"A and E Department"

Visited Accident and Emergency department at Crosshouse Hospital, Kilmarnock in June. A week prior to my visit to A and E, I had fallen and hit my knee particularly hard off a curb. My knee was so black and blue and horrifically swollen that I could barely move it for two days and walking even short distances was extremely painful. As I could still walk, I knew that there was little likelihood that it was broken and decided I would see how it healed a little before making a decision about visiting my local surgery or hospital. I managed for a week to use painkillers and ice packs to help the pain and swelling. A week later however, the bruising now reached from my thigh right down to my ankle and I was rather concerned that this was not normal, especially when the normally pink scar from a previous ankle surgery had also turned purple. I had tried to play it down all week, despite being told by friends and family that I should get my knee and bruising checked out at A and E, not wanting to be a burden. However, I sent a photo to my friend who was a nurse and they were also concerned that the bruising was extreme, and so I decided to visit the A and E department of my local hospital. I attended and was triaged within 30 minutes. I then waited for another 2 hours before being taken through to the minor injuries department where I was asked to wait in a cubicle. After a 5 minute wait, I was visited by a staff member, who sat down in a chair and asked what had happened. I told them that my knee was throbbing in pain and I was concerned about the bruising, showing them the scar on my ankle. They told me this was normal and is called gravitational bruising. I was happy to hear that this was normal and not of concern. However, what concerned me greatly was that despite having a knee injury that I told them I had not had checked and was in a great deal of pain, they never made any assessment of my knee or its movement or even asked to look at it. They sat in their chair and asked how my walking was. I informed them that I was limping a bit but on the whole OK. They asked me to show them my walking, to which they replied that I could walk better than them, that I was fine. I thought this was rather cheeky but did not say anything at this point. I then asked them about the possibility of chipping a bone in my knee. They said that it wouldn't make any difference if I had or hadn't. I asked them if I had done something like this, would I be making it worse by walking on it or anything, to which they told me no. Still, having made no assessment of my knee at all. I left the cubicle in absolute disbelief that I had not even had so much as a cursory look at the cause of my visit to the department. And in actual fact, if I had not pulled my trouser up from the bottom to show them the bruising on my ankle scar, I believe they would not have seen any of the bruising. 

I am absolutely disgusted with the treatment that I received. I attended the department in order to get peace of mind about the extreme bruising I am suffering from, from my thigh to my toes. I patiently waited for my turn to be seen and yet was left with no peace of mind and instead absolute horror and shock that this is the service people are receiving.