"90 year old waits 10 hours from arriving in..."

there is no smooth link between medoc and A&E. My mother was seen by a Dr in the meddocc service. We were told she needed an X-ray. We went to A&E then waited all night to see a dr. No one spoke to us. We observed the A and e to appear to be fairly quiet numbers wise - there were 12 in front of us. I wondered if there were an adequate no of radiologists and Dr’s. There were at least 8 police accompanying distressed and volatile women. But no Drs in sight. I have been a nurse myself and understand how busy a & e can be. However I feel there is s real training issue for night staff. They approached patients and didn’t necessarily speak to them before pushing them somewhere or removing a drip. I felt as a therapist there was no thought for the waiting patients. No sense of care or being held in mind.

No sense that we were in a place of healing. I felt the patients and relatives were the anonymous other and extraneous to requirements. There were a lot of elderly people around with no one to care for them. It felt as though we could say abandon hope all ye who enter here. The staff when we approached them and begged to find out how long we might have to wait were pleasant but the deep sense of care was lacking. I feel training about care front of house would be invaluable to help support patients whilst they wait the interminable hours. I am sure you had inadequate staffing levels but I hope you recognise your long waiting times make this a dreadful experience .

Carol Bridges.I would appreciate a written response to my comments thank you.