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A&E experience

Posted By Unknown.

"A&E experience"

About: Northern General Hospital / Accident and emergency

(as the patient),

It was an unpleasant experience at the A&E setting, I was quite unsure on where to go so I went to A&E, the member of staff on reception was not understanding and the way they informed where to proceed to was passive and in an unwelcome tone. I must say I felt patronised as  I was unsure and their reassurance and way of answering my questions and concerns was unappealing as they was disrespectful and I felt really misplaced and I felt wrong for my confusion when it was really a normal reaction for me to not be sure on where to go.

I am a teenager and I felt completely treated as though I was in the wrong just for asking a simple question on where to head next. The member of staff was not only dismissive towards me but my mother too and another patient they was very patronising and they treated us all in a very disrespectful and rude manner as their tone of voice was condescending and their facial expressions was blunt and overall they was harsh and didn’t uphold a polite and welcoming manner and attitude as it made me feel uncomfortable and unwelcome. 

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Responses

Response from Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 2 days ago
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Submitted on 23/10/2025 at 16:29
Published on Care Opinion at 16:29

Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback about your recent experience of care in the A&E department. We are really sorry to read about your experiences and that you felt that the receptionist was disrespectful and patronising, and that you didn't receive helpful advice or answers to your questions.

We have shared your feedback with the A&E team who have provided the following response: "Thank you for bringing your concerns to our attention. We are very disappointed to learn of your recent experience and that the standard of service you received fell short of the level of care we expect for all our patients. Please be assured that we take this matter extremely seriously. Further training will be provided to our reception team to ensure that all staff consistently demonstrate the professionalism, courtesy, and commitment expected of them. We would like to reaffirm that all members of our team are expected to uphold our PROUD values — placing the Patient first, showing Respect, taking Ownership, working together in Unity, and striving to Deliver the highest standards of care and service. We sincerely apologise for your experience and thank you for your feedback, which allows us to continue improving the quality of our service."

We also wanted to let you know that we are currently undertaking a project running a project at the moment to try and hear the voices of our youngest patients – aged 16-24, to find out more about your thoughts and experiences about accessing our hospitals. Your experience is really valuable and we would find it extremely helpful to include your views and recent experiences in this work. You can feed back our online survey here. You can also email any feedback to sth.engagement@nhs.net for us to include this in the project. Our engagement team are also looking to come and speak directly to younger people. If you know of any groups or organisations who would like to feed back in this way, please contact the team at sth.engagement@nhs.net.

If you would like us to investigate the matter you have raised in this story, and provide you with further information specific to your experience, 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.

Once again we are really sorry about your experience, and would like to take this opportunity to wish you all the best with any ongoing care.

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