"Doesn't give you a great impression"

The department was like a war zone with people parked on stretchers all the way down the corridors.  Awful to see seriously ill people like that.  Not a suitable environment for them or for the medical staff working there. 

Such busyness at A&E is always blamed in the media on timewasters.  I didn't see anyone there who didn't look like either extremely ill or had an obvious injury in need of treatment.  

I'm not complaining at all about the medical care we received because it was kind and respectful and both the nurse and doctor who saw us gave us their full focus and we felt listened to which can't have been easy in the circumstances. 

However it was an awful environment to be in and surely to work in.  Maybe it was just a freaky one-off but if not something must be done.  This mustn't become the new normal.  

I know this is probably part of the wider national problem of NHS funding and organisation and so am going to write to my MP.

Just on a side note, there was mud (at least I hope it was mud) smeared over a large part of the waiting room floor,  No one came to mop it up in the two hours we were sat waiting (before we got moved to the sub waiting area).  Doesn't give you a great impression.