"Extended waiting times"

We arrived early afternoon and were eventually sent home after midnight the following morning without any treatment because, wait for it, they did not have 24 hour imaging available. I feel an 11 hour wait time is unacceptable under any conditions, but to be sent home after midnight because imaging left a couple hours earlier & advised that our best option is to go to a different Imaging when they open & handed a referral, I felt was an insult. 

The staff claimed that it was an unusually busy day for ED attendance but I feel this should not be an excuse for making someone wait 11 hours with no pain relief, no offer of water, no offer of food. After the 4 hour point we started checking with the staff every hour, which obviously wore very thin as we were told that we would be called when it was our turn & not to ask again. I did not stop asking. If I had to sit there with my elderly parent in significant pain after a fall then you can bet your bottom I am going to be an irritation. I can't even say I think that the staff were good because I believe they were rude & dismissive of requests for pain relief & water, stating that neither could be given in case my parent needed surgery. At one point, I recall a patient was standing at the check in area to let them know they had brought their child in after an incident & it seemed the staff standing around the computer didn't even acknowledge them. I believe not one of them looked up & said Hi, sorry, we won't be a moment. It seemed to me they left the patient standing for three minutes (I started timing them on my phone after they did this for a while) before even acknowledging their existence & then when they eventually started going ahem, hi, my child is hurt, I felt they acted like the patient was an inconvenience. 

The next day we attended the other Imaging & about two hours later my parent's GP called to ask me to take them to the ED as they had a NOF fracture. I told them what had transpired the previous evening & asked if there was an alternative to this & the GP advised us to attend another hospital. We did so & were seen in under an hour & my parent was admitted within four hours.