"We as parents are extremely disappointed"

My son of 2 and a half was struggling to breathe and coughing hard making seal like sounds in his cot. We were very worried and scared and called Doctor on Call immediately. We tried to calm him down.  The nurse called back at 12 midnight and instructed us to bring him to Causeway ED immediately. When we arrived we were greeted by a nice receptionist who took our details and advised us to go straight to the clinical area and knock the door.  We did this, however no one came. After some time someone was leaving and we entered.  We stood at the main desk for over 5 minutes, whilst several nearby staff had a non work related conversation. 

My son became more agitated and stressed, we then became more worried and concerned.  My wife and I  looked at each other in disbelief at not being acknowledged by the staff, whilst they carried on with their non work related conversation regarding a night out. Then to our disbelief one of the staff members shook their head at us and dramatically and said loudly to another that we were rude, which was repeated three times, and they then said that they expected us to make a complaint, before repeating that we were rude. I couldn't believe what was actually happening in a supposedly professional environment especially since we had a small child who was getting more distraught. There are "zero tolerance for abuse" posters everywhere, and these are the core values of the Trust, however these didn't seem to apply.  

My wife approached the more senior staff member addressing the outburst, explaining that we had been asked to knock the door and go straight through, they simply responded that they would address it. No apology was given. 

My son was then seen by a triage nurse who was very nice and professional.  Gave him a steroid liquid at 1am and then we were told to go back to the waiting area and a doctor would see us in a few hours to sound his chest. We waited approximately another 2.5hrs after our son had been given the medication in the waiting area with no follow-up, surely it is practice following administration of any medication to be seen in the ED Department by a doctor.  What if my child had taken a reaction while sitting in the waiting area? The door to the clinical area was locked and there appeared to be no emergency buzzers to contact staff in an emergency. We appreciate pressures on ED, however there were only 4 other patients waiting to be seen.  My child is 2.5 year old and was screaming and crying with tiredness. It was now 3.30am, I knocked the door, a nurse came, I explained we were waiting for a doctor and asked if he was ok to sleep, I stated that if we were not going to be seen by a doctor then we would have to leave. The nurse advised me she would check and come back, after a further 30 mins around 4am we had to leave as my son was very distraught, no one came back to advise.  At home, we took it in shifts to look over and monitor our son incase he had another attack, we were very scared.  I did expect a follow up call the next morning, however nothing happened.

The experience we received in Causeway ED was really disappointing and not the standard of care that anyone should receive from their local hospital. We as parents are extremely disappointed, upset and let down. Our son thankfully, although still not well has not had another attack. We can not get our heads around how anyone could be treated this way, especially with and 2 and a half year old child in the early hours of the morning.