"A really poor experience"

I will give Arrowe Park’s A&E dept the benefit of the doubt in that the NHS is underfunded and spread thin, but I feel this is one of the worst. Every staff member I encountered — apart from two — were rude, condescending, and didn’t know what was going on. Wait times are horrific, I was told I needed stitches and left 10 hours later with a bandage change and paper stitches on a gaping wound. Originally, they put a badly wrapped bandage on my wound, which bled through in a few hours. I asked another staff member if they were able to change it whilst I waited for my appointment, they turned their nose up at me and begrudgingly changed it (credit where credit’s due, it was better than the first bandage) but left the door wide open whilst dressing my wound and at the end of it questions patronisingly, if I am happy now. There were people there for 15+ hours coughing up blood, puking, sleeping on the floor due to increasing wait times, crying, wandering back and forth trying to locate a staff member for an update… It was truly abhorrent.

There were two doctors for the whole department attempting to treat people from all over the Wirral. I would ask for a wait time estimate, to be told I was eleventh in line, then an hour later, sixteenth in line, whilst also being told I might be waiting another 16 hours. I understand other emergencies coming throughout the night but to expect people to wait 12+ hours to see one of two doctors is shocking.

We were offered tea and coffee once, and water on one other occasion. staff wander around and you can’t locate them when you need help. Even after the handover at 8am, systems presenting patient lists weren’t loading and you go to a staff member begging for help and they shrug their shoulders. I repeat, I understand the NHS is spread thin, but this is the worst A&E experience I’ve ever had in my life.

The waiting room is filthy and you can smell illness in the air. The toilets are even filthier, poo smeared across the seats and skids in the bowl, and urine puddles on the floor (not good when your wound is on your leg and your trousers get wet with other peoples bodily fluids when you pull them down to go to the loo). There are signs everywhere saying irritability towards staff is strictly forbidden, but frustration is surely expected when the patient care is so utterly poor. No solutions are ever provided and one staff member will tell you one thing and another something else. I am honestly so shocked that everybody in the waiting room (not just me) had to experience this.