"A&E reception would embarrass a Third World..."

Arriving at A&E with a child screaming out in pain, the two people idly chatting behind the glass screens of reception ignored us entirely, and the obvious distress of our child. He could have been dying for all they knew, or cared. They ignored us for a total of 10 minutes before a receptionist could be bothered to speak to us. Perhaps they were on a break. Perhaps they worked in another department and were just there for a chat, but they demonstrated a serious lack of humanity that has no place in a hospital. Once checked-in, we felt that the triage nurse and the doctor we eventually saw, acted with skill and compassion, but we found the experience in reception to be quite shocking. No doubt A&E reception have to put up with all kinds of troubled people and difficult situations, but no amount of that justifies ignoring genuine human suffering while having a chat. I am absolutely disgusted by our treatment at West Cumberland.