"Brilliant staff - terrible system!"

My friend was sent to QA from St Mary's with suspected concussion following a fall. The system on arrival at A & E at QA is chaotic, inefficient and confusing.

The banner positioned in the first part of the reception area, (which most people who came in after us also failed to read), says if you are unwell or injured to wait on the red floor for the Navigator Nurse.

It says that if you are not unwell or injured to go to Reception!

This appears to mean if you shouldn't be there you get seen faster. It is not possible to queue fairly with some in state of near collapse others with three or four friends or family with them. The reception area was very busy and felt intimidating and I wasn't the one who was ill.

I feel it would work in everyone's interest, staff and patients alike, if somebody with good interpersonal skills and the patience of a saint (an administrative not medical role) could stand by the door to direct people to where they should wait.

Some patients were missing the sign and going straight to reception, some were looking at the sign and were confused by it, as we were and some were sitting down and missing their turn.

It makes the initial experience very negative and unsettling which if you are ill is not helpful at all. Once 'in the system' although we were waiting for many hours to be seen I was impressed that all the staff, without exception, were courteous to us and dealt with my friend in a sensitive and patient way even though under time pressure. Also impressive was how polite the staff were to each other which isn't always easy when faced with the challenges so many sick people all needing attention present.

There were elderly people on stretchers in the corridor, many vulnerable looking people, a tide of demanding humanity and the staff got on with dealing with it all as best they could.

On a health and safety note it had been a warm day and there was a huge fan in one of the waiting areas.

The staff, fortunately successfully, were negotiating having to step over the flex time and time again but if one of them had tripped they would have had their own head injury to deal with!

I can't praise the staff highly enough for their professionalism and care but the system is inadequate and failing them and the patients..

It was early in the week, no sporting accidents, no road accidents, just a lot of poorly people, some of whom should probably not have been there at all but the staff can't do anything about that.

I dread to think what would happen if there were a major emergency!