"Trip to A&E turned into a 9hour wait!!!"

Came in with stabbing pain in back which led to pain when breathing. Although dealt with quite quickly after arriving at the assessment centre. 3 BP checks, 2 Blood tests, an x-ray and an ECG later ended up waiting several hours for results & to be discharged. Other than seeing the consultant before x-ray and the nurse who checked BP/did ECG/took bloods- no one was seen at the nursing station for hours on end. Yes it was a Saturday evening, maybe it was short-staffed but lack of care & compassion was very evident. During the whole time there, no one came to ask if I was ok, give an update or to even offer a glass of water!! The few times we did spot anyone who looked like a nurse/doctor and asked how long it was going to be, we got a different (dismissive & unhelpful) answer. Finally after 6hours, someone realised there had been some miscommunication between first consultant & nurses. A blood test which should have been taken at the beginning with the others wasn't done, which meant when this was picked up 6 hours later it led to another delay of 2hours+ to take bloods, BP and get results again. Although the second consultant did try to move things along much quicker having realised what had happened. When finally moved to a side ward after almost 8hours, spoke to an elderly couple sat in there who had been waiting for patient transport from 1am-5am just so they could get home after having to visit this department. Eventhough they hadn't been waiting as long as me, it still seemed really unacceptable that this couple were waiting so long. Although I am grateful that they picked up on something during the tests which I may have missed otherwise, I think the extreme delay could have been avoided and a little more care and compassion shown to someone who as a patient, was at their most vulnerable.