"Spoken to with a strong lack of respect"

After the carbon monoxide detector alarm went off at our rented property last night, following weeks of various illness after having a new boiler fitted, we had the National Grid out to discover what was happening. Having been told that they couldn't rule out the possibility of carbon monoxide in the house, they advised us to call 111 and relay our symptoms. The people at that number worried us further by telling us they were sending an ambulance ASAP and we needed to get to the hospital within the hour. Not wanting to waste valuable resources we declined the ambulance and got a taxi.

After reaching A & E we were seen to quickly and efficiently by your staff. I was first to have my blood tested, and after coming back testing negative for carbon monoxide poisoning, the nurse treating us suggested this would mean the rest of the house would be negative too. I had been out of the house for 2 consecutive weekends so my being negative didn't give any of the rest of the girls confidence that they were healthy too.

Thankfully, upon testing, the other girls' blood tests came back negative too. This is when we were spoken to very rudely by who I believe to be the consultant being told we were wasting hospital time and resources and that we needed to be more careful in the future.

As 19 and 20 year old girls living alone for the first time, scared after being told to go straight to A & E (despite not originally wanting to), this is the last thing we wanted to hear. We left feeling embarrassed and more upset than when we went in.

Though we fully appreciated the medical attention we received, and were more than happy with the treatment from both the triage nurse and the nurse who did the blood tests, this was unfortunately overshadowed by the way we were made to feel by a senior doctor.