"I work in public services so I ..."

What could be improved

I work in public services so I undersatnd the demands of working with people.My mother was admitted via ambulance on Friday 22/09/08. In A&E it was the 'usual weekend crowd' which I am sure the nursing staff are used to and yes they were extremely busy. My mother, was incoherant, weak and had a temperature of 106 when we called 999, and her blood pressure was extremely low. She was sweating profusley and it took over 2 hours for her to be seen. When we asked when she would be seen we were told there were 2 people infront of her, the next time there was 4. We were not commicated with very well, although when she was put in resus it was like they had just suddenly woken up as to how ill she was, and the care was good. They worked hard to stablise her and her blood pressure after it fluctuating quite significantly. Surely someone should have checked on mom more prior to this period to access condition.it could have improved and it could have deteriorated. We are not ones to complain but it would seem that this is what you have to do to get action at times...an action I deplor, as the system should cater for this, family worry and upset and distress. I understand that this is their job and perhaps they become desensitised after a while, however,please always remember that behind cutain 1,2,3........10 there is a human being with feelings and their families are concerned, we are not all intoxicated, gotten into scrapes which the NHS then have to patch up. Please remember that.

what should be improved:

1. communication for families,waiting times etc, saying shorted staffed all the time isn't the answer we wanted. that explains the delay but hardly proactive solution to roughly when

2. a better system which lets you back in when you change turns to go to cubicles, as only 1 family member by bed at a time, we kept banging on the door and it took ages to get answered. we felt we were being a pain to the staff,surely they are peeve off with this too.