"Two and a half hour wait for a dressing - gave up"

On arriving just after midnight with a cut leg due a fall involving an elderly person, we noticed two other small groups in the waiting room. One of whom were asleep.

After 50 minutes we were ushered in and attended to. No-one else appeared to be undergoing treatment and the ER ward area was empty. After 25 minutes the wound was cleaned and we were told to wait for someone else to come and look at the wound and dress it. This was so serious and necessary that after 2 further hours with no further attention we indicated that we intended to leave, and no objection was raised.

We came home and at ten past four in the morning were on the phone to NHS Direct asking how to dress the wound ourselves.

I know that the Daily Telegraph published a story stating an official policy of keeping A&E patients waiting for two hours to get treatment, but here apparently was the policy in the flesh so to speak - in Bill Deedes of Daily Telegraph fame's old constituency.