My husband was brought in by ambulance with severe abdominal pain & breathlessness. He was left in the waiting room of A&E for 2 hours still experiencing pain until I made the receptionist aware he was still there. Shortly after we were called over and told if we wheel him along the corridor there would be a spare cubicle for him. I did so on my own, when I got towards the cubicles I asked someone which cubicle was for us and was told it was number 3 but no smile, no eye contact, no help offered and no questions as to what was happening. I managed to get my husband out of the wheelchair onto the bed where we waited a further hour before I then felt it was justified to complain. Up until that point not one person had even checked him or even apologised for the wait although I had to sit and listen to the nurses having a chat about their weekend and plans coming up! When I complained that we had now been in the department for 3 hours, I got a short sharp answer of He's next. Thankfully a very lovely doctor came in who assessed & examined him and was extremely efficient in then getting X-rays & blood tests completed. Luckily my husbands condition improved and we were allowed home after getting the results we were waiting for with instructions to get an ultrasound at our local hospital. We were deeply unsatisfied with the way my husband was treated to begin with, at that point we didn't know what was happening and I had my 8 year old daughter with us who was frightened enough without having to wait for 6 hours+ before we could go home. I completely understand that there are waiting times and other people probably more seriously ill than us however to be brought in by ambulance and then be left for 3 hours before anyone even acknowledged us is completely unacceptable. Even a sorry to keep you would have been appreciated or just a smile but we found most of your staff to be miserable and unsupportive which you don't expect in a situation where you are scared yourself. We also found it unbelievable that there was a small child in the waiting room for hours who had been knocked over by a car and was in severe shock!! The last thing I was unhappy about was the fact that my 8 year old daughter was starving and the hospital has no restaurant or cafe to cater for patients after 8pm.......we must remember to be ill before that in future.
"Unacceptable service"
About: Torbay Hospital Torbay Hospital Torquay TQ2 7AA
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