"More individual awareness required"

I visited A&E recently with my 86-year old, somewhat hard-of-hearing father. We had to wait a long time, but that was expected. The quality of medical advice was very good; I have a few suggestions as to how you could have better dealt with him as a person.

1) The nurse who called my father's name remained at the door between the reception waiting area and the treatment rooms - I could only just hear them and needed to check that I had heard his name correctly. My father did not hear; had he been on his own he would have been at risk of losing his place in the queue. There is a need for a better system to announce people's names, so that those who are hard-of-hearing can clearly know when they are being called.

2) The same nurse then rushed ahead, leaving us to guess where they had gone and to find our own way. There was a lack of awareness of the fact that an 86-year old cannot move quickly, especially when feeling ill.

3) Taking patients from the main reception waiting area and putting them into another waiting area in Minors seems to be a way of "massaging" the 4-hour waiting-time target figures. Whatever its official definition, in my opinion you did not meet that target just because you moved us out of the main waiting area into another.

4) Sitting in that waiting area in Minors, I was able to easily overhear other patients' consultations in the cubicles. There needs to be much more consideration given to patient confidentiality.

5) When we were seen by the nurse practitioner, although their medical knowledge was obviously good, I had considerable reservations about how they dealt with my father. I understand that the department was busy; however, the rapid, unsympathetic way in which they spoke to him was counterproductive. I watched as my father became physically smaller as he shrank into his chair in front of the nurse in response to the manner in which he was being interrogated. I do not understand how any nurse, who is used to dealing with old people most days of their working life, could not see that they needed to slow down, speak more clearly and generally be more gentle. I was very disappointed by this.

6) Later a different nurse came to take some blood for a test. No-one had told us that they would be coming to do so and, although they did introduce themselves and ask permission to take the blood, they did not explain why they were doing so. I had to ask this.

In conclusion, the manner in which my father was dealt with as a person could have been much better. However busy the department is, staff could make much more effort to actually look at the individual patient in front of them and adjust their communication style appropriately to offer that individual more care.

(The posters in the main waiting area encouraging a healthier diet should be backed up by vending machines with healthier options, instead of the chocolate and junk foods which are the only choices currently.)