"Poor care and long waiting times"

Raising this story on behalf of a relative.

Waited 3 hours 45 minutes in A&E waiting area. Was taken through to A&E beds by a member of staff. Told them where I was in pain but they ignored this and moved me onto bed which was unnecessary pain, I felt they didn’t need to do that. Then they walked out of the bay and gave me no words to explain what was to happen next.

Waited another 45 minutes for the doctor to come in to ask me questions. I felt so low during this 45 minute time as not one member of staff explained to me what was to happen. I lay there in pain. Understandably other people are triaged but I feel there was opportunity for even a quick check for pain relief. 

When the doctor came in, they didn’t ask me on a scale to 1 to 10 how much pain I was in. I wasn’t even offered any pain relief either at that point. Fresh dressings were not applied and my wounds weren’t cleaned or even looked at properly. I feel this should have been arranged to be done to prevent risk of infection.

Another doctor was busy chatting about personal matters, it felt like a student bar and it was like a gossip fest where they swapping stories.

The first staff member came back to do obs checks and when I asked them a couple of questions they sort of sniggered and didn’t answer me, and walked away again.

Transferred to another bay away from there, and the other team were more care-centric. 

A&e - communication is so important, do better. There are people needing your help, try showing you care.