"No dignity or respect"

Anything else?

The A&E department in Sunderland really need to think how they deal with patients coming through. I accompanied someone with a suspected stroke to A&E recently. I thought that the whole thing about suspected strokes was speed of treatment but this certainly didnt come across while we were there. Staff were in the main not friendly, came across as inexperienced and apart the odd one or two who really stood out as doing a good job against the odds.

No dignity at all. The A&E bays are seperated by only a curtain so you can hear everything that the doctor is discussing with the patient on the other side of the curtain. Its made even worse when the doctor decides that the person because the patient is old they are hard of hearing without asking and shouts every question even though the patient was perfectly capable of hearing his carer and answer her questions when asked at normal volume.

You can hear the staff in the corridor discussing other patients, every personal detail, names etc. We could hear about a lady's birth control methods and personal examinations she had undergone.

The doctors in A&E wear jeans - is this a good idea for infection control?? It also seems unprofessional.

I am not sure that the experience I had was typical of most A&E departments. I hope not.