"Pressured staff can still be polite "

I was visiting minor injuries and the nurse we finally saw was lovely and took time to talk us through the injury. The initial nurse we saw for the assessment and all other staff we encountered or observed whilst waiting in the minor injuries area were impatient and dismissive. I do appreciate the pressure the NHS staff are under, there are, however, a lot of people, including myself, who also feel extremely anxious visiting places such as hospitals. Pressured staff passing their impatience onto patients who are being perfectly polite to them is unacceptable. Being spoken to as if we are stupid because we don't know the "rules" even though it is the first time we have visited the hospital since Covid is unhelpful. I witnessed a member of staff being awfully offhand with an elderly couple who clearly were struggling with the information they were supposed to be providing for a blood test. Herts and Essex has always been a pleasant hospital to attend and so I do hope once they no longer feel under pressure that the staff return to being as helpful and friendly as the nurse who helped us in minor injuries today.