"My wife waited in pain"

My wife was discharged from Wexham Park Hospital on a Friday, having been diagnosed with an ovarian cyst or possibly appendicitis. It was described as urgent but not an emergency to remove it. She was due back in outpatients in four weeks for review.

On a Monday evening she suffered increasing pain which culminated in her being seen by a "111" doctor at High Wycombe minor injuries unit at about 11 10pm. He said it might be the cyst or her appendix. He contacted the gynaecology department at Wexham and wrote us a letter to give them, and told us to go straight to A&E and hand in the letter.

We arrived with my wife in unbearable pain. Handed in letter and the discharge report from the previous week's visit. Result? We were told to take a seat. Requests for pain relief were ignored. We had to wait about fifty minutes for anyone to see her. She could have had a ruptured appendix for all the receptionists knew.

In view of her history and the documentation I handed in, why was no one qualified able to see her as a matter of urgency? Once admitted her treatment was fine, but I feel A & E reception is a joke. What happened to the idea of triage. Are you bleeding? Are you in pain? Not at Wexham.