"if you want a waste of journey and to have to..."

Having presented at A&E with an 18 month old toddler who had fallen, in obvious distress and pain. triaged quickly and then we waited to see a doctor. Nearly 3 hours of waiting to be precise, all the while the toddler was distressed, not able to move his arm and crying in pain when any attempt was made to move it. fInally saw a doctor who stated that it's was " probably" not fractured and as toddler was asleep then he was in no pain. We were dismissed.

Returned back to hospital as toddler was still not moving his arm and still in pain. Triaged quickly and saw a doctor who immediately assessed the child and said it looked like a fractured collar bone but X-ray would confirm this. Sure enough it did.

If you want to visit twice for the one complaint then visit here, if you want to see a child in distress then again, visit here also.

I must balance the criticisms with positives to say the triage nurse was thorough, the second doctor was wonderful and we eventually got conclusion. But eventually is not good enough!