"Total System Failure."

I was sent to the SAU at Warrington by a doctor at the Runcorn walk-in centre. This was on 1 June 2017. I arrived at about 11.00am. At 11.30am I provided a blood sample and was told to take a seat until the result was available. At approximately 1.15 pm I enquired as to how long it would be before my results were available. I was shown a notice board which suggested a wait of up to four hours could be expected. I was concerned because my wife is ill and she had no idea where I was and my mobile telephone battery had given up the ghost. A nurse offered to charge it for me but the fitment was wrong. Nevertheless I was grateful for their offer. I asked if I had time to go and make calls from a public phone and was told I may miss my slot so I resumed my seat. At 2.00pm I had no option but to inform the staff I had to leave. I was advised to return the following morning at 7.30am.

It is worth mentioning at this point that another gentlemen I was sitting next to in the waiting room had been at the unit much longer than I, was in severe pain, had been told he may have appendicitis but had been left sitting there for much longer than I had. He told me he was getting increasingly anxious as he had no idea what was going to happen. This young man shortly afterwards suffered a panic attack and was comforted by nurses outside the unit for quite some time. This is the strongest message of all as to how this unit appears to be failing at least for patients who are sent there at short notice.

I arrived at the unit at 7.30am the following morning as I was advised. I explained the situation I was in and that my wife had alzheimers and had suffered a stroke and that I would appreciate being dealt with as soon as possible as all I required was the results of my blood test of the previous day, to be informed of whether any treatment was needed and whether in fact there was anything wrong with me other than what I suspected...an anal fissure. They said they would do what they could to assist which I appreciated. At 8.30am the nurse informed me that somebody would soon be 'coming down' to see me. At 9.30am I had not been seen so I decided to leave. I informed the receptionist and the nurse and was told that the unit was 'just like A&E' and hence the long waits. I replied that in my view it was nothing at all like A&E as A&E would have no idea what would be coming through the doors each day while the SAU seemed to be dealing in most cases with patients who were arriving to be admitted for planned operations. I asked if the results of my tests could be sent to my GP.

I do not blame the staff. They work very hard, I could see that from my 6 hours or so in the Unit. It is the system that is at fault. I see no reason why a senior nurse or nurse practitioner could not be employed to, amongst other things, inform patients of test results and possible needs for ongoing treatment as opposed to having them camp out in the unit for hours waiting for doctors who never come.