"Rude reception staff give a bad impression"

Last week while out shopping I had an excruciating pain in my eye, coupled with one side of my face going numb, and a little later my arm also felt weak. After calling the 111 service and describing my symptoms the nurse told me that I needed to go to A & E within the next four hours, but preferably as soon as possible. I did as I was told and when I got to the reception desk there was a woman seated behind the counter. I went towards her but she hastily told me she was busy. I stood back to wait, and another woman joined her. She spent about five minutes shuffling papers about before she looked up to speak to me. I got about half my sentence out and she told me "we don't deal with eye pain", I persevered and she huffed.

I told her I'd called 111 and was told to go to A&E and then the nurse on the phone was concerned that my face was numb. After a brief tut and basic form filling she directed me through a door and "go right". Quite where she wanted me to go I was unsure, but I asked a doctor who directed me to help.

The nursing staff were pleasant, did blood pressure etc a couple of times. I then waited about 2 and a half hours when the stroke nurse came to see me, she was quickly followed by a doctor. Between them they decided I'd had an unusual migraine and it wasn't a stroke and I was discharged. The nursing staff and doctors were all very nice, efficient and polite. I cannot say the same for the reception staff who were rude and appeared to think patients are an annoyance.