"Children’s A&E experience"

Upon arrival there were no seats available which led us to having to stand. We waited 20mins to be triaged. The triage nurse didn’t crack a smile, the triage room door was left wide open for all the hear. Sensitive questions were asked whilst the whole waiting room listened in.

I can’t understand why nurses are no longer allowed to make decisions. The triage nurse role is basically a HCA/Admin role rating severity for the doctor. No autonomous decisions made to discharge at point of triage making the waiting room packed and longer waits. Allow nurses to use the skills they’ve gained from uni and experience and signpost people to pharmacies, GPs etc.

There were kids there that I believe didn’t need to be, ordering food, grazed finger, running up and down and playing with other kids. It was like a children playground not an A&E department.

Our baby's temperature increased whilst waiting, no one came to check on him despite him being clearly distressed. We had to find someone to ask for the temperature to be taken and calpol to be given whilst waiting. The nurses were sat in the nurse station on their phone when we asked for the medication.

When we finally saw the clinical fellow (3hrs later), they were concerned about our baby's rash and said they wanted to get a second opinion, after speaking to their consultant they  returned to say the rash is fine and viral. The consultant didn’t come and look at the rash so made the decision based on the clinical fellow's verbal handover which felt unsettling to us.

We won’t be returning to Chelsea and Westminster. Maybe as well save cost and only have HCAs and doctors working in the department.