Queen's Hospital 2024-05-08 Person 2 5 0

I have had 2 previous admissions through A&E in 2019 &2020 and on both occasions have been treated with efficiency, competence and kindness . I remain grateful to Queens for their help on those occasions. This experience was totally different. When I arrived I was told I would not see a doctor for14 hours. It seemed the new system consisted of sitting on a hard chair in one room for the first night and then graduating to a more comfortable chair for the second night. After two nights in a chair the sister said that as I had done 2 nights in a chair she would find me a bed. Other than routine observations nobody spoke to me or any of the patients around me although some were very distressed. It seemed the wait depended entirely on the time of booking in. Most patients were waiting for investigations for a long time causing congestion in the waiting areas. I appreciate the massive difficulties you are facing at the present time but observing the situation for 48hours it seemed to me as a retired GP that your new system is really not working, is inefficient and probably dangerous for patients.

Ideally reduce the long waiting times which must pose a risk to sick patients. If patients have long waiting times they should at least be checked regularly. In my previous admissions CT scans and other investigations were done very quickly in A&E but certainly this was not happening on this occasion and should be addressed