"Ambulance crew great but 3 hr wait in reception..."

After my 2 year old daughter had breathing difficulties we called an ambulance. The paramedics were amazing and treated her quickly & took her to hospital. On arrival we were shoved into a crowded waiting room with no spare seats & told my daughter was 11th in the queue to see a triage nurse. Once finally seen we were sent back to a waiting room where we could not sit down. I had to beg staff for a chair & we were told 12 people were seeing the doctor before us.

Nearly 3 hours after getting to Queens I asked staff how many more people did the doctor need to see before us and, was told 10! In the space of an hour, they had seen 3 children!

At this point we gave up and took our very unwell daughter home to her bed so she could get some sleep.

I would like to add that there was no fresh water availlable!

This is completely unacceptable leaving a child with respiratory problems untreated for that amount of time!

Furthermore, having had the misfortune of being at Queens for so long, might i point out that the hospital itself was filthy! It is an absolute disgrace, and no surprise that the hospital is under 'special measures'. What kind of hospital is only capable of seeing 3 children in such an enormous space of time, especially when it is the only A&E covering an area stretching from Basildon to London? Rest assured that my complaint will be forwarded to my local MP, the Minister for Health and any central or independant NHS complaints authorities.