"I felt I was left with some concern"

I visited Darlington A & E  following a fall in my home the previous evening  when I tripped over on our very uneven limestone flooring. The fall resulted in my badly grazing my arm which my husband dressed to the best of his ability at the time.

I knew I would have to seek further medical treatment and have the wound dressed more hygienically, but thought it was too late to find assistance. The following morning I intended to either seek advice from a chemist or go to the GP’s surgery. It never occurred to me to go to an A & E department as I thought they were only for emergencies, and a badly grazed arm was not an emergency.

I phoned 111 the following morning to see if there was a walk in centre in my area I could visit. The person I spoke to told me to go to Darlington Memorial Hospital within the hour, which I did.

The staff I met were friendly and helpful and I saw a very pleasant triage nurse almost immediately. There was no one else in the waiting area and I was pleased to see that the screen on the television suggested waiting times to see a doctor were 30 minutes.

However, it was about two and a half hours before I did see a doctor, despite being the only person in the waiting room for quite a long time, a few more arrived whilst I was there, but none of them were called in to see a doctor before me. I do appreciate that the needs of others could well be much greater than mine, but I do wish the screen had been more accurate.

Apart from the long wait, the waiting area was absolutely freezing. It was 2 degrees outside when I arrived and all of the windows were open!

My husband waited with me but, when he left me for a few minutes I was called by the doctor. I went into his room alone and in my opinion, they were very abrupt with me. They asked why I hadn’t come the previous night and said they couldn’t do anything for me now as it was too late! I thought about the long wait I had had to see them in the waiting room but didn’t say anything! I was sent for an x-ray and the x-ray staff couldn't have been nicer.

When I was called in again to see the doctor, my husband was with me, and the difference in the doctor’s attitude was astonishing! They were much more pleasant and said they would try to stitch the wound. They put 9 well-spaced stitches in, but I was mortified to see that, during this procedure, they occasionally allowed the needle they was using to rest on the couch I was sitting on, which was not covered by the usual protective roll of blue paper.

They also constantly had to dab the blood from the wound, and they placed the gauze pad they was using to do this, blood side down, on the couch next to me on two or three occasions.

I am not a medical person but I thought the idea of wearing sterile gloves and using sterile equipment was to prevent infection. I’m not sure the couch I was sitting on was sterile enough for this purpose!

I think our A & E departments do a great job under trying circumstances, and all the other staff I met in the department were extremely professional. However, I’m extremely sorry to say that I felt I was left with some concern regarding my treatment by this particular doctor.