"Falling far short of expectations in many areas."

Anything else?

My 19 year old daughter was taken to A & E after an accident last night. She encountered rude, unhelpful and extremely unprofessional staff who seemed to dismiss the severity of the pain she was in as a result of her injury. The implication being that, as a young student enjoying a night out, she was probably responsible, to some extent, for the accident and was making needless fuss. She was not: as the staff would have discovered if they had taken time and care to calm a distressed patient in order to gain a better picture of the situation. The department was not even busy - that being the usual excuse for poor standards of service received.

Having been back to the hospital this morning for a consultation, she was dismayed to discover that the procedures undertaken in A & E were insufficient and badly executed. She needed an operation and this was delivered forthwith. It is scandalous to realise that the chances of this being fully successful have been jeopardised as a result of delay.

This experience will be lodged as an official complaint.