"Hospital Comment"

What could be improved

My son visited A&E with an injured foot tonight. The triage service was excellent. After some confusion where the doctor examined the wrong foot(!) my son was wheelchaired round for an x-ray. One other lady was waiting in an otherwise quiet area. A box was on the wall into which xray request forms were deposited and a sign for clinicians to press a black button to alert radiography staff that patients were waiting. Some staff did press the button, others didn't. There was a sigh below the button which said "awaiting repair". After 20 minutes of waiting, the lady patient alongside me got up and walked around the corner to see if there were any staff available. The other door to the xray room was wide open enabling full view of the digital xray machine and no control light on. Moments later a member of the radiography department emerged from the room and was extremely rude to the patient (I have a full transcript if available). When I interjected to her defence the staff member asked me "what I knew about it" (xray). I informed them that I was a veterinary practice manager dealing with xrays daily. This sort of torrent of abuse is not acceptable and the conflicting Standard Operating Procedures in the xray dept are questionable to say the least. There are plenty of signs around the hospital regarding abuse to staff and action to be taken but pity the poor patient if some arrogant and rude jobsworth is at the forefront of patient care delivery. Please provide me with the correct channel to complain but in the meantime I hope anyone who reads this will be on their guard.