"Staff completely inattentive"

I brought my fiancé in to A&E last week with kidney stones.

We knew what they were because he has had them before.

He was in so much pain that he could not stand up and was vomiting. We arrived at midnight. Despite asking several times for pain relief, he was never given any. There were groups of nursing staff stood around chatting. Other than taking some blood, no one came to check on him at any stage and every time we went to find someone to ask for help they just ignored us-we had to say "excuse me" loudly before anyone bothered to acknowledge us. They just kept saying he couldn't have any pain relief until he had seen a doctor.

At 2am, having been there for 2 hours, he passed the stone.

We told the nurse and asked if we could go home, but were told we had to wait to see a doctor because the blood tests had shown he had a slight infection so he needed antibiotics. We were left in a cubicle for a further 6.5 hours. We kept asking how long the doctor would be-and were just told it was a long wait and we couldn't jump the queue. At no stage did anyone come and ask my fiancé how he was feeling or offer him any pain relief. In addition, the room was freezing and we couldn't find anyone to ask for a blanket or sheet to cover him.

I ended up lying on the trolley with him to try and keep each other warm. We asked if there was anywhere we could get a cup of tea to warm up but we were told there is nowhere in the hospital you can get a warm drink at night. I find this unbelievable.

When we finally say the doctor at 8.30 the doctor apologised for the wait and that he had not been given any pain killers. The doctor prescribed antibiotics and was with us for no more than 5 minutes before letting us go home.

I don't fault the doctor in any way-the doctor was lovely. However, the hospital facilities and nursing staff were shockingly bad. There was simply no attempt to care for my fiancé in any way and he was left freezing cold and in pain for hours. Last time this happened we were in Chester and the care he received at the Countess was a million times better than the care he received last week at the Royal.