"My mother's experience"

Back up in A&E for 2nd night with my mother, who was referred as emergency patient to ophthalmology casualty clinic as potential aneurysm. After a very thorough examination, excellent explanation and care given from staff in the clinic and the Orthropist both gave fantastic care. Thank you very much.

The doctor who saw my mum was quite blunt in the seriousness of the issue and the need to move quickly, they referred her urgently back to A&E to have the emergency procedure involving dye to be injected to ensure that we weren’t heading for a haemorrhagic stroke.

We were advised we wouldn’t need to be triaged again and would wait a few hours max, I understand the department is very busy with walk ins, referrals, ambulances etc etc however we have been in hospital since 2pm, A&E since 6pm and it is almost 1am and still no medic available to do the procedure.

The receiving staff here at A&E are not happy at other departments giving unrealistic time frames and have voiced this several times at front desk and in the triage department. I understand completely the strains the staff are under, I was told that it is not a staffing issue but a space issue where they don’t have enough cubicles to see the patients. As a carer of a family member going through this, it has been very difficult, I understand most people coming through the door also have serious issues going on, however there is a lot that is not. 

Chairs in waiting area are very uncomfortable for unwell, elderly patients to sit on for 8hrs+.