"Children's A&E"

Anything else?

My 3 year old daughter broke her collarbone on Friday evening and we ended up in A&E greeted by three receptionist who were too busy chatting to say hello to us. We were finally booked in and directed to the childrens A&E which was pretty empty (at that point) and my daughter calmed down a little and played with some toys. Well until the reception/nurse came over and scared her by saying she couldn't play in the area sectioned off by chairs! My daughter started crying as she thought she was getting told off (as did we, her tone of voice was less than friendly). She must have realised and then gave us the reason why ( they had ants and powder had been put down). We saw the same nurse 10 mins later who gave her some calpol. 2 hours later we saw the doctor who was fantastic with our daughter and was really gentle and caring (just what you need when your first time in hospital, scared and in a lot of pain). We then waited another few hours for X-ray which was again pretty unfriendly but she warmed up once she told us it was a broken collarbone. We then saw the nurses who put my daughters sling on (who again could use some caring and patience with children) and we left at 11pm tired and very hungry. It would have been nice to have some food provided as we had missed dinner or at least somewhere to go as the cafe & shop were closed. I really didn't realise that children's A&E meant just a separate waiting area away from adults. It wasn't very helpful getting shown a pile of folders saying "these people are in front of you, its not an exact science how long it will take before your seen!" Thanks to the doctors who treated us like human beings and not animals. Sorry to say as my aunty is a very good nurse that these nurses could do with being a bit more caring towards crying sick/injured babies & children waiting patiently on the ward.