"Not a great experience"

after arriving at a A & E I was seen initially by a nurse who had someone else's notes attached to my personal details. Apparently I was there for a fix to two broken vertebrae- an injury I had sustained on holiday 2 weeks ago. I would say when I arrived in A&E I was suffering from shock and possibly a little confused and I did think had I been on holiday? Had I broken bones in my back? Erm no... Thankfully no I had not. To be fair I did chuckle which was possibly the impossible after being admitted to hospital. I was then sent back to the waiting room where I had endure a drunk try his luck with me. Frankly I just wasn't in the mood.. I was entertained however by the front reception staff and co workers (ambulance crew and others) discuss incidents and complain about their 'customers' mentioning police. I was then moved into what I think was resus, a controlled access area to the left where I was led to a sparce room. Whilst in the room again I was entertained for over an hour listening to staff discuss personal lives, laughing and joking. I was then 'stumbled ' upon (I wasn't on the computer so was forgotten about).

Don't get me wrong, I have the utmost respect for these dedicated individuals, who have trained hard and work long hour, however, what would have happened if I had been seriously ill and they had left me in that room without checking that I was ok? Frightening to say the least. I became very upset after hearing an older gent struggle with his breathing obviously distressed. Although sparce was the room there was a box of hankies to comfort me. Don't get me wrong, I understand the role to be very stressful, but is it right to laugh and joke in front of patients with their colleagues?

So in short I would say although staff were pleasant, I certainly did not feel reassured and feel professionalism is lacking some. I did think perhaps if you stopped discussing what happened last time you were out and sought out your missing patients I may have been discharged earlier, reducing the waiting time for others.