"Not a pleasant experience"

I had to attend Pilgrim A&E at 6pm on March 29th for a possible Stroke. It would not be possible to fault any of the staff in A&E, they are gracious, caring, empathetic, especially a nurse who was empathetic, patient and kept me totally informed about my care. The staff can in no way be blamed for the sheer volume of patients who were in the unit on this night - it was heaving. There were no beds available for patients who needed them, no cubicles for arrivals and queues of patients in corridors and around the nursing station, all in various degrees of care and distress, each one of us selfishly, I guess, wanting attention for various issues. The staff were simply over burdened in the extreme. I was lucky to have a cubicle and fast care, however, the general experience was frightening, stressful and awful, simply because the sheer volume going through the department was organised chaos. God only knows how the staff feel whilst working under such unrelenting conditions. I just thank all of the staff who do their very best to care for us all - with patience and a smile one their faces. I'm not so sure I could maintain my mental well being having to work in such awful, dreadful, abysmal conditions.