"Poor emergency experience"

I had a weeping, sore eye problem. On seeing the eye, my doctor typed me a referral letter and sent me packing to the Emergency Department of the Melbourne Eye and Ear Hospital. I live outside Melbourne and would have gone to Bendigo the following day, but the doctor said I should not wait and go to Melbourne straight away. So I did.

Once at the hospital I was assessed by the resident nurse and waited for over 7 hours to be seen. I feel the nurse did not think it an emergency. Needless to say I will be changing my doctor as I feel they were wrong. 

I did ask the nurse, after over 5 hours of waiting, if they could please recommend treatment that I could administer myself, as clearly mine was not an emergency, so I thought I might as well go back home. But no, the nurse couldn't. 

I was not alone. There was another family in the waiting room in exactly the same situation. Except theirs was an even longer wait. 

Would it not be better for the nurse to send us home with a script that I could collect from a chemist the next day? After all, the nurse made the diagnosis/judgement call regarding my ailment. It would have saved me and my spouse a night sitting in a waiting room, whilst freeing the Emergency Department for emergencies deemed real by the nurse.