"A & E department made a stressful..."

What I liked

Nothing.

What could be improved

Visited the A & E department late at night upon advice of NHS Direct nurses after experiencing severe eye pain. After almost 2 hours I was seen by the triage nurse who was rude and seemed like she could not be bothered to deal with me as my complaint concerened the eye. Her comments were "Why didn't you visit your GP?" "We're not specialists" "The doctor might be able to do something but the wait is 4 hours". I also heard this nurse shouting at another patient who was waiting and asked how long she thought it would be until he was seen. She yelled at him that he was not the only person here who thought they were ill and he will just have to wait. In the end we left. I called the A & E department at 2am and asked about the eye specialist department. I was told the eye A & E was open the next day from 9am-7pm. I do not understand why I was not advised of this by the receptionists when I told them my problem or the nurse who seemed to think my condition was not bad enough to warrant an A & E visit, even though I was advised to go to that specific hospital's A & E department by NHS Direct as I could be seen by a specialist.

I have no idea what I pay my taxes for if I cannot even get proper advice or care when I need it.

I will never visit this hospital again unless it is to visit a relative.

Anything else?

A & E waiting area was unclean and considering some of the patients will have contagious diseases or viruses, the seating is too close in proximity. There is also no privacy at all when speaking to the receptionists.