"Childrens a&e is a joke"

Thank you for taking time to feedback to us. Firstly, I apologise that you had this experience in our Children’s Emergency Department. We have a nurse at the front door who rapidly assesses children as they arrive (typically between 10am-10pm). I am therefore surprised that you didn’t see a nurse for two hours. The department is very small and open so that we can see how children are in the waiting room, but this also makes the main nursing and doctors station in the department visible. We understand that it is difficult from the waiting room to see staff talking to each other. Although this is likely to be regarding treatment decisions, we do appreciate that it can sometimes appear that our staff are chatting. This is something we are looking into at the moment, reminding staff about talking near to the main area of the department. We ensure that children are seen by a doctor before an X-Ray as we try to minimise exposure to radiation for children, unless absolutely necessary, which explains why you were not sent to X-Ray by a nurse. With a little more detail we might be able to better explain the reason for the delay. If you would like to discuss this further you can do so by calling 0115 9249924 ext. 67184 or by emailing sarah.kennedy@nuh.nhs.uk.

Dr Clare Dieppe, Consultant in Paediatric Emergency Medicine, Clinical Lead Children’s Emergency Department.