"The receptionist was very pleasant ..."

What I liked

The receptionist was very pleasant and helpful and the sister on duty before 9.00 was also very nice and the doctor was excellent. When she was finally moved to the Observation Ward it was extremely bright and cheerful and they were very helpful

What could be improved

I was not able to adjust the arrows above so that is not a true reading of my opinion. Waiting time and assessment. My mother aged 97 was brought by ambulance to A&E arriving at about 6.15 pm. About 8.00pm I enquired how long she would have to wait and was told three and a half hours from the time she came in. She was eventually seen at about 9.45. It took three different pain killers to eventually dull the pain which took effect at about 11.15 pm. During the waiting time apart from the initial assessment and my asking for assistance no one came to see if she was OK because initially, which I didn't realise, she has refused pain killers without explaining that she had only taken some before she was collected and thought she shouldn't ask for any more. When I asked for her to be given something to ease the pain the nurse was not very sympathetic as she had refused pain killers earlier, the doctor came and said she was still a long way down the list and start with paracetamol which would have been useless. They did give her something stronger when we pointed out how much pain she was in. He could see how much pain she was in but said she would have to wait her turn. The fact that they could leave a 97 year old crying with pain because she hadn't reached her place in the line is disgraceful.