"Efficiency"

I reluctantly returned to Epsom A&E Department after having walked out 5 years previously with my baby daughter having waited from 3 hours to be seen by a doctor. This evening we arrived once more to an almost empty waiting room. I am currently writing this whilst in A&E having waited just 30 minutes to see a nurse and 2 hours and counting to see a doctor. I fully expect that when busy or near maximum capacity waiting times can be long and priority is given to those in most need. However, in a near empty department with staff showing no apparent urgency I am perplexed as to why waiting times were so long. This experience is consistent with my other experiences here. I suspect that the ratio of doctors to nurses is wrong as much of this waiting time and inefficiency seems to a result of patients and nurses waiting for doctors with the relevant authority to make a decision. I recognise that budget cuts and constant changes make delivering a service as we would like difficult. Nevertheless, I feel duty bound to raise these matters and would appreciate clarification on doctor ratios at the A&E department. It would also be useful if the nurse with responsibility for the department would be a little more visable. I appreciate that you may strongly disagree with my assessment of treatment. But as a professional - used to receiving feedback from service users - I hope that you will take it in the spirit in which its given. I am a passionate supporter of our NHS but on this and my other previous interactions standards could have been higher and something you will want to address. Kind Regards