"Facilities were generally clean ..."

What I liked

Facilities were generally clean and tidy and there was plenty of seating space in the waiting area. Parking facilities are excellent and the hospital is easily accessible from the surrounding area.

What could be improved

Reception needs to take lessons in (a) acknowledging that somebody is stood there waiting to speak to them while they carry on talking about last nights's TV and (b) give accurate information to the waiting patients. If you question them at all they were also very hostile in their attitude.

Anything else?

Whilst using their out of hours service to get our 1-year old daughter seen by a doctor (our GP said there was a 4 day wait for appointments), we were told waiting time would be about 20-30 minutes on arrival.

After about 45 minutes I asked for an update and was told 5 or 10 minutes.

After another half an hour or so I was told we were next.

After 2 other patients were then called and another half an hour or so we were seen.

The Doctor was extremely polite and helpful and diagnosed a serious ear infection, but any parent knows how difficult it can be trying to keep an ill 1-year old entertained for nearly two hours in a hospital waiting area. Especially when they are tired on top of everything else.

The medical service was very good, but the support staff were ignorant, rude and unhelpful. When I complained that we kept being told inaccurate waiting times the response was "what do you want me to do about it". There was no apology, acknowledgement, or explanation.

Tell the truth maybe?

Furthermore, each time I approached the reception desk to enquire, I was stood waiting for several minutes for them to finish their (non-work related) conversations before they acknowledged me.