"Doctor brilliant - staff uncommunicative"

Arrived at 8pm and was received by a "joker" who wrote "cough" on my form and referred me to another staff member who was on the computer. She was engrossed on her computer and was totally ignoring the gentleman in front of me and myself. Eventually she recorded my presence and told me to wait for a short while to be screened. Over an hour went by - other people coming in after me were seen before me and no explanation was given. I wondered if it was my initial diagnosis of a "cough" and returned to "the joker" suggesting he added the fact that I had a temperature and had collapsed at home with breathing problems associated with the cough. I would never go to A & E with just a cough. He said he couldn't do this as I had walked in and he had not seen me collapse so I returned to my seat and continued to wait. At 10 o 'clock I had my name called out. From then on the whole experience was the very best example of our NHS. The young doctor- I'm sorry I didn't catch his name - he looked Chinese-was very attentive, sympathetic, diagnosed an infection and gave me antibiotics. In just one evening I saw the very worst of the NHS and the very best. Perhaps when you train your staff you could explain that when people are ill they do not appreciate "jokes" and they need to be acknowledged, given information and treated in a concerned and sympathetic manner.