"Upset by my husband's care in A&E"

On an early Sunday morning my husband was in quite a bad car crash. Only two ambulances were called to the scene where four people were injured.

My husband's friend offered to take him to A&E rather than wait for another ambulance. The other people involved in the accident went in the ambulances and hence were seen first and straight away. My husband on the other hand had to wait in the waiting room on ridiculous hard plastic chairs with a sore back and neck.

Two and a half hours later a triage nurse came to see him, telling him he should be lying down on a bed but unfortunately there was none. He was told there would be another possible two hour wait and that if he was sore sitting maybe he could just stand in the waiting room.

Another two hours passed and he was called through to the treatment area and put on a bed. Another three hours passed, when finally a doctor came in and shouted so loud my husband nearly jumped clear out the bed causing even more pain.

The doctor then told him to stand and poked one finger up and down his spine and asked him if he was drinking, (which I should say he was not, he had been at work and been breathalysed by the police at the scene). He then told my husband there was nothing he could do for him, just to go home and take some paracetamol.

I had to stop him and ask surely they should check his head injury, and told the doctor I was concerned that my husband had also been knocked unconscious in the accident. He then shone a light in his eyes and said there was nothing wrong. I am sure there are procedures to follow when someone has been in an accident and is in a lot of pain in their back and neck, but not just poking them in the back.

I feel the lack of care and respect for my husband was unbelievable. I have never felt more let down by the NHS.