"Staff were pleasant however department was virtually empty."

I took my daughter to the ED one morning. The waiting area was completely empty and the receptionist told us to stand at the Triage window. We waited there for about 5 or 10 minutes without seeing anyone or a word from anyone. This was quite disconcerting as there was no communication with us as to how long we would be waiting or whether we could have a seat and wait to be called. I helped myself to a wheel chair for my daughter to sit in as her leg was very sore.

The triage nurse was lovely.

We were then asked to go to the X-ray department - instructed to go down the passage and take the second passage on the right. We did this - the passage was unlit, the only light on was coming from a caged window in the wall with a sign saying "nuclear..." We rang the bell for attention, waited about 10 minutes, during which time a man pushing a food trolley passed us, a man in blue scrubs passed us - I asked him if he could find anyone to greet us/ help us. He said that they knew we were coming. I asked him how they knew? He said that it would be on the computer. We both felt a little strange and lost. Not very confident.

Eventually a pleasant enough lady appeared and whipped my daughter off for her x-rays. After which we were told to go back to emergency for the results.

In emergency my daughter was put onto a bed, where once again we waited. She was seen by a doctor, then by a nurse, then we had to wait for a physio to arrange crutches, apparently no physio could be found, so the nurse had to find crutches. Then another nurse had to fit them. We were told it was a soft tissue injury and to see how she goes. Thankfully she has improved.

Although all the staff were pleasant, the department was virtually empty. It took almost 2.5 hours, no clear communication and 8 different staff members to coordinate.