Trust failed to apologise for patient's six-hour wait in A&E without food or drink

What happened

In autumn 2012 Mr B went to A&E with an eye infection and was left for six hours in a cubicle without being offered food or drink until his partner arrived to help him. He complained that staff were rude and unhelpful. When he was eventually transferred to the medical assessment unit, he again encountered a rude and unprofessional attitude from one of the nurses.

The Trust did not dispute Mr B's account of what had happened and apologised for his experience in the medical assessment unit. However, it did not provide an apology or any other remedy for his experience in A&E.

What we found

We accepted that Mr B had a poor and uncomfortable experience in A&E and that the Trust's complaint response on this issue was inadequate and would have added to Mr B's frustration.

Putting it right

The Trust apologised to Mr B for his poor experience in A&E. It paid him £150 for the discomfort and frustration he had experienced in the emergency department, and the degree to which the poor complaint handling compounded this.