"Accident and Emergency"

We telephoned the out of hours service about my daughter who was having a severe asthma attack.The operative organised an ambulance as it was considered my daughter needed urgent medical attention.We arrived in A and E,unfortunately the triage nurse decided differently.My daughter was extremely unwell.Ten hours on hard metal chairs later(which same nurse told us we were very lucky to sit on),we were shown to a cubicle.Three hours later we saw a dr who immediately prescribed the medicines we were told were required 16 hours earlier by the out of hours service and the paramedics.My daughter also had various tests.Her condition began to improve as soon as she had the medications as we knew it would.The attitude of the staff across the department to ourselves and other patients was appalling.They were variously rude,uncaring,unfriendly and aloof.They did not keep us informed of what was happening unless we asked and even then gave us non answers.I have spent my working life in the NHS and this must be the worst department I have ever come across.When a patient comes in with a lifelong condition,staff should surely realise the patient knows how to manage their condition and pay attention accordingly.Also compassion towards people when they are at their weakest would go a long way to making the A and E experience more bearable.We wanted to bring our daughter to the hospital in our own transport but were told ambulance was the safest option,however we were made to feel that we should not have used the ambulance even though it was on the insistence of the out of hours staff.I can only hope we caught the department on a bad day as all our other interactions with other departments within the hospital have been very positive.