Gloucestershire Royal Hospital 2021-08-16 Person 2 5 0

A very poor experience of A&E and the Minor Injuries ward. Having arrived at the hospital at 8.45pm with a suspected foot fracture there were no wheelchairs to be found near the hospital reception (which of course was unstaffed at that time). I had to be helped hobbling to A&E where I was informed of a 4 hour wait time, pleasingly seen by triage within the hour, and referred to Minor Injuries. It was then 9 hours after arriving at A&E that I was finally seen in Minor Injuries at 5.45 a.m who predictably sent me for an x-ray, with a further hour and a quarter wait to provide me feedback and treatment. In the end I left at 7.15 in the morning. During the 9 hour wait my husband tried to speak to the nursing staff to get an update on timescales and check I was on the list to be seen and was brushed away twice. Several patients gave up and left untreated, another with suspected concussion and cracked ribs waited 6 hours alone to be seen following x-rays. It did not appear to be a particularly busy night (no other adult patients came to Minor Injuries following me). Whilst I've no doubt the staff were under pressure, there is a lack of thought about the patient experience - the absence of wheelchairs and information/communication are two examples; there were no water fountains or vending machines in the vicinity (unacceptable if injured patients are expected to spend hours waiting there); and organisation seemed poor (such as needing to wait 9 hours to be sent for an x-ray).