"Poor care in A & E"

Anything else?

My daughter is a victim of recurrent pancreatitis - one of the most painful conditions it is possible to have. She was admitted to a cubicle in A & E in severe pain. The doctor on duty was unable to insert a cannula to administer pain relief, so said he was calling for an anaesthetist to try. He also said she should soak her arm in hot water to try to raise the veins. We waited an hour and a half - he did not return to check on her and left her in great pain. When I went to ask him for help, he said he would give her a diclofenac suppository - both my daughter and I, (she is a staff nurse herself) knew that that would be useless in the face of such great pain, but he refused to give her a morphine injection, in spite of saying at one moment he 'would be happy to prescribe it'. Then he went breezily off-duty, failing to check on her to see if the suppository had had any effect and also failing to report to the new doctor coming in. It was only when I asked, tearfully for some help that the second doctor came in. He managed to sort it - he couldn't fit a cannula either, but prescribed the morphine to make her more comfortable and eventually a senior person came and the cannula was fitted. I would add that none of this is any reflection on the nursing staff who were cheerful and sympathetic, though I would have expected someone to have checked on us during the hour and half we were left alone.