"I wasn't told my mum was in Wigan A&E"

Late last year, my mother was rushed to the Wigan Infirmary Accident and Emergency unit. She fainted when she was out shopping.

But nobody at Wigan saw fit to telephone me to tell me that my mother was there, even though they had her records (she had been there before). So it left me wondering what on earth had happened when my mother didn't return home. On a hunch, I phoned the Infirmary up and only then was told she was there.

In addition, each time I've been to the Accident and Emergency unit as a relative, the receptionist near the door directed me (and other relatives) to a waiting room. In fact, it seems like you can wait forever in there without being seen to.

The trick is, after a wait, to go straight into the area where the patents are located in beds. Nobody stops you doing this. You then talk to the nurses manning a desk there and you can usually see the patient straight away. But why do they direct you to this pointless waiting room?