"Attending Medical Assessment unit @RAH"

My husband was referred to the Emergency department and following an ECG then sent to this unit. We were directed to sit in a waiting area with no further information. After a lengthy wait he was called in, bloods taken and advised they may take an hour to come back, signage around the waiting room advises two hours. 

I should add at this point, we both work in healthcare, so we understand that blood results are not an exact science, however providing patient care should be. 

At no point during the 4 hrs we were there, did any member of staff interact with any patient except to offer a cup of tea once. 

Nobody communicated any update or checked up on the few frail elderly patients who were waiting. Had they done so, the elderly lady that I eventually got a staff member to see to,  would not have been upset on the phone to her neighbour as she desperately needed the toilet and was worrying about how she would get home later at night and the clearly unwell gentleman next to us would have had treatment started quicker. 

Whilst this service is good to get patients to the right specialty quickly, and let’s face it, lowers the breaching numbers in ED, once a patient is booked into hospital, they should still expect a basic level of care. Communication doesn’t take much, even one nurse to introduce herself and check those in the waiting room every so often, so the patients know they haven’t been forgotten. This alone would be a benefit to those worrying or dependant on support with their care.