"Awful A&E"

I received very poor treatment throughout the time I was in A&E. I'm shocked and appalled by the standards of the department in Ashford.

When first asked to see a consultant to determine how bad my burn was, I was merely asked 'how painful is it?'. The burn itself was never looked at. Anyone asking about an injury surely needs to look for themselves to determine how bad it is! I was then asked if I wanted paracetamol and was told to go back to the waiting room.

When called the second time, the doctor poked and prodded my blistered, burnt leg with what seemed very little care. This was extremely painful. I was then told it needed dressing and that I needed a blood test due to the size of the burn. My boyfriend, a little frustrated after now waiting 3 hours asked why I couldn't have had the blood test earlier. If the first consultant had looked at the blister, they could have sent me for one while I was waiting, this makes perfect sense to me.

The first person to try and take blood from my arm failed 4 times and dropped one of the needles. They then had to get the doctor back in, who also failed before taking blood from my hand.

After a further 2 hours of waiting for blood test results, the doctor called me back. The doctor then asked why my blistered leg hadn't been tended too. The answer was because they were the one that said not to bother with it until the test results!! My boyfriend said at the time 'why can't you bandage it now if it needs to be covered, it could be hours before we get called again?'

When told to sit and wait to get my leg dressed, no one came for 20 minutes! We could hear the doctors/nurses behind reception saying they'd 'forgotten' to do it before they walked in to see me. Those curtains aren't sound proof!

Whilst being seen to, I was told I was dehydrated and that I needed to drink lots of water. In my 6 hours in A&E, I wasn't offered any water what so ever. There was nowhere to get a drink or buy a drink.