"Poor Triage makes for long waiting times..."

I went to my GP at 9 am. They felt that I needed to be checked by a gynaecologist to rule out / in an abscess or infection secondary to cancer - so they said they were sending me to see the on call gynaecologist at the local hospital. In effect trying to make me an emergency appointment for the same day. They spent 20 + minutes making about 3 phone calls and being passed from one dept to another. No answer from gynaecology. Eventually aware their other patients were being kept waiting they printed out past letters and a request for a gynaecology check and told me to go to A & E. At A& E the triage nurse called my name. I went into a room she said to sit down. I explained that I could not as I was in too much pain. She said she would take my blood pressure standing up. She took the papers I had put on the desk (from the GP) and typed from just the front page. She looked up & said go and sit in the main waiting room. I asked what would happen next. She said you wait for a blood test and then you wait for the doctor. This last was said with such a strong accent that it took me time to understand. So no questions or any real screening or triage - that’s a good waste of time job if ever there was one. So outside it is clear that I am to wait between 4 & 5 hours standing up to see a doctor who would probably then call the gynaecologist..... and likely another couple of hours for them to come. So I left ... I can’t sit through pain and I certainly can’t stand for 4 hours. My thoughts are that some common sense treatment would have sent me to another department to get what I needed... and reduced the pressure on A & E maybe????

To be honest I sometimes wonder if the huge amount of people waiting could be reduced by better organisation and less seeing a different person for every little task. No one takes overall responsibility for the patients care and so it must be so easy to miss serious issues - but then it won’t be anyone’s fault will it... just bad luck for the patient. 🤞🏻My infection is not too serious and I don’t return in an ambulance.

The triage nurse wasn’t rude - simply useless and ineffective.

And despite the new facilities at Wexham - they are already being spoiled by chips, poor cleaning etc. and there are certainly not enough seats.

Isn’t it time to spend more on organising proper care (like targeting tests where they are needed instead of testing everyone who walks through the door to cover your back) and less on fancy aspirational statements (you fall a long way short of excellence) and feeling sorry for yourselves about over work.