"I took my 2 yr-old daughter to ..."

What I liked

I took my 2 yr-old daughter to A&E with breathing difficulties. We were seen prompty and professionally and the nurse who immediately created a friendly rapport with my daughter. Typically at this initial consultation the symptoms had subsided, we then decanted to the waiting area. The symptoms then re-emerged when the nurse was passing and she immediately recognised her worsening condition and swiftly took us through for the Dr to assess her condition. Eventually it was decided to keep her in over-night under observation. Throughout the stay we were constantly checked on by either the Dr or nurse and were fully consulted about treatment options. I was delighted by the treatment received and would whole heartedly recomend the Sheffield Children's Hospital to any one.

What could be improved

The only area of improvement could have been a cleaner A&E waiting area, but this must be difficult by the numbers of people passing through. Also the usual signs of a deterioation of standards in our society where a large proportion of the population make no attempt to leave facilties as they found them and or discard their litter appropriately.

Anything else?

Staff in these front-line positions do perform a very worthwhile service and when the receptionist asked parents to control some siblings that were running wild they were met with verbal abuse. I understand it would be ethically very difficult to refuse treatment because of abusive / anti-social behaviour but it maybe worthwhile if these people could be informed that there behaviour is unacceptable and may jeopardise future access to services if this is not curtailed.