"Son's visit to A&E"

I flew in from USA in the early morning as my son had been vomiting for 8 days straight, lost over 12 Ibs in weight..... and was so very weak..... I am an SRN and my husband a doctor. we both trained at UCH)

we were directed to The Royal Free by a trusted colleague, also a nurse.

The A&E dept was filthy. no wheelchairs in sight...finally an old one I had to pull...(my son is 6ft + )toilets were unfit for use, reception staff obviously incapable of seeing the difference between acute and non-acute.

after 2 hour wait, my son continuing to vomit and so weak and unable to lie down, was seen by a triage doctor.

Her office was grubby, she was patronizing and cursive in her examination.. and given the history and the obvious physical signs of the patient, should have seen the importance of immediate hydration at the very least. -. she directed us to urgent care where we finally saw a doctor of calibre who understood the need for urgent hydration - and finally to A&E proper where he had bloods drawn and was, at long last able to lie down and given a liter of Sodium chloride and you could see the rush of relief in his eyes...I expect he felt it coursing through his veins.....I was expecting at least another liter...the doctor came in...also competent and recognized I was a colleague and a very concerned mother. ..and even though harried, he had been on 19 hrs. straight! ...spoke to me finally in a way I felt was appropriate, as in urgent care.. but. because there was no fever, belly soft and vitals reasonable he explained there were very definite criteria the doctors had to follow....this was my sons third visit to A&E..over the last 10 or so days....(first to Royal Free) when we finally got home closer to 1am he begged me to never take him back....and I wholeheartedly agreed. At the very least Urgent Care should have had the capability of giving an IV...otherwise it is a total misnomer.