"non answering of phone line"

My mother in law fell over in the road.

We received a call to say she had been taken to Southend Hospital.

We live 2 hours away.

I called to find out how she was so we could make appropriate arrangements to go to see her etc.

After 40 minutes waiting for the phone to be answered in casualty I gave up waiting.

It is most distressing not to be able to get the most basic information about a relative's welfare.

Obviously, there are insufficient people answering phones in casualty.

Not too difficult to solve nor too expensive in the grand scheme of things.

To ignore the problem shows lack of care to patients and relatives who need information.