"Review of A&E"

I attended Preston A&E on Sunday AM (13.06.2021) I arrived at 4.00 am and left at 11.00am

Nothing but praise for the Triage Nurse, Radiologist and Doctor that I saw. They were all brilliant, especially the radiology lady who offered me some helpful tips regarding my medical problem...

Yes I had to wait almost 7 hours to see the Doctor but the department was very busy...

Negative issues I experienced ...

The a&e aircon was blowing warm air out despite it been around 20oc outside, the heat made the lengthy wait quite challenging.

I went to the porta cabin, to have my temp taken, to find it empty. To the right of the porta cabin there was a circle of staff in light green tops all huddled together smoking. I had to stand and wait for a male nurse to finish his cigarette before he came over to me and took my temperature. He didn't wash his hands and he smelled sooo strongly of smoke. I thought his behaviour was unprofessional especially as there are large signs everywhere saying its a Smoke Free Site.

About 5 hours into the wait a couple of people in the waiting room fell asleep.

A doctor came and called a name, no one replied so he went away. He came bk 15mins later and called out the same name. I said to him I think it's the lady who asleep. He muttered something and went away again. I went over and woke the sleeping lady up to explain what had happened as she'd been waiting over 7 hours in the hot waiting room at this point. She thanked me and went to the reception desk to ask if she'd missed her turn. The receptionist who'd just arrived on shift snapped at the lady and said in an awful tone "What do you want me to do?" The patient repeated her concerns that she might have missed her appointment because she was asleep and the receptionist snapped at her again. The lady was quite upset so I asked the receptionist if she could explain to the doctor that the patient had fallen asleep, the receptionist replied in a really snarky tone "it's not my job".

We both sat down stunned at her attitude and lack of empathy for the situation.

Thankfully the Dr came and called her name once more. The attitude of the receptionist was wholly inappropriate and unprofessional. She certainly made the issue worse and did absolutely nothing to help.

The Dr took me into a room for my consultation, it was opposite the ladies toilet. The room was filthy, the bin was full and overflowing with blood and human detritus, the floor was covered in used packets and blood stained tissues. The desk was covered in half opened canula packets, used gloves, used face masks and used clear facial shields.

I've been shielding all year and I felt at huge risk of catching something in this room. It was not fit for seeing a new patient in. I explained to the doctor and he apologised. It wasn't his fault. I certainly didn't feel safe in this room.

I'm loathed to criticise the nhs but the issues I've raised need addressing