"Frustrated and disappointed with service"

I registered into The Royal Hospital, Belfast, Emergency Room at 6:30pm.

On my arrival, the patient next to me in the waiting room said they had already waited 8 hours, and had not yet still been seen! I waited there patiently until 6:30am the next morning. Note, I never once left the waiting room except to briefly use the toilet.

Having waited 12 hours, at this point, I asked a nurse about the status of my case.  They sounded irritated and stated I must continue to wait!

Unfortunately, the ID badges the staff all wear have illegible, tiny print, which face their chests, so it is impossible to identify staff.

I compliantly continued to wait until 11:30 am. I then asked the Reception Desk for an update. I was shocked to be told I had apparently been discharged the night before at 11:30pm! I said I still had not yet even been seen, and had been told to keep waiting!

Reception told me to tell the Head Nurse, and I was told I must reregister and start the whole process over again! Can you believe instead of just profuse apologises, the Nurses and Emergency Reception continually laid blame on me, accusing me of being discharged due to leaving the ER!

Very disappointingly, the Head Nurse made no attempt at all to find out which of their junior Nurses told me to continue to wait when I had already been, incorrectly, discharged without my knowledge, not even having been seen the night before!

I reregistered, as requested, and asked for documentation to show my two Emergency registrations. Reception said I could not be provided with any documents until I had been seen!

I was sent to Triage, yet again, and asked how much longer it would be, as I had already waited the entire night, upright, in a chair, in a freezing cold waiting room packed with ill people. I was astounded to be told by a  nurse that I must continue to wait, indefinitely, as there were many priority patients ahead of me!

I was also very frustrated to be informed that my urine sample, whose results I was anxious to attain, had been thrown away!

The Head Nurse sent me to Urgent Care as it would be faster! I was not happy to be sent to Urgent Care. This was because my only prior experience of this clinic was waiting an entire day there, only to be sent away late in the evening without any help. I was told I must instead seek assistance at an external medical facility! This message could simply have been passed along to me from the start.

I made a complaint and later received an unsatisfactory, very brief apology, and was told this clinic had not abided by protocol.

Frustratingly, at Urgent Care, I was told no results had still yet been received from the second urine sample I had to submit, because my first one had been discarded. Patients must apparently reregister, and start the whole long drawn-out waiting process later, yet again, just to attain their test results from a doctor!

I finally saw a doctor at 2pm, almost 24 hours after my arrival in Emergency! The doctor asked me to wait still further for an appointment for a test to be arranged the following day! It seemed reasonable for me to be able to call and attain the appointment time. Exhausted, I could remain no longer and left at 2:30pm.

The next day, I travelled back asap, as promised. I barely had any sleep for the second night in a row, since I had to be on the bus for hours from very early morning to travel the distance, only to be told I had missed the appointment and must register in Urgent Care for a third time! In my view, this is not care.

A different Reception desk (for the test) said it was likely the test could still be arranged that same day. Another appointment could have easily been made quickly and efficiently on the spot.

I arrived at 10:40am; but the member of staff on reception at Urgent Care refused to register me for a third time. I had asked for the documentation to show I had registered in Emergency twice already; however, they were only able to find the second registration. I said I would go to request it from the Emergency Reception, as their desk had promised previously. Nonetheless, they still refused to permit me to register with Urgent Care first, regardless of the fact that they were responsible for the lost paperwork! My initial registration with Emergency  was never found!

I waited 4 further hours before I could manage no longer. In total, very sadly, I waited 24 hours for some care, in vain. I continue to still suffer from my ailments after having spent 24 hours in Emergency, not including all the time and expense travelling to and from the hospital!