"Disappointed in A&E"

I was escorting an elderly resident from my residential home to A&E via ambulance, she is well into her 80's. The ambulance crew were brilliant and the first two nurses we saw within an hour of getting to hospital.

It took 45 mins waiting with the ambulance crew before handing over which is fine. Then my residents bloods and obs were taken and she was told she would be seen nice and quickly. We were then left in isolation (due to a flu breakout at the residential home). The room was freezing cold, and we were left unattended for almost 6 hours.

After 4 hours I rang the call bell on the residents behalf and several nurses looked over but completely ignored it ringing. Eventually my resident became so agitated at being ignored she was calling out so someone decided they would grace her with their presence.

This nurse was incredibly rude to me, told me there were people dying and it's MY job to keep my resident from being agitated. How did they know her medical situation wasn't serious also? All I had asked them was whether they could look into how long we should expect to wait before seeing a doctor (bare in mind I can see doctors wandering all over the place). I was there as a chaperone, not a babysitter, and should never have been treated like an inconvenience.

Eventually we were told the doctors have a list about 28 patients long and it would be hours more. My resident was then, after 6 hours on a trolley, moved into a proper bed and made comfortable. The nurse then noticed it was freezing in the room (perhaps had they been more attentive to her needs this member of staff would have noticed that 6 hours before? ) she was just left seemingly ignored for 6 hours. If I hadn't been there she wouldn't have known what on earth was happening.

I've been to A&E several times with my dad, and have never been spoken to the way I was tonight, it felt like because I wasn't her family I didn't deserve respect, and neither did she! A woman in her 80's!