"Irresponsible and unhelpful doctor and nurse"

The children's emergency department is the worst ever that we have visited. We waited for three hours until to be seen. It was not just long. While we were waiting, there was no staff to turn to for help at all. My five-year-old boy went through severe pain while waiting there, but nobody cared. Basically you just cannot get a chance of telling anyone. The ward door was shut. We could see through the glass door that the doctor and nurses were extremely slow inside. No one cared about what was going on in the waiting area.

Eventually when we were seen, the nurse said, 'Oh, you are lucky. Sometimes you have to wait for more than four hours.' Jesus! They have no shame about their service, let alone you expect that they were willing to improve it.

The doctor was not helpful at all. They simply didn't say much! I had to squeeze them for information like, what was going on with my child, what were the possible reasons that caused these problems, what could be done to stop him suffering or can I get any advice and suggestions. This doctor was so aloof and showing no sympathy or interest in the patient.

When I asked why my child coughed out blood with phlegm and how to avoid severe throat pain which had been lasting for almost three weeks, they simply refused to answer.

They just said that throat pain usually lasted for 11 days. But in my son's case, it was a lot more than 11 days.

Can I have any advice, please? No! Nothing at all!

The worst thing was, they refused to prescribe calpol and cough syrup for my little one, which he most needed. They told me just to give calpol to my child when he had pain, but refused to prescribe it! They suggested we go to see the GP for those medicine! How horrible was this ! It was Saturday. GPs do not work at weekends. This doctor didn't care that such a small child had to suffer over the entire weekend which they could easily do something to let him avoid. Absolutely horrible! In the meantime, the nurse acted as if they were a doctor and kept saying 'we don't prescribe medications like this to patients'! What a pair! Doctor and nurse united together to mistreat patients no matter how vulnerable they were!

It was our first time visiting the children's emergency department at Queen's hospital. It was absolutely nightmare. Staff cannot be any worse! When my child got home, his severe coughing continued. Blood still came out with the phlegm.

No solution was given to us at all!