Milton Keynes Hospital 2018-08-17 Person 3 5 0

I attended the A&E department on the 30th July 2018 in severe abdominal pain. I was clerked, and then asked to wait to be seen by the triage nurse. I then had to wait 2 hours in the waiting area, were there were not many patients to be seen, whilst being in severe pain. Upon being seen in triage I was then taken straight round to A&E majors and treated for a severe infection and was still not given any pain relief other than IV paracetamol for a temperature that I had. As a nurse myself working within the hospital, I was shocked that when the department is not overly busy, it still takes 2 hours before being seen by a nurse. I also found the situation unacceptable that if a patient is saying that they have pain, they are not offered pain relief until they are transferred to the ward at gone midnight, when I initially presented in A&E at not long after 7pm. The staff in the department were good, and I can not fault them in their care, but even when in majors I noted that they were not overly busy - still had beds free, and yes had some ambulance arrivals - but this still does not explain a 2 hour wait to be seen, in severe pain. I would also say that when a doctor has requested that certain samples be requested, it shouldn't take repeated requesting from those doctors, or from the patient themselves. I would also not leave my patient who has come in stating they are in severe pain, to just be given IV paracetamol, and not be asked again shortly after administering, whether the pain has decreased. Overall, I was disappointed by my experience in the A&E department, and have as a result not only changed my practice since returning to work, and did not enjoy being the patient and to be treated by the hospital I work in, show itself to me in this light.