"Hospital observation"

Anything else?

I took my son to the hospital today for a pre booked hospital appointment with a consultant, scheduled at 09.45. We arrived at 09.30 and after my son gave his name in at the reception, we waiting only a couple of minutes before he was shouted to go into his waiting area.

The (very friendly) nurse took his weigh and high, asked if he wanted to a copy of the consultant letter and then directed us to the very quiet waiting area. As we had an early morning appointment, which we were early for and as there were only a few other people waiting, we assumed we would have not long to wait, especially as the whiteboard displayed in the waiting area revealed no notice of any delays.

My son (who was nervous and very worried) had to wait until 10.41 before his name was called (with another lady) to go and wait outside the consultants door. At no point did anyone tell us there was a delay and at no point did anyone tell us why we had been waiting so long for an ‘early morning’ appointment. I appreciate hospitals are busy places but it would only had took seconds to tell us of the delay, time we could have used to visit the toilet or go and buy a newspaper, neither or which my son wanted to do in case his name was called when he was away.

I find this lack of respect and communication extremely disappointing, especially as my son was so nervous and worried about potential consequences of his visit. When my son did see the consultant, there seemed to be a difficulty understanding each other, which concerned my son, as notes where being written and then rewritten, which made him even more anxious when he came out.

My son has to return to the hospital on 15 March (an afternoon appointment) for (I think it is called) an Endoscopy – todays experience has done nothing to alleviate his apprehension of this coming event.