"A and E treatment for 14 month old at Queen's Hospital, Romford"

My 14 month old son has been unwell with cough/colds for some time followed by chicken pox. He seemed finally to be on the mend but then developed a new rash and became quite distraught. We took him to Harold Wood Poly Clinic (in an attempt to avoid Queens) however they referred us to Queens for further investigation. My son was seen after about an hour and a half to two hours - the problem I had is the process itself.

I queued at the first window and explained the problem in detail. The woman handed me a card and without any comment referred me to the second window. I moved one and a half metres to the next window and was asked to explain the problem for a second time. Then I was referred to the paediatric area where they appeared to have no idea we were there. After sitting for an hour with a screaming child I asked when we might be seen. Only then were then invited into a small room in which they needed us to explain our son's symptoms for the third time. All of this information was entered onto a computer. Finally, we saw the doctor - and, yes, we explained the problem yet again.

The process we experienced was convoluted, poor and depressing. I feel sorry for any parent who needs to bring their child into what we thought was such a ineffective system for dealing with new cases - especially if it were a life threatening condition.