"My experience in A&E of feeling scared and neglected"

A few weeks ago, I knocked a freshly-boiled kettle off a shelf and onto my back. I was taken by my housemates to A&E at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. I was in terrible pain and extremely distressed. After being referred to a plastics clinic by the A&E doctors, I was referred to burns unit at Salisbury hospital (about whom I have only positive things to say), where I spent a little over a week in hospital-here I was told that I had 9% burns. However my story is concerned with my experience at A&E. When I arrived I was immediately taken to a separate station, where I waited with my housemates for around half an hour before I was seen by a nurse, receiving no pain medication during this time. I cannot personally recall the length of time (I was told by my housemates that it was half an hour) because I was having a panic attack. When the nurse did come back in, she didn't make any reference to my obvious distress (I was crying and shaking) as she triaged me (I was given pain medication at this point). I was very scared and did not at any point feel reassured or that my emotional state was being considered. I was then sent back out into the waiting room. This was at approximately 1am; I was not seen by the doctor until after 6am, meaning that I spent 5 hours waiting in the the public waiting room. I felt extremely vulnerable; I was only wearing a hospital gown and pyjama bottoms and as my burns (on my neck, shoulders and back) were covered in clingfilm I felt like a freak on display. During this 5 hour period, no one came to check on me. I fully anticipated waiting a few hours, but when it got to the 4th hour and no one had spoken to me or my housemates I felt unsafe and abandoned. My housemates did inquire how long we would be waiting a few times and were told that they could not say for sure, which I do respect. However in hindsight I don't feel that the traumatic nature of my accident was appreciated, in particular my emotional distress and vulnerability. Moreover when my burns were dressed in A&E sticky plasters were used to hold the dressings in place rather than bandages and were stuck to skin that was actually burned; when these had to be removed at a later date it caused me a considerable amount of pain. I entered A&E feeling that things were going to be ok, that I was in the right place and that I would be fine now because I was going to be looked after but this feeling did not last at all. Whilst the A&E doctor who I did eventually see was very nice and apologised for the delay, this cannot override the fact that my experience in A&E of feeling scared and neglected is a definite part of the traumatic nature of my overall experience.