"After Hours A & E visit."

After wandering around the Hospital's Main Entrance for several minutes as there was no assistance at the Reception (luckily some 'cleaning ladies' kindly pointed us in the right direction) we arrived at 22:35; I had had to help myself to a wheelchair to get my injured Son to A & E. Registration was completed by the time I had returned from parking my car. He was immediately referred to the X-Ray Dept, and within 20 minutes had been attended to by this really busy Team. We were directed by the Radiographer to go to "Minor Injuries!" along with several other patients. After Midnight we finally saw a Nurse, only to be told "....we were expecting a Doctor, but they have not pitched up, so you will now have to go back to A&E!" Stunned, all the Patients we had shared this waiting area with followed them and were immediately abandoned at the place we had entered originally. Eventually I politely asked the Reception Nurse what was happening - we had been at the Hospital for over 4 hours without any information let alone treatment - "you are next on the computer screen" was the only response tendered. Another Patient's partner similarly asked for information and was told there would be a 3 hour delay - when he pointed out that the information board indicated an hour delay for Minor Injuries and 2 hours for Major Injuries, the Nurse responded that 'the Board had not been updated', and the Receptionist eventually came out to alter Minor Injures to read "Closed" and Major Injuries to read "3 1/2 hours". Like us he and his Injured partner had been waiting for over 4 hours by that stage. Whilst I acknowledge that the A&E (triage room) was really busy, and we did not expect to be seen ahead of serious injuries, I do feel that we were not given any medical information for an extraordinary length of time; I also believe that we would have waited even longer if I had not expressed my frustration at not knowing what was happening iro of a Medical Practioner seeing my Son. After more than 4 hours of patience we were "seen" by a Doctor - for less than 2 minutes! My Son had injured his knee playing sport, could not unbend his leg, could not walk on the leg, and was in great pain in spite of the medication his Mother had given him before we arrived at the Hospital - nothing had been offered by the Reception Nurse since we arrived. The Doctor indicated that the tendon had gone into spasm which would naturally relax within a few days, and dismissed us with no medication or advice on what to do once the tendon relaxed. I asked what we should do, and they said Ibuprofen - buy your own! Even though my Son was in a wheelchair the Doctor did not provide him with crutches which I sadly did not think of at the time. If this Organisation was a commercial concern it would have collapsed ages ago. Customer Service is non-existent + Medical Professionals are under-staffed = lost customers/no repeat business/ no referrals.