"The ambulance team."

What I liked

The ambulance team.

What could be improved

Communication between staff.

Provision of a doctor who knew how to examine a patient.

Anything else?

My 91 year old mother had a severe fall yesterday morning and was in such great pain that I was unable to help her to my car, so I had to call for an ambulance. A paramedic and ambulance team arrived, who were excellent. They gave my mother pain numbing gas and air and carefully transported her to hospital, where they took her to an examination cubicle in A & E. During the next 3 hours, I asked staff several times if my mother could be looked at as she was in much pain, sitting in a chair where the ambulance people had left her. I was told that they operated a rota and she would be seen as soon as possible. No-one even looked at my mother or enquired as to how she was. After 3 hours a doctor, who I had watched doing very little but sitting at his computer and occasionally standing up to hug a couple of nurses who had entered the room, came and asked my mum's name. They then said that they had been shouting for her for some time in the public waiting room ! I explained that she had a pain in her side following a fall, she was poked in her side, which hurt her alot, they listened to her breathing, using a stethoscope on her back and announced that she had broken ribs. The examination lasted about 2 minutes. She was never examined on any other part of her body, despite her age and being told that she had a severe fall. We were given pain killing tablets, told at 3pm that if we needed hospital transport, we may have to wait till midnight, so I rang for a taxi and with my mother in great pain, managed to get her into the taxi and home. Getting out of the taxi, she had to pause for about 5 minutes in the road, because she was in such severe pain. This morning, mother is still in very great pain when she moves just to get to the bathroom, but I cannot possibly put her through yesterday's ordeal again, so I am hoping she manages to get better at home in bed and that she has no injuries other than cracked ribs. This surely was unacceptable service by anyones standards.