"My A&E experience"

I was taken to A&E from the paramedics sent to me from 111. Once I got there, the A&E doctor came over and told me to come off the gas and air despite me telling him my pain was an 8 on the scale from 1-10. They told me if it was 8, I wouldn’t be able to talk. They told me I was too young, and didn’t have an accident so the chances of me having something actually wrong with me worthy of being in A&E is slim to none. This made me cry, and came over with a more patronising apology telling me they were going to get me some painkillers for the pain.

4 hours later, I got my first round of medication. A doctor came over and told me to come through who was actually very helpful, very respectful, and very apologetic about the treatment I received in A&E. As well as this, I only received the apology because the paramedics (after consoling me) had gone back over to the doctor telling them how much they had upset me and how patronising they came across.

For context- I’ve never been to A&E by paramedics, I was scared, alone, and I am 21. I understand how busy and how stressful A&E can be, but from a doctor, I would expect a level of respect and compassion which wasn’t received. And to remove my only form of pain killer, and then make me wait over 4 hours for some paracetamol was absurd.

A family also consoled me telling me they had a similar experience with the doctor saying they were also very patronising and tried to minimise their presenting problem, they later found out the issue was kidney stones. And despite their best efforts to minimise my symptoms and pain, after the nicer doctor actually listened and checked me out, and referred me for an MRI, I have a slipped disc and trapped nerve.