"Visiting NDDH A&E with 8 yr old daughter"

A lovely nurse called Ruth triaged us and made a great effort to make us comfortable while we waited for the drs opinion. Her care really made us feel special. Her compliments to the person who did the first aid bandaging were appreciated and remembered.

Unfortunately our arrival time meant we dropped into the evening, with less medical staff about. Both doctors were relocating a dislocated shoulder, so we waited 3 hours from triage for an opinion.

The doctor we saw was pleasant, really made an effort to put my daughter at ease (it was many hours past her bedtime, so apart from her injury she was tired and weepy) and was clear and informative without being judgemental about my concerns. He made an assumption about who we were accompanying my daughter, which I really wouldn't have expected from A&E staff- an adult friend needn't be a parent/partner of parent, but from the doctors response I believe he has learned from that experience.

The nurse who treated my daughters injury was perfectly pleasant but appeared distracted, perhaps harrassed and busy- the difference in her manner from Ruth's was very clear (even down to missing out the introduction). However, we were all exhausted and relieved to only need minor treatment in the end. Her professional skills were outstanding and we appreciated her care. I did need to ask her to explain what she was doing each step so my daughter could cope with it. Once we left we realised there had been no mention of the glue the doctor said would be needed for the injury- and there was no way could face removing the steristrips for it to be applied, so we have just kept a close eye on everything.

I appreciate that, in the end, my daughters injury was superficial, the depth of it was significantly less once we got to A&E, and she needed to wait while more urgent cases were seen to.

I feel the nurse providing the care required could have improved her communication with my daughter at the time- she appeared to be stuck for what to say.