"A&E Triage"

This is a review of A&E triage only and not the rest of A&E or the hospital. I brought my husband to A&E arriving at 11.10. He had severe abdominal pain. The RGN on triage was busy joking and gossiping with NEAS personnel. I interrupted and she asked for his name. All she wrote down was ***** His 1st name, no other details. I was then 'dismissed' to speak to "one of them" indicating the receptionists who wrote down his details. We were told to wait. At Approx 3 .15 am My husband was called into a side room by another RGN with a HCA who said "you have stomach pain"? took his BP & temperature, gave him a pot with 2 paracetamol 500mg and a Co Phosphate 15mg He was told to get a cup from the desk and where the water fountain was. This I suppose kept the A&E dept under the 4 hours limit for Pts to be seen. At this point, one of the receptionists used a remote control to alter the time waiting from 3 hours to 4 hours, despite most of the patients waiting had already left. He was then left sitting in A&E until about 05.15 - 05.30 when he was seen by Dr who gave him Oramorph which took the edge off the pain. The Dr called the surgical Reg who ordered a scan which was done quickly. The surgical Reg came back to say he had appendicitis and he would be going to theatre. left at 06.30 and got home to hear a message from my husband saying he was 1st on the list! As an RGN (rtd) MA in Health Education, that caused alarm bells.

Add ons usually are last on the list. His appendix had ruptured. According to the surgeon, the cavity was full of pus, blood, and poo. The 7-hour wait in absolute agony did not help

He was in HDU for 3 days and ward 36 for 3 days for keyhole surgery that should have been 24 hours. I 've tried to complain to PALS but unfortunately, they say it has to be the patient and his memory is just pain and the relief of it going away. He was discharged last night and remains on antibiotics for a further 3 weeks. If I had the names of the 2 RGNs involved I would have referred them to the NMC