"Absolutely manic!"

I attended with my husband who had been sent from his nursing home. It was so busy but we were attended to fairly quickly. The staff were magnificent under the circumstances although some were more helpful than others. My husband, who is over 80, was told he would be admitted. We waited from half past one to Nine in the evening before he was found a bed. As he has dementia by this time he was really agitated and when he finally got to the ward he was very distressed. I had to leave him in this state as I could not calm him and I had to drive ten miles home. The doctor and staff on gate 12 were magnificent. I was distressed but they reassured me he would be fine. I have never seen the hospital as overstretched and they were all working very well under these circumstances. A point I would suggest though is that when people are sat in a cubicle waiting for nearly eight hours they someone should offer to get something to eat and drink, especially in a situation like mine when we are quite elderly and I could not leave my husband. He only had a small beaker of coffee and half a sandwich each in all that time. I truly did get the impression that the staff moral in lots of areas was at breaking point with the volume of patients requiring attention.