"Receptionists in the Acute assesment"

I visited the acute assessment ward with a very worried husband. We had been sent there by the Rosedale Centre as the Doctor who examined him was not happy with his condition. She rang 6 times before any one answered her, subsequently we were asked to attend HRI. On arrival at A&E department we were taken to the Acute ass. ward by a porter. We handed in the letter from the GP and sat down to wait. After 2 hours I approached a receptionist about the delay and she said a nurse would call us and the delay was because they where doing bloods and swabs ? After another half hour my husband had to get hold of a doctor who was attending to relatives, and she said she would look into his delay. It appears they had lost the letter we gave on arrival. Once we had made our presence aware things moved on at a reasonable and satisfactory rate by the doctors and nurses in the department. My dissatisfaction is with the reception staff who are in my opinion are more bothered about personal problems than the patient's. One had a phone call from a debt collection agency, and I know this because everyone could hear in the waiting room. On other occasions the phone was ignored for a good length of time, and never answered. One caller rang at least 4 times that I counted on an occasion, and it became so annoying that I felt like answering it myself. I truly felt for the relatives who where on the other end wanting information! On other occasions the staff were busy on their personal mobiles showing each other messages and photographs. This annoyed the people in the waiting room so much so that one disgruntled person took a photo of the Staff involved and sent it to Facebook, goodness only knows how this looks when there are worried people sat waiting to see relatives and/or a Doctor. Not a very good image of a caring profession ...