"Mixed feelings"

I brought my 25 year old daughter to A&E on the advice of the 111 helpline as she was experiencing chest pain, coughing and pain on breathing.

We were seen fairly quickly by the triage nurse and then waited for an EGC.

It was nearly 3 hours before we saw the dr. He ruled out heart problems and said that, at her age it was probably a blood clot in the lungs. He said he would contact the ward and sent us back into the waiting room.

My daughter suffers from anxiety and became distressed in the waiting room. After a while he came out with a letter to take to the AMU. We had to find our own way there and were helped by some nurses who came rushing out from another part of A&E when they heard my daughter's distressed cries.

The next few hours were very upsetting as she had blood tests and then waited for the results.

Fortunately the results were negative and the dr on the AMU said it was probably costochondritis.

Most of the staff were very pleasant and helpful but the whole experience was made much more traumatic than it needed to be by the manner of the first dr in A&E. To speak so bluntly to a young person who has anxiety, (which he knew about as it was on her notes), was very thoughtless and uncaring. Had he just explained that, given her symptoms, PE was a possibility and that they needed to do further checks, she would not have spent the following few hours in the awful state that did.

I feel that there are many positive things about this department, having had quite a few experiences there with family members over the last few months and years: the new building is great and the staff are mainly friendly, helpful and professional.

However, on this occasion, our experience was marred by one doctor with a distinct lack of empathy.