"People watching while waiting"

Anything else?

I took my mum to A&E yesterday (8/5/13), under instruction from our GP. We sat for 4.5 hours waiting to be seen. In that space of time we saw ambulance crew after ambulance crew bringing in patients and having to wait to transfer them onto a hospital bed and to do their handover. Patients were then left in the bed in the waiting area. The staff were fantastic I really couldn't fault them. The doctor we saw was brilliant and got things moving for mum quite quickly after we had seen her and within the hour she was transferred onto the ward.

What I disliked was that there was building work taking place, not very dignifying if you're in resus on your last legs and that the poor ambulance crews were made to wait due to lack of beds due to the building work and the fact that Burnley A&E is no more (this is the first time we have had the need to use A&E since Burnley was shut and everything was moved from the Infirmary to Queen's Park). I also noticed some people coming in who could have gone to Accrington Victoria to the minor injuries unit (you'd get the same treatment just quicker).

Maybe it's now time to rethink Burnley being closed and ease the work load on the staff and stop wasting resources.