"Some suggestions"

My wife attended Warwick A&E very late on Thursday night 7 October & into early Friday morning as after a hip operation on 2 October her leg had became swollen & we were advised to seek A&E help so I took her to the walk-in area.

After waiting for about 6 or 7 hours, her eventual treatment was very helpful & appreciated and we wish to thank the medical staff concerned. However as this was our first experience of your A&E, we found the all night wait quite difficult as :-

a) the only indication of possible waiting time was a paper note on the reception desk saying it was about 4 hours - which was not updated or changed during that night

b) due to my wife's very recent operation she needed to sit in an high chair with arms but there were none in the reception waiting area

c) we did not appreciate there is a separate ambulance entry to A&E so had little understanding of the delays the walk-in patients had to deal with - lack of information made the wait difficult

d) as a non patient I had to wait outside the reception area

e) I was unable to operate the refreshment machines adjacent to the A&E walk-in entrance

We would therefore offer a few suggestions to help other A&E patients as they wait in the walk-in reception area

1. Install an electronic notice board system that gives an estimated waiting time that is updated as regularly as possible so those waiting better understand your staff's priorities in treating both walk-in & ambulance entry patients

2. add a few raised height seats with arms to help people who have real difficulty sitting with hip or leg problems especially for long periods

3. Review whether family like me could sit in the waiting area especially during the night with patients who may be in pain

4. Ensure that refreshment machines are in working order and simple to operate