"Friendly and helpful staff, and..."

What I liked

Friendly and helpful staff, and initially being seen to quite quickly!

What could be improved

Having previously had a hideous experience with dirty wards and stool samples not being collected from my bedside for over 2 days when having my appendix removed at Soton General, I was very reluctant to admit myself to A&E having injured my ankle climbing.

My heart fell when I learned there was only one wheel chair in the waiting room and this was in use, I had to hop up the ramp and into the waiting room, with what I now know is a fractured ankle, which as you can imagine was massively painful. It didn't fill me confidence following my bad experiences previously!!

My boyfriend disappeared off into the wards somewhere and eventually found another chair for me to use!! Luckily I wasn't called in Triage in that time cos I don't know what I'd have done.

However, we were seen quite quickly by the nurse (i think he was a nurse, can't remember!) and he was very polite and gentle, he even let me have a wet wipe for my manky hands from climbing!! Whilst there was a wait for Xray which I expected, it really wasn't very long!!

The wait after that for the result though was huge and immensely uncomfortable and no one had told me what the problem was suspected to be, despite a note being given to me, to pass on to the next person I saw with observations on it. It was in shorthand/code so couldn't read it. I was still in the cold waiting room, no sock on my bad foot and nowhere to rest it. We were there for a good couple of hours, and I was in agony!!

I know priority is paid to emergencies and more serious cases, but to watch a drunk idiot who'd fallen over and cut her leg go in and out before me, after arriving after me was a bit annoying. (Especially when she'd spent the interim puking all over the waiting room instead of going to the loo!!)

I'd received no information on how long I might be off work, so cannot let my employers know yet. I have contacted my GP who will look into my notes and make a decision on Monday, but it would have been nice to know what to ex

Anything else?

I really don't mind a wait, I know these departments are under immense pressure a lot of the time, but to be kept informed about my injury instead of having to guess would have been nice!