"My 2 year old son left for hours!!"

Thank you for posting your feedback about your experience of our Accident and Emergency Department. We are disappointed to hear about your negative experience while your son was in our care. We understand how worrying it is for parents who find themselves needing to use our emergency services for their children, and we are sorry to hear you were unhappy with the treatment your son received. The department does get very busy at peak times and, in line with the national A&E target, we strive to see, treat, admit or discharge patients within four hours of arrival. Patients with major injuries are triaged and early investigations happen, where appropriate, in order of priority i.e. the sickest patients will be seen first. We do not routinely assess patients with minor injuries, which includes those with head injuries, but the paediatric nurses do try to assess all children where possible. If your son was not assessed on arrival, it may have been that his injury was considered to be a minor one. Patients with minor injuries wait to be seen by an emergency nurse practitioner, or a doctor in the minor injuries area. Emergency nurse practitioners are nurses who have the appropriate skills and experience to deal with minor injuries themselves. However, if the patient’s symptoms worsen or they need pain relief they would be assessed to see whether they need to be treated more urgently. It is difficult to comment further without knowing the exact time and date of your visit to A&E. If you would like us to do this, please contact the A&E lead nurse Victoria Perry via the hospital switchboard (01384) 456111 and she will be happy to arrange a meeting. Alternatively, you can contact our Patient Advice and Liaison Service on free phone 0800 0730150.