"Lack of compassion, care or attention by..."

I accompanied my mother who is in the advanced stages of dementia to A&E, following a visit by paramedics. She had been in a lot of pain and unable to move or get out of bed. Due to her condition, she cannot explain the problem and her communication is severely impaired/incomprehensible. The ambulance service took us directly to a fast track x ray unit as they suspected a hip fracture due to a fall earlier in the week. The staff and speed of action at this point was excellent. Once we entered the main A&E department, there was no communication from nursing staff at all. The bed/trolley had an issue where the back would not stay in a reclined position. As a result my mother kept slipping down the bed and was immobile so unable to move herself back up. She was screaming out in pain at times. None of the staff (of which there were plenty, mainly chatting, strolling around and sat staring at the computer screens behind the reception desk) took the slightest notice and were extremely dismissive when we asked for help with 'we'll come back' responses. On the 4th occasion of repeating this scenario, the nurse lifted the foot end of the bed to avoid the issue happening again. If this had been done the first instance, it would have saved their time and resource as well as helping my mother. The elderly gentleman in the cubicle next to us had got up, picked up his sheets and started walking down the corridor. Staff were simply passing him by and when I mentioned it to a nurse, she was completely unperturbed. It was only when he fell to his knees that someone helped him. It took about 4 hours for a doctor to review my mother's x rays resulting in further tests. We arrived at 6pm and my mother was then moved to a ward at approx. 1.00am. The doctors were excellent; however, the majority of the nursing staff were rude, abrupt and did not show any level of care. In the department as a whole, there seemed to be no sense of urgency at all whilst there was little evidence of them being rushed off their feet and everything was being done at a very leisurely pace. Each time a nurse had to interact with my mother, they had no knowledge of her condition and when I tried explaining that she has dementia, they took little notice with one of them simply walking away. I witnessed one lady discharging herself even though she was booked in for an overnight stay due to the poor treatment and lengthy wait. We hear so much about the NHS being under-funded and overstretched. My experience at St Mary's A&E did not reflect this. I feel sad and concerned for anyone who enters this unit without a family member or friend with them as the staff do not care, even when people are quite obviously vulnerable and in need of attention.