"Treated like second class"

I was taken by ambulance after suffering a collapse at home in the early hours of Sunday morning. Yes, I had had a few drinks (no-one is perfect right?) but the collapse was not due to this. I have a history of a previous heart attack and angina. The paramedics were fantastic, but the minute I arrived in A and E

I was treated like a second class citizen. Obs were taken and then was told it would be at least 7 hours to see a doctor! After hearing this I went for a short walk with the person who came in with me. When I got back a nurse came in and said we are moving you somewhere else and freeing up the bed for someone who needs it! Bearing in mind, a doctor hadn't even seen me yet. She was very blunt and grumpy and told me to get in the wheelchair, and whizzed me off to another room.

There were quite a few cubicles empty with either a bed or reclining chair, but she asked the nurse on the desk specifically for cubicle 9. There I was dumped in an upright uncomfortable chair to wait for a doctor for 8 hours! I was not offered anything to eat and suffered a hypo as I am type 2 diabetic. My daughter asked a nurse to check my blood sugars, but no-one came, then she managed to grab another nurse who fetched a cheese sandwich. Still 4 hours later, my blood sugar was not monitered. Normal obs and bloods were taken. When a doctor did finally arrive she said that going by my blood results I hadn't had a heart attack (just as well!) but my bloods showed that I had definately suffered some sort of event and I might be admitted at least overnight. Still some time later another nurse came in and said they were waiting on some other results and I could go home. Eventually a porter arrived to take me to a ward. I didn't have a clue what was going on, I was told nothing else. I arrived at a ward and a doctor came in and asked me lots of questions, he didn't give me chance to explain what other symptoms I had been getting in the weeks building up to this event, he was more bothered by nagging me about the effects of alcohol/smoking etc. I am 53 years old and he made me feel like a 5 year old. He dismissed anything my husband tried to tell him. He concluded I had fainted due to alcohol and GTN spray (there HAD to be a reason I needed the GTN in the first place?) and he and a consultant came back in and said they would up my beta blockers and I was to go home. I know they can tell quite a lot from bloods, but I feel I wasn't taken seriously simply because I had a drink prior to the attack. I am pretty sure they all have vices! Anyway, since the attack, the horrible pain I have had in my back and head and arms for weeks has improved, so something obviously happened as the doctor in A and E suspected. I left feeling very down and cried all the way home. I would seriously be reluctant of going in for this problem again. I didn't feel in the least reassured when I left, just confused over the conflict of opinions between staff and the lack of respect.