"Extremely Poor reception area"

Thank you ever so much for taking the time to share your feedback and we are really sorry to read that you had a poor experience of care, including waiting a long time outside of the building due to high volumes of patients in the department. We appreciate that this was a very uncomfortable wait and we are very sorry that this was the position we were in when you attended.

We have passed on your feedback to the A&E department to consider options for supporting waiting as comfortably as possible outside the building if/when this is needed due to extremely high demand on the service.

We have been experiencing very busy service in our A&E department recently, which does lead to operational pressures and some long waits to be seen and treated. Due to the nature of an Emergency Department, service delivery will be variable due to capacity, demand and clinical acuity, and we have recently been experiencing very high patient numbers to see. The sickest patient will always be triaged to be seen first. We endeavour to keep all patients up to date with projected waiting times and offer alternative options to be seen through our streaming and triage services if we feel a more appropriate option is available for timely patient review.

There are other streams for receiving care and treatment for non-urgent medical issues, such as the Minor Injuries Unit at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital which is open 8am-8pm every day, the GP Collaborative service which offers out of hours appointments (6pm-8am on weekdays and 24 hours over Weekends and Bank Holidays), offering treatment for patients with minor or less urgent illnesses, and the Walk In Centre on Broad Lane in the City Centre where advice and treatment can be accessed, which is open from 8am- 10pm every day. However, as you did contact 111 for advice and was signposted to out A&E department, as you mentioned, you did everything you could and followed the process you were advised to. We are sorry that you were made to feel guilty for being in the A&E department when this is where you were advised to go.

If you would like us to investigate this matter and provide you with more information specific to your situation, please contact our PALS team on 0114 271 2400 or by emailing sth.pals@nhs.net. The PALS team will ask you to share some personal details in order for us to investigate this matter for you.

We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all the best with any ongoing care or treatment.