"The treatment we received was very disappointing"

I attended the ED with my daughter as she had a very painful foot. We were shouted through to the department very quickly by one of the ENPs, who asked my daughter which foot was sore then laughed to themselves, which we both found odd and unprofessional.

After showing us to a room they introduced themselves as one of the ENPs in the dept and asked us to take a seat while they printed off my daughters card. They returned after a few minutes and sat down and asked my daughter if she took any medication or inhalers. They then asked how my daughter injured her foot and she explained that she didn't know, she wakened on Tuesday morning with a painful foot, the pain and swelling head been getting worse despite having RICEd her foot.

The ENP then performed a rather cursory examination of my daughters foot and informed her that she had a soft tissue injury and her swelling and pain would settle after three to four days post injury, when my daughter reminded them that her foot had been painful and swollen for five days, the nurse then said her pain and swelling might take some time. When my daughter asked how long this might take roughly the nurse said again it could take some time and my daughter had to ask again for a rough estimate at which point she was told possibly a fortnight.

My daughter then asked if she should continue with Rice and was advised not to use tubigrip or a stick just continue with her painkillers and elevation and should gently exercise her ankle at which point the nurse circled their foot, my daughter had to ask how often she should be doing this and was told every so often. I then asked if my daughter should take non steroidals and the nurse proceeded to tell us about the latest research that showed NSAIDs were useful four or five days post injury.

My daughter then asked why the nurse had laughed as we came into the dept, she was told they thought it was funny that we were both using walking sticks in the same hand. My daughter then informed them that I am disabled and she certainly didn't think laughing at people with a disability was either professional or acceptable. The nurse then stated that they felt we weren't getting anywhere and we weren't listening to the instructions, my daughter reiterated that their behaviour was unacceptable at which point they did glibly apologise.

I felt very embarrassed and upset by this behaviour, I am also very disappointed to think that this behaviour is being displayed in a dept where this type of behaviour would once not have been tolerated. The treatment we received was very disappointing and I don't like to think of other vulnerable people receiving this type of treatment in an otherwise excellent dept.