"over 4 hours wait for 86 year old pensioner"

I am sorry you were unhappy with the time your grandmother waited whilst in the A&E department. We aim to treat all patients in priority of need as opposed to the time they arrive. Although there can seem to be few patients in the waiting room there are four distinct areas behind the scenes where patients are being treated e.g resuscitation area. Depending on the presenting complaint will determine which area we see and treat the patient in. Although we are unaware what day the patient attended, the length of delay they encountered does reflect the demand on the department will have been high. We aim to treat patients as promptly as possible and am sorry the patient had a delay. Due to infection control restriction chairs in our waiting room need to be plastic. This allows us to clean them thoroughly on a regular basis. I apologise that we are unable to have more comfortable chairs. Ideally we would try and make sure patients are seen as quickly as possible to avoid sitting for lengthy periods.