advised by her GP and we checked in at the A&E desk at early afternoon. During the many hours we waited she was called to see the triage nurse and then 2 more calls to have her observations redone in the corridor by a nurse. Eventually at the following morning she was called and was attended to by a Doctor. Lo and behold the wheels of CAH started to turn!

My sister was examined, sent off immediately for xray, ECG and CT scan. Her results from each test raced back to the Doctor and each time she was called back to discuss them.

Thank you so much to Doctor Mateo and nurse Matthew for their swift medical attention in getting my sister attended to. We managed to leave the hospital midday and thankfully she is recovering slowly now at home. However my question is where were the Doctors from we arrived and right throughout the night?

It was the most horrendous wait in full, overheated, stuffy waiting rooms. We spent the night sitting in the cafe area in the foyer of the hospital entrance. My sister struggled so much with her illness while waiting that I approached the A&E check desk on 2 occasions to check that she was still on the system.

The staff we saw, were very good but why did it take so long. Why was there no Doctor until many hours later after we checked in? I was shocked to watch how much this ‘waiting’ has been accepted! People bringing in flasks for tea (the cafe and shop close in the evening and don’t open again until the morning) and ordering in food. But it was so sad to watch the poor patients, some of them so old, some of them struggling in wheelchairs. No comfort. CAH is supposed to be a 24 hour A&E but it didn't feel like it.