"Waiting time in Minor Injuries"

My husband, in his eighties,  fell and landed on the lawn mower badly bruising one arm and sustaining a deep cut on his hand. At Bodmin Minor Injuries  the triage nurse told him he wouldn’t have long to wait to see a nurse.

Nearly three hours later he was still waiting. During this time, only three patients from the waiting room were seen, and including my husband there were only five patients there during the three hours.There were two nurses on duty apparently.  A nurse came straight away to collect people they obviously knew who were on official business and later two auditors were greeted by a nurse and taken through.

After a couple of hours, during which time only two patients had been seen, my husband was told there was one patient before him, and again he wouldn’t have long to wait. Thirty minutes after this patient left, my husband was still waiting, and feeling quite shaken from his fall, and by now very frustrated, decided he couldn’t wait around any longer and came home.

Obviously we don’t know why it took two nurses nearly three hours to see three patients, but it seems a long time to be sitting around when you’re in discomfort, with no idea of how much longer you are going to wait. I think it would have helped a great deal, if a nurse could have let the patients know why there was a delay, instead of letting them sit there, watching the door, waiting for someone to be called through.

Patients expect long waits when there’s a queue of people ahead of them, but when there doesn’t appear to be, they deserve to know why there’s a delay, especially as in my husbands case, they have been told there would only be a short wait.