"Emergency Care"

I took a young lad to Sheffield A&E at Northern General Hospital when he injured his leg playing football and we suspected a fracture. It was quiet in A&E as it was a Sunday afternoon, but still people were waiting several hours to be seen by anybody. There was just a roomful of people, some elderly, all ill or in pain, sitting around waiting with no information and not even basic care provided. It just seems to have become accepted that 'A&E demand is overwhelming' and if anyone goes there when they are not literally dying they deserve to sit there for 4 hours. 

Could they at least give people a waiting list number then people would feel less abandoned? They could get something to eat or visit the toilet without worrying about missing their turn.

People have a legitimate need for urgent medical treatment which falls between what a GP can deal with and life or death.  The quality of care provided by other services is very good - OP clinics seems to have much higher staffing levels and several junior grade staff carrying out basic tasks to keep everyone moving along. So surely we can do better with emergency care?