"Recent experience as an A and E patient"

I attended Tiverton A and E after continuing pain five days after a fall. It was fairly busy but I was triaged within 15 mins and seen by a Dr shortly after. I was sent for an x-ray but it closed for lunch so I waited in my car then returned. The x-ray showed a problem so after consultation between the Dr and a consultant at RD and E I was sent home to await an MRI scan.

By now the department was completely full of patients. RD and E had a 28 hour wait so many had been redirected to outlying hospitals. When I first arrived, there was just 1 nurse and 1 Dr who worked like Trojans until more staff arrived. The Dr was superb, they were waiting for the consultant to return their call but she kept me updated.. 

I attended an MRI four days later. The radiographer and assistant were kindness itself and they rang the Consultant to see whether I could leave. They said no, go to A and E. I could barely walk for pain so the assistant kindly pushed me to A and E. Once there the computers were down so my details were written in a scrap of paper to be inputted later. I sat down and waited. The food machine was broken but I had cold drinks from the adjoining machine. 

I couldn't leave in case my name got called so endured 10 hours if waiting sitting upright, something I later learned was not good for a compression fracture. It felt it was pretty dire, I saw older ladies crying in wheelchairs needing a drink or the toilet but no one to help them. So many patients gave up and went home. 

The temporary department was divided into three rooms so I felt staff wasted so much time wandering round shouting names. Why not give people a number and have a board that flashed the number and room to go to instead of shouting. One Dr was virtually unintelligible and several patients missed their turn because their pronunciation was nothing like their name. 

After 6 hours I was in so much pain I requested pain relief tablets, and was assured they would be given. Nothing ever appeared and another patient offered me some paracetamol which I accepted gratefully. Eventually I was called to a cubicle and a nurse practitioner assessed me and went to talk to a Dr. It seems my name hadn't got onto the system until the time I was seen. I received oramorph and went home. The queue for paying parking was six deep so near to collapse I walked away after 15 mins and paid from home.

A few days later I returned to the spinal clinic where a consultant showed me, at my request, the MRI. They tested my reflexes, had me do various movements and advised me to ask my GP for something else to help my pain. I rang my GP surgery from the car park and they rang me as I was driving home. By the time I had reached our village my prescription was waiting in our fantastic pharmacy. Since then I've seen a physio and again, excellent advice. 

My overall impression was dedicated staff being worked far too hard. I felt the time wasted calling names to be seen was ridiculous, Dr's shouldn't be searching for patients, their time was too valuable for that. 

I did wonder about the triage system, minor injuries perhaps could be treated right away rather than wait 2 hours to be cleaned up for ten minutes. 

It felt that in the City hospital dozens of people were there with problems their GP should have dealt with, but unable to get appointments went to emergency instead. 

I'm lucky, our village has a superb health centre and we get seen quickly. 

I came out of the experience feeling grateful for a free health service, oh how I longed to make it less time wasting though.