"My mother was admitted on Mon ..."

What I liked

My mother was admitted on Mon 11th Feb 08. Spent 4hours in A&E after almost fainting at work. The Paramedics who took her in and pre assesed, were concerned about irregular Heart beat.A&E responded well. Later transferred to MEAU for further assessment. It took over 6 hours before she was seen by the doctor. This was after asking staff how long before she would be seen, one member of staff even saying she would be next to be seen, this was after 3 hours of waitng, two hours later another member of staff asked the same question, it then took 3 hours to be seen. 4 consultants had actually attended a patient in the bed next to her during this time. The following morning, she was informed that she would be staying in hospital,so would be getting transferred to another ward. She waited all day for the transfer, it eventually happened at 4am. During here stay in MEAU, she has said some of the staff have been very rude and un-helpfull. Lets hope the move to another ward will help make her stay be more comfortable.

What could be improved

Communication with patients & relatives would have been greatfully recieved. Whilst we understand that patients are assessed in priority order, does it really take 4 consultants to assess 1 patient, each one giving the same diagnosis, while other patients are left to worry about their symptoms for 6+ hours. While staff do perhaps get somewhat stressed at times, they need to remember they are there to help patients recover, not try sending them to early graves with there rudeness etc.