"Rudest reception staff I've ever come across..."

Anything else?

The principal receptionist was a rude woman, seeming not to understand that people visiting a hospital are usually experiencing illness, and not there for staff to take their stresses out on. She was slow. If I asked her a very simple question while she was slowly entering information into the database, such as, "Is the wait long?", she would stop the slow typing, look up at me with a 'do not interrupt me, '-attitude, and answer my question after a sigh. The other receptionist seemed to find this all very funny, and even a "doctor" who'd walked into the reception area and witnessed this behaviour, seemed to find it amusing. What a sad state of affairs. St. Mary's in Paddington is in no way a developed-world hospital. It is basically a shambles of a place.