"Avoid this A & E Department if you possibly can"

This department is shocking. Every time I attend I see no improvement in standards. My son, a 34yr old vunerable Multiple Sclerosis sufferer was admitted in the early hours of yesterday and was discharged after his symptoms were not properly investigated, only to be re-admitted 2 hrs later, spent 8 hrs in the department, and considering that this hospital has an MS nurse and cares for MS patients is ignorant of their needs. We spent most of our second visit of the day in the "Green Area" where one of the nurses was particularly obnoxious, to the point that I made a formal complaint and was interviewed by her superior. My husband and I also witnessed neglect of another very elderly lady in the department and even though she was a stranger felt we had to intervene to get her some attention. My son was eventually diagnosed with a bladder full to 750ml of urine and had to be catheterized. This lad had been retaining urine for over 12 hrs and was in a lot of pain, yet he was sent home as fit and well in the morning. By the time we left the hospital the senior staff had come back to me with the result of the interview she had with her nurse regarding my complaint. She denied any wrongdoing, and did not apologise to me, as I had asked. By the time this happened my son was ready to be discharged and I really was not willing to waste any more of my time on the disciplining of the nurse as my priority was getting my son home, but I will make a further complaint now I am home. There is not room to go into detail in this small space to tell you about the incidents which happened, but I will be getting in touch with the MS Nurse at Sunderland Royal, to tell her what happened, so MS patients can be treated with more understanding in the future. There is still a very strong lack of communication between staff and patients, which is made more annoying by the fact patients are left waiting for hours without updates. I think this hospital has a lot to learn, but never takes any notice of any criticism I have given it over the last 10 years, and I believe unfortunately never will. They need to weed out the "uncaring" staff and stop supervisors covering up and making excuses for their mistakes. If this was done, maybe we could have a hospital that was half decent, instead of the much hated one we have. I could write a book about the number of times I have tried to complain about Sunderland Royal, and I really don't know why I waste my time. Maybe I am an optimist or just a stupid person who can't stop trying.